Week of July 6, 2003

Grandfather Pokémon Professors?

By Nick15 [Friday, July 11 2003]

A Quick Diversion: Ever notice how most of my titles have been in question form?

The Actual News:

I've got some good news for you Pokémon Professors out there! ...

A bit of pretext first.... Nintendo has been working hard on trying to fill Wizard's shoes after taking over the game, right? So Nintendo's been bringing over some of Wizards' various Pokémon TCG programs and features into their version of the game. One of the programs of particular importance is the [trumpet sounds] Professor Program. Thing is though, Nintendo's Professor Program is slightly different from Wizards'. Since The Pokémon Company (TPC) and Pokémon USA, Inc. (PUI) wants to keep the game all ages, fair and even across the board, Nintendo's Professor Program is merely a judge certification program (as far as I'm aware) and so there won't be any Professor exclusive programs, like the Professor's Challenge. (But then again, TPC/PUI stated that 15+ players won't ever be cast out of the spotlight any more, like it the past, so....) Another bit of a downer for Professors has also been that current Professors would have to retake the Nintendo's Professor test.

HOWEVER.... Terry Kamm (Pokeplayer) emails me copy of an email sent by Mr. Dave Schwimmer. It talks about a "grandfathering registration" that'll make it's way onto Nintendo's Pokémon TCG site soon...

Terry,
Sounds great. Please keep your eye on the website, as we're going to post our Professor grandfathering registration in the next few weeks. Existing professors will have 60 days to submit thier information to avoid being retested to get into our program!

Look forward to working with you!

Dave Schwimmer

Nifty, huh? So if you're an old skool Professor, keep an eye on Nintendo's Pokémon TCG website for the Granddaddy registration. It'll save you a little time from having to retest to be a Pokémon Professor too. ;)

Sandstorm Prerelease Tournament?

By Nick15 [Tuesday, July 8 2003]

A Quick Diversion: Neh. Life is... uhm... happy! :)

The Actual News:

Took it long enough, but it was bound to happen. I have news! Huzzah!! ... This one comes from Gym Leader Blaine from WizPOG, who says that Nintendo's been contacting Magic the Gathering TCG Tournament Organizers about doing the Pokémon RS Challenge tournament. How odd.... .... but anyways, here's some of the info they were sent:

• Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire Challenge - any weekend in August, except the first weekend.
• Pokémon -e TCG: EX Sandstorm prerelease - first two weekends in September
• The location must be in a safe and friendly environment, such as hotel, community center, convention hall
• Space should be large enough to accommodate 150 players


Info dots number one, three and four are pretty obvious, but at least it's been officialized. Heh. Info dot number two however is an interesting little tidbit. So it looks like Nintendo will be doing prerelease tournaments too. How quaint!

More on THIS as it surfaces. ;)

Nothing.....

By Nick15 [Sunday, July 6 2003]

A Quick Diversion: Neh.

The Actual News:

As you can tell, news has been fairly dry recently. Either that, or we're just plum lazy to find some news. In any case, this post is just to remind you that we're still alive, albiet a wee bit bored right now. :)