Week of June 15, 2003

A Minor ADV Three Update

A Quick Diversion: Nope, nothing has change since last post. WOW!

Just a small little heads up... I've updated the ADV3 spoiler list to take into account a few new cards. Just a quick heads up, some of the new ex-types are Muk, Ampharos, Magcargo, and Kingdra (and yet Gyarados wasn't ex'd....).

The ADV3 Spoiler v0.81

Nifty! I can't wait to see what the whole set is like... Remember, keep tuned into PA! for all the dirt on ADV3. ;)

Nintendo Needs YOU!

A Quick Diversion: Sorry for the lack of updates from widdle ol' me... I've just been busy finishing up my movie. Yeah, I'm making a movie! Good times. It's a really random, 15 minute movie that my brother and I made with our friends and are submitting to some local San Francisco film festivals. Maybe we'll win something, I'm just hoping that our movie gets shown, period. I'll have some links of where you could download it, but it's not exactly meant for kids to see... so just warning you ahead of time. :)

In other, more appropriate news... remember that next week will be Origins, and our very own Kaizer Myuu will be going! She'll hopefully have some news about what's going on and how she did in the tournaments. Remember that there's gonna be a Professor's Championship at Origins... careful not to pair up with Kaizer Myuu though... ;)

Card-e+ expands e-Reader functions with Ruby/Sapphire

A Quick Diversion: Third update for the day. Woo.

In case you didn't know, Japan recently got a new model of the e-Reader (called Card-e Reader in Japan). It's the Card-e+ Reader. It's basically the American e-Reader (which had stuff the Japanese Card-e Reader didn't have, like the ability to connect to a GameCube or Game Boy Advance). So, it's no loss on our part that we won't be getting it. It just means we got something before Japan. Woo!

But... here's the big news. Nintendo will be releasing a set of Card-e+s in Japan for Ruby/Sapphire. Info is here and here. Of course, that's all in Japanese, so most of you won't understand it (I don't understand it, either). But, nothing to worry about. Pokémon Forever has a bit of a translation for us.

What does this all mean? Seems like the hidden Berries (Ganlon, Salac, Petaya, Apicot, Lansat, Starf, and Enigma) will be obtainable. New trainers for Battle Tower and that old man's basement in Mossdeep. New ribbons for your Pokémon. National Dex mode unlocked (LEGALLY, that is). Oh, and... Old Pokémon obtainable! Booyah!

Thanks goes out to Blazechu/Espeon Jeph for the links.

Now... here's the question...
Will Nintendo release these Dot Codes on their own card set (like in Japan)? Or will they simply add them to future EX sets (they did say on their TCG site that future sets would have more e-Reader functions beside Pokédex)? Only time can tell. I'm hoping for the latter. Sure, you won't get the nifty cards to specify the data on the card. But if you're a TCG player/collector like me), that means you only have to buy one set of cards to get the best of both worlds. Plus, it'll be a big hook for TCG sales.

Let's just hope Nintendo brings these babies over (like they'd be foolish enough not to?).

Promo nüz

A Quick Diversion: Visitor of PA!, you are my friend.

After doing a small bit of browsing on Nintendo's TCG site, I found out that Promos #001 (Kyogre ex) and #002 (Groudon ex) will be in issue 170 of Nintendo Power. Good times. Especially good for me, since I'm an NP subscriber. So, I usually get the magazine a week or so early. Whoo.

Oh, something I forgot to mention earlier: irwinmalek from WizPog (the guy who's an article writer for Scrye) has said that the August issue of Scrye will be carrying Groudon ex. So, now there's two sources for the first two Nintendo promos, thanks to Nintendo Power.

[editation]Actually, I DID mention this before. In my update for June 4th titled "Promo Stuff!". I forget so easily.... what's my name?[/editation]

Güd times.

Pokemon-TCG.com expanded!

