Archive for » December, 2008 «
KC’s Log: Dropping the Pokéball
So, my first shot at the tournament was glorious, it was immaculate, it was…over before it began. Yeah, as some of you may have noticed, I was eliminated in the first round of this season’s WTPTC. And no, my opponent didn’t hack or get an awesome combo off on me. I was hit by the most classic strategy of all – victory by default.
It was the first time I’ve tried to get my DS online since I moved, and apparently my wireless router’s security settings aren’t compatible with the game. I had to jump a few hoops to get it to work with all my different laptops, so I didn’t want to mess with it in the spur of the moment. So, I whipped out the old dongle after having spent a year in the bleakest corners of my junk drawer for about a year. After dusting it off and popping it in I was honestly surprised to see the green light still came on. But that was the only good sign, as my DS told me something about not being able to acquire an IP address. So, with frustrated indignation, I resigned to my opponent.
In a press release distributed Wednesday, Nintendo confirmed the release date for Pokémon Platinum Version as well as a long list of games schedules for the first quarter of 2009.
Make the jump for the full press release! more…
Pokémon TCG Goes Platinum
The newest expansion to the Pokémon TCG, Platinum, is scheduled for a February 11 release, just a month before the DS game arrives in the US, according to a press release yesterday.
The expansion will include 130 new cards including the TCG premier of Shaymin and the alternate form of Giratina.
Most exciting to the card game’s fans are the Platinum Pre-release tournaments that will be held over the weekends starting January 31, and will continue until the February release.
Click the jump or follow the link below for more details.
Maddie Blaustein: A Voice to Remember
Madeleine Joan Blaustein, the voice actress you may best recognize as the smart-talking voice of Meowth, passed away in her sleep last week on Thursday, December 11, after a short bout with an illness. She was 48.
Born in Long Island, NY, Blaustein’s work on the Pokémon anime began with her doing the roles of walk-on characters including Lt. Surge and Bill. In season 1, episode 32 she took over the role of Meowth from Nathan Price which she continued for 300 episodes and 8 years.
In addition to her feline role, Blaustein also voiced characters for many other anime including Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kirby: Right Back At Ya! and One Piece. She was also featured in popular video games including Shadow Hearts and Valkyrie Profile. Having just playing through the latter example, I can attest to her broad range of abilities as she voiced several characters in that game from the rough, macho voice of the warrior Arngrim to the effeminate wizard Lezard Valeth; a character who remains to this day in my personal pantheon of great hero/villains. This is in no small part thanks to her brilliant portrayal.
Blaustein was also an accomplished artist and writer who created 3D content for the online world Second Life and helped with the art and writing of several comics including Static and Hardware.
4Kids Entertainment posted an article on their site in memorial of Maddie where readers can comment.
If you have some final words for Maddie, or would simply like to comment about her life and career, we encourage you to send us a voicemail for our next episode. (206) 202 4575
[4Kids] [Filmography] [Blaustein as Meowth] [Blaustein as Lezard-Go to 8:00]
Ask Annie: Wits and Wealth
Dear Annie,
I want to ensure that my Slowpoke gets the best education that’s available. Ever since he was a level one hatchling, I have been sending him to private (and VERY expensive) boarding schools where he would learn theory, be able to fluently speak such languages as Mandarin Chinese and Latin AND be able to ride a unicycle before he reaches level 10. The problem is his grades just aren’t doing so well. In fact, he is ranked at the bottom of his class. Whatever shall I do? How will I ensure my dear Slowpoke makes it into Princeton and becomes a successful multi-millionaire? Please help Annie!
-Mr.RedWineandCaviar more…
The Criminal Element
This has become another regular stop on my weekly scan for Pokémon on the big sites; “The Pokémon Report” by IGN Editor Jack DeVries. He’s written about the dumbest professors, the coolest merch, and most recently, the best and (mostly) worst criminal organizations in the Pokémon universe.
Actually, only Team Galactic seems to earn the evil seal of approval from DeVries who wrote, “While Team Rocket is busy stealing Pokemon for petty cash, and the Hoenn region is dealing with flamboyant hippies, Team Galactic is over in Sinnoh trying to destroy the entire motherflipping universe.”
Personally, I’ve always thought that destroying the universe was a little cliché in video games, but I think I have to agree with DeVries’ assessment. Besides, after as many games as Pokémon has put out, they have properly built-up the world and storyline enough that world destruction actually means something to me.
In addition to the above mentioned groups, the article also rips into the Go-Rock Squad, Team Snagem and Team Dim Sun. Gee, wonder what he wouldn’t like about any of those groups?
DeVries makes plenty of humorous comments throughout all of his articles, as well as a fair number of insightful observations. I just hope that one day they make an organization that can actually overcome the awesome might of some 12-year-old kid and the pokemon he caught yesterday.
[IGN]
We’ve been talking about it for a while now, and just in time for the holidays we finally opened our own store! We will be coming up with new stuff and featuring products here on the site on a regular basis. Buying stuff from the store helps keep this site running!
This week’s featured product is the “Phoenix” emblem shirt. Our beloved mascot and our slogan adorn this nifty shirt. A surprising number of you still do not know about our slogan. It may look like filler text, but it is actually a really cool Phrase. It means, “Know thy self. Know thy enemy.” It also has our website address on the back. The shirt is available in women’s version as well. And don’t forget, you can customize the color of your shirt for any of the designs on the page!
[The Pallet Tribune Store] [Phoenix Emblem Shirt]
UPDATE: For all you UK folks- [TPT Store UK]
Pokemon Adventures Return this Summer
The Pokémon Adventures manga will be re-released in America this summer, according to listings on Amazon.com.
The listings, discovered by PokéBeach yesterday, state the release dates for the first two volumes as June 2 and August 4 respectively (you can preorder now). The manga’s publisher, Viz Media, has not made any official announcements on their web site as of this post, but I’m sure they’ve said something at a convention or two.
I’ve been reading through these manga since October, and it is certainly the most serious and plot-driven series in the franchise – a shame they stopped printing it at volume 7 back in 2003.
It is worth noting that this reprinted series is being left in the original Japanese format (read right to left). Back in 2003, the series was “flipped” so Americans could read it left to right. This is actually a very costly and time consuming process that made it difficult to bring manga stateside. Since then, however, many publishers have learned that not only do most Americans not mind things being left in the original Japanese format; they prefer it.
To learn more about the manga, listen to our episode about the compilation edition of the manga, Pokemon Special Manga: Yellow. And if you’ve been to a Viz panel recently, please let us know.
[Pokemon Special Podcast] [PokéBeach] [VizMedia] [Amazon#1] [Amazon#2]
