Worlds of their own: Pokemon

The Pokemon games were among the first that I ever played. Back then I wasn't interested enough to read magazines and I didn't have many friends who followed gaming. But good Lord, they marketed the hell out of that game. Between ads for the game itself and the anime, my brothers and I were already obsessed before the morning when we opened up that box and saw a translucent Game Boy Pocket with a copy of Pokemon Blue version inside the cartridge slot, and promptly flipped out.

Despite the marketing however, my brothers and I never really watched the show or got into the trading card games that much. We saw the first two movies (and loved them to bits) but beyond that, the majority of my experience with the series comes from the “regular” series of handheld titles: R/B/Y, G/S/C, R/S/E, and P/D/P. Many of my friends played for the pleasure of winning and becoming the new champion, but I played for something else. To explore the strange new world were kids left their home at 10-years-old to traverse around the world, meeting new people, catching new Pokemon and achieve something extraordinary (And maybe save the world while they’re at it, too.)

Fifth Generation Pokemon: Pokemon White/Black to be revealed on April 15th

The first details about the future fifth generation of Pokemon games has emerged. We don't know much as of now, but as previously reported, Joystiq has stated that "every aspect will be reborn innovatively." So it is looking as though this is the series overall that people have been expecting. 

I'm glad that they are reverting back to colours and not more stones. I'm surprised it's for the DS and not the 3DS though. I expecting there to be some kind of 3DS functionality though, as Gamefreak have been in possession of the 3DS dev kits for quite some time now. 

The Wii Gets Its First Black Box, Others Follow.

In Japan, the black box isn't for the specific game, but the game's rating. Japanese Wii games rated 15+ are to be given black boxes. The black box will be an additional warning to parents along with the colour rating on the side and front. Nintendo first announced the change in box color before the release of Zangeki no Reginleiv, an extremely violent Wii game featuring 4-player co-op and limb dismemberment with full blood effects. The game has received a CERO D rating (17+), the first Nintendo game of its kind in Japan since Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube.

Hit the jump for more:

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle – Launch Trailer

As of this moment I have not watched the above video, I have specifically avoided all media and spoliers bar the first trailer released. I fully expect this game to take months of analysis and multiple play-throughs to fully wrap my head around and I plan on being thoroughly suprised and impressed. The first title still makes me laugh, scream, think, and violently "recharge my beam katana"  to this day and I expect this to be no different.

"Entirely New" Pokemon Series Coming This Year. Series rebirth?

Nintendo has announced that Gamefreak is working on a brand-new Pokemon RPG, and it's due out this year in Japan. There are (of course) going to be brand-new Pokemon involved, and the series is going to experience some sort of rebirth. Expect new functionality and play types, according to Nintendo. Just how different will this game be? Only time will tell, I guess, but Nintendo is already confident that it'll be a huge hit.

Along side the promised rebirth of the Zelda series with the Wii iteration, Metroid:Other M and previously Super Mario Galaxy and possibly this new Pokemon title, Nintendo seem to be in the process of rebooting their key franchises this generation. Personally the anticipation of what they will do to these beloved I.P's has me more excited than anything else this upcoming gaming year. Although I hope they don't add too many new Pokemon this generation, because it would be almost impossible for me to catch them all. And people who can obviously cheated, everyone knows you can't catch mew.