A Quick Diversion: I've lost my marbles. I think they went under the sofa. Actually, it's a futon. But, whatever.

Nintendo's site for the TCG has greatly expanded. Well, it WILL be, anyways. A lot of the sections aren't up yet, but you can see what they're PLANNING on adding. Instead of me trying to explain each section, how about you just go on over there?

But it is interesting to note what the e-Reader page says. It says that future EX sets will have more e-Reader function. Which is cool with me. I was kinda disappointed at how current EX cards only had Pokédex stuff. And since Japan already has their ADV2 (and soon, ADV3), looks like America might get some mini-games Japan doesn't have with EX2, maybe. Woo!

What a nice, new, flashy site, Nintendo. Shows they're putting SOME support into the game. Good jearob.

eBay pulls through again!

A Quick Diversion: [this space for rent]

Well, eBay has, once again, proven itself to be a good source of Pokémon-e TCG scans! Check it out.
Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out.
...
Ahem.
Swampert
Sneasel ex
Mudkip (reverse holo)
Torchic (reverse holo)
Scyther ex
Hitmonchan ex
... and so on...
Ya know what? Instead of linking to each and every image, how about I just link you the the results for the search I did, eh?
Yes, I like that plan much better.

Well, like most of us had suspected, the picture of Sneasel ex from E3 WAS just a prototype. As you can see, this Sneasel ex is worded right (compared to the Japanese version, that is). Not only that, but they've changed the grammar for the attacks back to how Wizards done it.

"Flip 2 coins. This attack does 10 damage times the number of heads."

It's also interesting to note how the ex cards are done. Not only is the Pokémon's artwork holographic (except the Pokémon itself), but so is the border. Neat.

Way to go, Nintendo.

Hmm... PA! at Origins News

A Quick Diversion: RyoShin is still on vacation, and because of which, the forums can't be up. Because he knows the stuff and I don't. Hmm.... but anyways...

ADV3 news is a little dry right now, but I do have some other stuff for you.

I'm sure y'all know by now that two of us (Kaiser Myuu and myself) will be going to GenCon this July. But what you might not know is that Kaiser Myuu will also be making an appearence at Origins as well. YAY! ... I won't be going, unless someone magically gave me plane tickets and $1000 for a motel room there...

But anyways, Origins will be the happenin' spot because there's going to be a Professor's Challenge there, and Kaiser Myuu will be playing in it. Watch it though, she kicks some major butt. Ranked 13th I believe at Worlds's Professor Challenge. So if you see her (she'll look like this, only less angry looking and without her Demichimon on her sholder, and maybe less like a drawing and more human looking), you can bug her for a match or maybe a fake card or two.

Remember, Origins will be in Columbus, Ohio on June 26th-29th. Be there or be square. I wish I could go though... I'm so square and poor... But at least I'll be in GenCon, so you can bug me then. Good times.

ADV3 info

A Quick Diversion: I'm back from a several day road trip to Los Angeles and San Diego, to which I played in a little tournament yesterday. I have some pictures of it, so I'll share it with you soon. Good times.

Nothing of particular interest, but ADV3 will be released in Japan on the 23rd of this month (I believe), and like the previous two sets, I have translations of the cards. Well... SOME of the translations. The entire list will be avaliable soon.

Version 0.8 of the ADV3 Spoiler

OK, that's odd. Dratini et al have a Colorless weakness and a resistance to Fire/Water. Does this mean that they'll be weak to everyone, or just weak to colorless-types? We'll find out soon enough....

More EX cards, new Nintendo promo, end of Organized Play, and TCG rule changes

A Quick Diversion: Eh. I got nothin'. Seriously. Nothin'.

Summer blues

A Quick Diversion: Read below.

No real Pokemon news, (though IGN did a review of the Game Boy Player), just wanted to give you all an FYI.

Firstly, you may have noted Nick's abscence, he was taking a breather. He will be back in the nex couple of days.

