While cruising around the internet today, I happened to stumble upon something that would be of great interest to a lot of people. Apparently a group of Pokémon fans have been working on an MMO version of what seems to be Pokémon Emerald. Although it is still in the beta phases, when it is complete you are apparently supposed to be able to battle anyone and chat with other trainers. As well as see many other trainers on the world map in real time. It also is supposed to support both the lands of Kanto and Hoenn, and all the Pocket Monsters that have appeared in those lands. If you want to see some screen shots, and hear about what they are including in this little project, take the jump into the world of Pokémon.
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DS
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time
Dream Pinball 3D
River King: Mystic Valley
The World Ends With You

Wii
Battle of the Bands
Dream Pinball 3D
Target: Terror
Wild Earth: African Safari
The Red Star

Anything you plan to get this week?

This press release is really for the serious, Pokemon pre-ordering types only …

PRESS RELEASE (Nintendo) — Two new Pokémon adventures for Nintendo DS are on the way, and Nintendo plans to reward fans for ordering early with guides to help them navigate the games. Starting March 16, fans who place an order for either Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time or Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness will receive a free, limited-edition Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers Guide*. The guide contains an exclusive collection of tips, interviews and an original manga by Ken Sugimori, main art director of Pokémon video games.

In these two new games, players journey through time and darkness as actual Pokémon as they attempt to find out why they’ve been turned into a Pokémon. Their epic quest leads them through countless, randomly generated dungeons, encountering more than 490 Pokémon. Players also have the option to send rescue alerts to their friends via e-mail or mobile text message when they are connected to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. These two new Dungeon games give Pokémon fans another excuse to upgrade to Nintendo DS, which also plays all their favorite Game Boy Advance games in single-player mode.

Pokémon games remain as popular as ever. Last year’s release of Pokémon Diamond Version and Pokémon Pearl Version for Nintendo DS sold a combined 4.33 million copies to date in the United States alone.

*Deposit may be required. See retailer for details. While supplies last.

InvisibleMan, I strongly suggest you look away or don’t play this video at all. That goes for the rest of you Pokemon lovers too. This video is traumatic. Traumatically funny, that is.

InvisibleMan, let no one criticize or mock you for your unabashed Poke-love ever again!

DS Fanboy:

Nintendo announced that Pokemon Diamond and Pearl have sold 10 million units worldwide. That’s one for every dollar in this year’s Publisher’s Clearinghouse sweepstakes. The games have sold a collective 5.2 million copies in Japan, with the US making up most of the rest. Diamond and Pearl just came out in Europe on the 27th, so expect this number to continue climbing.  Don’t expect the formula for Pokemon games to change any time soon. At this point, that would be harming the economy of a small nation, composed entirely of Pokemon game cartridges.

And I must say, after reading Penny-Arcade’s series on a Pokemon tournament, I am intrigued about this Pokemon phenomenon. A little.

This Poke-post goes out to Infendo regular invisibleman. I think he can relate. As for me, my Pokemon perception has been skewed a bit. Now I take this threat a bit more seriously… soon they’ll be taking over the world while collecting ‘em all!

Besides invis, can some Poke-fans come out of the wood work and tell me what the DS Pokemon experience has been like? I’m genuinely curious.

See the full web comic at Penny Arcade.

The PS3 and the Xbox 360’s incessant infighting over exclusivity and which must-have titles are going to be multiplatform or not just became even more irrelevant to Nintendo’s global domination strategy than ever before. Why? Because Next Generation is reporting that Tsunekazu Ishihara, CEO the Pokémon Company, has predicted that Nintendo will win the hardware war based on sales of its Pokémon franchise, which he says won’t be going multiplatform.

“The hardware which has Pokémon on it will be the winner,” Ishihara said.

BOO-YA. Take that, other game console companies, because the Poke-master has spoken!

On a more serious note, I’ll argue that a system that has Pokemon will do very well indeed, but it by no means seals the deal. To do that you need Dogz.

According to Nintendo, 40% of Wii users have gone online. Assuming that the total number of people that bought internet strictly for their Wii (not likely) and/or are “borrowing” their neighbor’s wireless signal (more likely than you’d think) adds up to a generous 5% of Wii owners, this means that at least a third of Wii users have a computer, a router, a broadband internet connection, and a willingness to go online with their console. That demographic is ideal for online gaming.

While probably only a tenth or less of plugged-in Wii users would regularly play online games if they were handled on a per-game basis and quietly tucked away within each game’s title menu with nary a word spoken hence, a focused campaign from Nintendo to connect its Wii users in a centralized service - maybe dress it up extra adorable, smattered with Miis and smarm - could crack the typically-reclusive “casual market” open like an egg. And soon, God willing, most of the world could be shrieking racial epithets into their headsets.

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Apparently, the Pokémon franchise isn’t fading out:

Within just five days of availability, more than 1 million copies of Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl for the portable Nintendo DS have sold in the United States since Sunday’s launch.

That’s roughly 500,000 copies of two different games, but that’s just in America! The games have been out in Japan since September and they have sold over five million copies there. With Pokémon Battle Revolution tying these titles into the Wii, the Pokémon cash cow has plenty of milk left in her.

Will the increased popularity bring the franchise back into American popular culture? Will we see Pokémon movies back in theaters for the first time in four years?

Every challenge allong the way
with courage I will face.
I will battle every day
to claim my rightful place.
Come with me,
the time is right,
there’s no better team.
Arm in arm we’ll win the fight!
It’s always been our dream!

US releases:
Wii
Bionicle Heroes
DS
Pokemon Diamond Version
Pokemon Pearl Version
Classic Action: Devilish
SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS

UK/EU releases:
DS
Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2007

1up.com’s calling it Pokemania. From the look of the pictures they’re pretty spot on.

Were there any Infendo readers in the mix? Was it as packed as the 1up photos make it out to be? More so? Do tell and leave a comment.

Or, better yet, record a little file and point your mouse cursor to the tips button up top. Maybe Scott, Blake and Kyle will listen to and chew on your call for an upcoming edition of Infendo Radio.

It was merely raining Pokemon here at Infendo yesterday, but today the sky is opening up a torrent of Pokemania that looks to take over the U.S. A dangerous flood of Pikachu, Bulbasaurs and Jigglypuffs is imminent.

To pimp this publicity for all its worth, Nintendo fired off a press release today touting some impressive pre-order numbers for the DS titles, Diamond and Pearl.

With the new games set to be released on April 22, pre-sale figures are twice as large as they were for previous releases Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen, which have sold 3.4 million units between them in the US since being released in 2004, according to Reuters.

Impressive. Most impressive. They should, like, make a movie about this or something.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oY5FegI6gc]
And when Pokemon launches for DS on April 22, it will rain money at Nintendo HQ.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dDBqACY1Uc]
Gotta kill ‘em all!

Twisted ankles, here I come.