Pokemon gets some ink in US News and World Report
Ten years and 14 billion trading cards after its debut
(enough to circle the Earth nearly 40 times), the Pokémon
phenomenon is still going strong. The cutesy-yet-combative
critters are celebrating the anniversary with a 24-city
Pokémon Journey Across America national mall tour (www.pokemon.com),
making stops through July 22. Chad Young, a 23-year-old
Pokémon "professor" from St. Louis who is making some stops
on the tour, brought us up to date on the beasties'
evolution.
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New Yu-Gi-Oh! card expansion unveiled
The sneak preview was for the release of the Shadow of
Infinity collection, which hits the shelves this month.
The big talk of the day surrounded an ultra-rare card called
Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder, and rare cards like the
Proto Cyber Dragon, Treeborn Frog, and the super rare Divine
Dragon-Excelion.
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Japan: DS Lite Sells Out in Hours
Selling faster than the original, with lines stretching
around buildings and across streets, it took less than a day
for the initial shipment of Nintendo’s DS Lite to sell out
in most of Japan, according to reports.
Many stores opened early to better handle the crowds, but
the majority of stores were sold out before the store
opened.
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DS Lite Hands-on
We wrap our mitts around the just-released-in-Japan handheld
redesign.
If you've been reading IGN for the past few days, you
already know about the redesigned Nintendo DS Lite system,
its launch in Japan just a few days ago, and its hard to
find status due to shortened supplies. These supplies are so
short in Japan, in fact, that we still haven't received the
units we've had on preorder since the unveiling of the
handheld back in January.
Luckily, before the whole Japanese launch debacle, Nintendo
hopped on over to the IGN offices to bring over the system
so we could see what the big deal's about. Though the
company still hasn't revealed when the system's making the
hop over to the US, it's pretty obvious that the system will
ship stateside eventually, and Nintendo's rightfully proud
about the redesign enough to give us a preview.
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Viz Scores Highest Ever Sales Ranking for a Manga in
Booklist
Three Viz Manga placed in USA Today's best selling book list
for the week ending February 26.
Most notable, was Naruto volume 9, which ranked 29th, the
highest ever rank achieved by a manga. The volume was ranked
in position 147 the previous week.
The other manga in Booklist this week were Rurouni Kenshin
volume 24 in 116 position and Death Note volume 4 in 118
position.
Previously, the highest ever ranking manga was Fruits
Basket, which achieved 69th position with volume 10 and had
several volumes break the top 100. The next highest ranking
title is Fullmetal Alchemist, which reached 88 with volume
2. Volume 1 of Fullmetal Alchemist and Volume 11 of Fruits
Basket stayed on the top 150 longer than any other manga, 4
weeks.
Source
What’s HOT in Anime Podcast
The Right Stuf International (“TRSI”), anime producer and
mega-online anime retailer, announced today it has launched
the latest episode of Anime Today, the first ever commercial
podcast aimed at Japanese animation (“anime”) and manga
enthusiasts.
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You can also buy for download orginal anime podcasts of some
of your favorite anime adventures at places like
totalvid.com.
Pokemon Trozei!
The last time Nintendo's Pocket Monster critters adorned a
puzzle game, it was to brand the company's Puzzle de Pon
design as Pokemon Puzzle League and Pokemon Puzzle Challenge
on the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color. Pokemon Trozei goes
one step further: this is a completely original puzzle
design that incorporates the whole "Gotta Catch 'em All"
theme of the franchise. Believe it or not, it's surprisingly
fun and pretty darn unique, and most importantly, it's not
ruined with an unnecessarily cutesy Pokemon presentation.
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Atari Ships First Ever Dragon Ball Z(R) Title for
PSP(TM) System
Dragon Ball Z(R): Shin Budokai Game for the PSP(TM) System
Hits Retailers
Atari, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATAR) today announced that Dragon Ball
Z(R): Shin Budokai for the PSP(TM) (PlayStation(R)Portable)
system has shipped to retail stores nationwide. Dragon Ball
Z: Shin Budokai, the first Dragon Ball Z PSP system game,
features wireless multiplayer that sends the franchise's
furious combat rocketing into a new dimension. Developed by
Dimps, the creative team behind past Dragon Ball Z(R) hits
including Budokai, Budokai 2, and Budokai 3 for
PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, Dragon Ball
Z: Shin Budokai is rated T for Teen.
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Nintendo Wi-Fi reaches a million users
Nintendo Canada announced today that Nintendo’s wireless
gaming service has hit an incredible one-million unique
users worldwide after less than four months in operation.
The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection lets owners of the handheld
Nintendo DS game unit log on wirelessly to compete or
interact in a variety of games, from racing in Mario Kart DS
or community-building with Animal Crossing: Wild World.
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Chit Chat with Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto Live
Going out to all the Nintendo’s fanboys, legendary video
game designer Shigeru Miyamoto is more than happy to chit
chat with you and answer any questions you have in mind.
Among his peers, Miyamoto is consider the greatest video
game designer in the world, and is often called, “The
Spielberg of Video Games” by Time magazine (May 1996). For
those of you that don't know who is Shigeru Miyamoto; he
serves as the creative force behind the world’s most popular
and enduring video games for Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube,
Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo Entertainment
System (Super NES), Game Boy, and Nintendo Entertainment
System (NES).
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