I will be leaving for vacation tomorrow for eleven days, then about 10 days after I get back, I start college. w33?

What does this have to do with you? Well, we've been able to acquire some other (non-Windows) server space for the forums. HOWEVER, as seems to be the case for this site, we've had quite a few problems with routing the pa.net domain to them. THREE DNS switches. The third hasn't even occured yet. So I haven't been able to work on the forums to get them up and running. Hopefully I can get that done before college, but with time running out, don't hold your breath. :/

In the mean time, BPM will keep you up-to-date on your TCG info, and you can always bug LittleOD2 or Aspenth if you need something. :D

6th card from Pokemon-TCG.com and the EX: Ruby & Sapphire commercial!

A Quick Diversion: It looks like someone at Nokia thought it was a good idea to shoot the N-Gage in the foot (Power switch? Volume dial? Whatever.) before it is even near being ready for retail. Not only insulting current Game Boy Advance owners, but probably ticking off possible customers in their targeted audience. I think the funny thing is while they claim GBA is for little ten-year-olds, they have Sonic N (which is an obvious port of Sonic Advance with a different title screen, and no Tiny Chao Garden) and Super Monkey Ball. Which are games that would be considered "kiddie" by the "cool" people. Smooth move, Ilkka Raiskinen.

For the price of one N-Gage ($300), you could get a perfectly fine GBA SP, a decent cell phone, and maybe even some GBA games. Of course, to justify its price tag, it IS both a handheld system AND a cell phone. Too bad it FAILS MISERABLY at BOTH. It's akwardly designed (16 buttons?! On a handheld?!) to play games on, and it'd look weird to hold it up to your head to take a call. And the fact you have to remove the batteries to change cartridges. Genius. Simply. Bloody. Genius.

Ah... but I ramble on. Now, to the fake real news. More emphasis on real. After all, this is neither Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The Actual News:

YES! I've done it again! Today's card was, as I said, Lairon! The score? BPM.EXE: 4, Pokemon-TCG.com: 0. Booyah!

Lairon's a pretty basic Stage 1, if you ask me. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. 70 HP, 2 Colorless Energy does 20 damage, and add a Metal Energy, and Lairon can do 40. Not bad, not bad. Not great, but not bad.

Seeing as how each day has featured a card of a different type... my prediction for Sunday's card is Mightyena.

---

Today, I noticed during both MegaMan: NT Warrior and Pokémon: Master Quest, something caught my eye: the commercial for Nintendo's first Pokémon-e TCG expansion set (It probably aired during the other shows, too. But I wasn't really paying attention). And from it, we get a look at some more cards. Luckily for you, I took the liberty to record the commercial on my computer (too bad I don't have the kind of space to upload an MPEG (even if it is only 17,765KB... ). But, at least I also took some still images of the cards in the commercial. That's all that matters, right?

Mudkip, Treecko, Torchic, and Mightyena
(Don't mind the HI-FI, That accidently popped up from my VCR)
OK, so we've already seen the Mudkip, Treecko, and Torchic. But the Mightyena is new.

Ralts, Makuhita, Skitty, and Lairon
And these are all new except for the Lairon. I'm sorry, but I can't get pictures any better than these. Oh, well. But, it kinda looks like Skitty's first attack DOES have the "Shuffle your deck afterwards" clause (which The Mystery Thing's hoax lacked). So, one point for Nintendo, eh?

There were two more cards shown in the commercial. Manectric and Mewtwo ex. But you only saw them as they walked out (Yes, the cards walked) of the subway. And unless my eyes deceived me, but unlike Scrye version of Mewtwo ex (which had a gray border) and the Pokemon-TCG.com version (which had a white border), it looks like this picture of Mewtwo ex has a SILVER border. Similar to the Japanese version. But, I might be wrong. So don't quote me on this.

Well, it's good to know that Nintendo's putting SOME advertisement into their first set. Wizards stopped advertising with Neo Discovery.