WARNING! Fake Copies of Heart Gold in Circulation

EDITED 27/03 with new info, see bottom of article.
Thanks to my buddy Toothache for the heads up on this. A Dutch site insidegamer has posted a blue screen glitch is occuring in copies of Heart Gold. This is the result of the game being a fake copy of the game. The following is directly translated (badly) from http://www.insidegamer.nl/nintendods/pokmonheartgold/nieuws/29248/Intertoys-Pokmon-HeartGold-uitgesteld-vanwege-bug.html

News | March 23, 2010 – The release of Pokemon Gold Heart is under an employee of Inter Toys indefinitely postponed by an error somewhere. According Intertoys appears a bluescreen while playing. This makes it impossible for the game at all for the first time to start without error in the following image.

We can confirm that from my own research Heart Gold indeed an error on startup. The error message displayed stored data can not be read to the Nintendo DS and restart, the same message back into view. Soul Silver is doing as far as we have to test it properly.

We have contacted Nintendo Benelux, but they can not yet confirm this bug. At present there is still no confirmation from Nintendo on the postponement of Pokemon Gold Heart. We hope as soon as possible to get clarification from Nintendo.

Its scary how quickly fake copies of the game has come out, and that they are in curculation. Basically the copies use an imported ROM version of the game which breaks down on the cart, causing it to be unplayable (thus the message).

Basically be carefull where you buy your copy of HeartGold (or SoulSilver for that matter, although that’s not effected yet) – make sure its a recognised shop and you will be able to go back to it if anything goes wrong, especially on the Internet. Be very careful with Ebay, as that is where the fakes turn up quickly and easily. If your in the UK, Roy’s Toys is a good place to buy from, plus TPC visitors can get 10% off when pre-ordering by using the promo code TPC4EVER at the checkout, but you better be quick – the game is released Friday.

EDIT 27/3: as Sol has pointed out in the comments, it turns out this isnt a problem of fake copies (although fakes can and will cause the same problem). Nintendo of Europe yesterday posponed the release of the games in Netherlands and other dutch speaking areas, and recalled any early dutch copies as they are causing an error where they dont detect save files. All other languages do not seem to be affected.

Nintendo Revals New Handheld System

Today (or yesterday if you’re in Japan) Nintendo revealed some details about a new Handheld system they plan to have released in Japan by this time next year (or end of March 2011 if you want a specific time frame).

Currently known as the Nintendo 3DS, the system will allow the player to experiance games in 3D (do you see what they’ve done with the name there). While not much is known about the console yet, it is said that the games will be in 3D without the player needing to wear any special glasses, and that it will be fully backwards compatible with the DS and DSi games (although are there any actual DSi games out there, cause I’ve never seen one).

The current rumour is that the system will be able to create an illusion of depth based on the position of your head, which it picks up via a special sensor detecting head movement. This rumour has come about based on an interveiw from Satoru Iwata who said the next DS should be able to “read the movement of people playing”

Nintendo is due to unvaile the console and more details at E3 in June. We’ll bring you more news when we know it. In the meantime, dont forget to swing by the Forums and post, especially if you wish to discuss Heart Gold and Soul Silver

Get 10% off HG/SS plus a free Pokémon figurine!

Nintendo specialist Roy’s Toys has teamed up with The Pika Club to offer TPC users a very special promo for our UK readers. With Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver just around the corner you can pre-order your copy now and receive 10% off as a TPC reader by using the promo code ‘TPC4EVER’ at checkout. Not only that, you get a free Pokémon figurine for pre-ordering!Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver Special Promotion

Take a Walk through the Yellow Forest from April

With the release of Heart Gold and Soul Silver yesterday in the States, the official HG/SS microsite has updated on the US side to be the full site. There isn’t much to look at and no information that we don’t already know, but it has revealed the Pokewalker Course ‘The Yellow Forest’ and how to unlock it.

Connecting to the Mystery Gift Wi-Fi (with eithe HG or SS) between April 1st and April 30th (that’s the whole month) you’ll be able to get this course unlocked on you game cart. This special course features nothing but Pikachu to catch, but all of them have different move sets, including one that knows Surf and another that knows Fly.

It’s unknown if this will be available in Europe and Australia at the same time, although based off previous Wi-Fi events it should be. The European and Australian side of the microsite should open up when the games are released in those regions. If the sites then reveal they are to be available on different dates, we’ll let you know.

Don’t forget to drop by the forums to talk about HG and SS, especially if you’ve got a question. We’ll bring you more news when we learn it

Shiny Legendary Dogs heading for Japan

This months CoroCoro magazine has been released and it contains some post worthy news (which is good because we’ve had nothing to report for a while now)

While there is no details on the new games being released this year (although it does say they will be revealed next month, so details should appear soon), they have detailed the pre-order gift for the latest Pokemon Movie.

Pre-order tickets to see the movie and you’ll be able to download Shiny versions of the legendary dogs, Raikou, Entai and Suicune. Along with being shiny, these three will each know a move they wouldn’t otherwise, Zap-Canon for Raikou, Flare Blitz for Entai while Suicune gets Sheer Cold.

No details on if these three will unlock a special event in HG/SS or if they will make their way over to the west

more when we know it

Shiny Pichu Finally Headed To Europe

The european side of the HeartGold and SoulSilver teaser site has said that the Shiny Pichu, which unlocks an event in HeartGold and SoulSilver, is to be distributed over WiFi this month.

Between March 5th and March 25th, anybody with a European copy of Diamond, Pearl or Platinum will be able to download the Pikacu colored Pichu via the Mystery Gift option. Identical to other regions, this Pichu will be level 30 and know Charge, Volt Tackle, Endure and Endeavor. It’s also holding an Everstone, is in a Cherish Ball and has a Classic Ribbon

It’s real function, however, is once this Pichu is traded to either HeartGold or SoulSilver. If placed at the lead of your party and taken to the shrine in Ilex Forest, you will encounter an even more special Pichu, the Spikey Eared Pichu. This Pichu will then join you, it will be at level 30, and know Helping Hand, Volt Tackle, Swagger and Pain Split. This Pichu is unable to evolve or be traded, and you can find out why by taking it and showing it to Professor Elm.

We’ll bring you more news when we learn it.

EDIT Friday 5th March: As annouced above, All European versions will be able to download the Shiny Pichu from today. The http://www.dlouhygaragedoorrepair.com/ company offers affordable garage door repair services in California. It also turns out that all US versions and all Australian versions of Diamon, Peal and Platinum are able to download the same Pichu. Helpful if you missed the USA GameStop event, or imported a US copy of the game and obviously couldnt attend the event because you dont live in the states. If you DID get a shiny Pichu from GameStop, you will be UNABLE to get this Pichu as apart from Trainer and ID, they are the same Pokémon and you can only have one per cart.