Twas the night before Christmas…

So it happens it’s Christmas Eve and all throughout the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…except for the latest poll! ‘Tis the season and we want to know your favourite Pokémon. The runaway winner so far is Pikachu in a Christmas hat while Stantler is struggling to even stay on the poll. Could this all change? Can Stantler make a come back with a Christmas miracle? Only you can help him! Who is your favourite Christmas Pokémon?

[poll id=”3″]

As a side note I’d just like to add that you may have heard some rumours of a European release for Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver sometime around March. I’d just like to add that these rumours come from a Play.com release schedule that has since been deleted. Unfortunately some websites pounced on these unverified dates so we’d like to make clear at this point there is still no set release date but you can be sure as soon as we get word from a reliable, verifiable source we’ll let you know.

Other than that, have a Merry Christmas!

Oh and before I forget, we’ll be needing a new poll soon. Got any ideas? Leave a comment!

Last Reminder: Pokemon Marathon

Just a quick and final reminder that thespeedgamers.com start their Pokémon marathon tonight from 6pm central time (about 12 midnight gmt). Their goal is to catch all 493 Pokémon in 72 hours. They will be playing Leaf Green, Fire Red, Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond, Pearl, Heart Gold and Soul Silver. Any event only Pokémon will be pre-loaded onto one of the carts, but other than that they will be catching all Pokémon from scratch. Whether they achive the feat in 72 hours or not, they will be raising money for cancer charity Ally’s House. You can watch their attempt from the live streams on their website.

Edit 1: As per Pikachu3828 request, I’m going to update periodically the speed gamers progress on their marathon. At the 15 hour mark, they’ve managed to catch 150 Pokémon and raise just over $4,000 for Ally’s House. Also Within the first couple of hours of the marathon, the speed gamers read out my name, donation and comment wishing them luck… so I was feeling really awesome at that point.

Edit 2: 24 Hours have past, 2 days left on the marathon and things are going well. The Ruby version has just beater the elite 4, The Fire Red has finished catching all the Pokémon they planned to capture in that version, they’re over 200 captured total and have currently raised $5,600 of thier $15,000 target.

Edit 3: Over half way though in every respect. At the 40 hour mark they’ve caught over 280 pokemon and raised over $7,200. They’re looking good to complete the task.

Edit 4: 2 Days done, 1 to go. At the 48 Hour mark, they’ve caught around 350 Pokémon, and raised over $8,400. If they manage to raise another $600 in the next 3 hours, one of the speed gamers (Phil) will eat a lolipop with a worm in it. An actual, real worm inside a green lolipop. And he will eat it, but only if they hit $9,000 in the next 3 hours.

Edit 5: Not long to go now. At the 55 Hour mark they’ve caught around 410 Pokémon, less than 100 to catch/evolve, trading them all to one cart is a secondary objective which they will do if they have time. On the chartiy side, they’ve managed to raise $12,200 – so they are getting ever so closer to their $15,000 target.

Edit 6: Final Edit. Well they managed to do it. They’ve got 493 Pokémon in just over 72 hour. Unfortunatly they over ran by a few minutes, but its still a tremendious acheivement. As for their donations, they’ve managed to raise well above their target, with it currently up to $17,500 – the donations will still be up till X-mas eve, so if you can donate, drop by and do so. Congratulation Speed Gamers, you guys are awesome!

Stop the presses: Nintendo uses the word Shiny!

Ok, so they’ve yet to do it in an official game yet, but pokemon.com has just launched its Heart Gold & Soul Silver Microsite. And along with confirming the US launch date as March 14th 2010, the site also has details on the Spiky Eared Pichu event.

If you’ve missed all the previous news posts about this Pokémon, here’s how it works. There’s a special Pichu who’s in the 12th Pokémon movie Arceus and the Jewel of Life. The Pichu is like most Pichu but one of it’s ears has some extra spiky length to it, thus why its called the Spiky Eared Pichu. This Pichu is available to capture in a special event in Heart Gold and Soul Silver by taking a special, event given Pikachu-coloured Pichu to Ilex Forest. After the event, you will have the Spiky Eared Pichu, which you can use like any other pokemon. However unlike any other pokemon, this Pichu cannot be traded nor can it evolve.

The Microsite says that details on how to obtain the shiny Pikachu-coloured Pichu will be revealed at a later date. The site even uses the word shiny when describing the Pichu, which Nintendo have never really done. Still, we’ll bring you details of the event when they are revealed.

Still no details on a European release, I myself am still predicting May.

On a side note, owners of  a Japanese copy of Heart Gold and Soul Silver will be able to download the Champ Path pokewalker course between January 13th and 27th 2010… meaning that there will have been some kind of Wi-fi event on from November the 11th up until Febuary 11th, with only a 2 day break in between each event. The Champ Path course was previously available to anybody who attended the Battle Road Tournament and features level 5 pokemon knowing moves they wouldnt ordinarily know such as Munchlax which knows Selfdestruct, Beldum which knows Zen Headbut, Bronzor which knows Trick Room, Duskull that knows Imprison, Horse with Muddy Water and Magikarp that knows Bounce.

We’ll bring you more news when we know it

Not so Quiet on the Eastern Front

It’s been a bit quiet recently in regards to pokemon news. Not a lot has been going on… at least until now.

First out of the block is news that the Next Pokémon Movie has been anounced. The 13th Pokémon movie will still be apart of the Diamond and Pearl set (although is a seperate entry from the previous 3 movies that were linked together) and will be called Phantom Champion Z. The movie will focus on Jhoto Legendary pokemon, including the 3 legendary dogs and Celebi. The movie is scheduled for release in Japan in July 2010.

The second piece of news is a possible  release date for Heart Gold and Soul Silver for America. Amazon has updated its pages for the two items with both the box art for the games (which includes the Pokéwalker) and a release date of March 14th 2010 (which is a saturday, matching the release of the previous couple of games). While Amazon on its own is not the most reliable source for release dates, this could mean that the announcment for the release could be soon. If the date IS accuralte, it ALSO matches the prediction I made earlier this year right here – now all I need is to be right for the European Release and I rock.

Don’t forget to vote in the new website poll on the right. Is the Most Christmas like Pokémon the presant delivering Delibird, the raindeer like Stantler, The Christmas Tree imitator Snover or Pikachu in a santa hate – its completly up to you to decide. Also drop by the forums and tell us what you’d like us to work on around the site over the festive season in this thread – Take part in the Forum Competition (which this month is a caption competition), look out for a new forum based roleplay starting up soon and of course generally post and talk around the forums.

We’ll leave you with a reminder that the speed gamers start their attempt at catching all 493 Pokémon from scratch in 3 days this Friday 18th December at 6pm CST. The marathon aims to raise money for Ally’s House, a charity who helps Children suffering from cancer.

Holidays are coming

Hello again, I’m back 🙂 Well, sort of.

No update at the moment I’m afraid so in lieu I present a shiny new poll which you may vote on at your leisure: [poll id=”3″]

I will be back home soon and then hopefully there should be some surprises in store…if I can develop one in time, maybe a new winter forum theme. We’ve still got The Pika Club’s tenth birthday to celebrate too, then there’s New Years….it should be a busy time for TPC this holiday, so make sure to visit us regularly to catch the latest news and updates!