Tag Archives: Pokemon

Failure – I Choose You!: The Rise of Self-Enforced Hardcore Modes

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 Very rarely does one consider the power of failure. 

Yet, our shared desire to avoid failure is often integral in the direction we take our lives. It greases the wheels of our existence, keeps us drudging through the monotony of work, and pushes us forward; as a society we chase success. Success, after all, comes with some very obvious benefits. Yet, without the risk of failure what would be the point of it all? A victory that comes easily is ultimately a meaningless one; a victory earned through struggle is remembered for a lifetime.

The prospect of failure is used to great effect in video games. Cast your mind to the constant threat of Mass Effect 2’s suicide mission, or the encroaching moon in Majora’s Mask as it creeps closer and closer to Termina. Both examples offer the player a feeling of urgency; they heighten the tension. Take away that constant threat of failure and the deep sense of atmosphere offered by Mass Effect 2 and Majora’s Mask would have suffered for the loss. Without the possibility of losing a teammate we knew intimately, it would have been harder to identify with Mass Effect 2’s conclusion. Without the ticking meter …

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Rabid Speculation: Genetics in Pokemon Black and White 2?

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We’ve got another one of those entries in a popular franchise whose announcement can be solely, “It exists, get hype!” and get away with it. At least with this one we have some images of combined Pokemon to go with our speculation apetizer. Are these direct sequels? The full titles for both games are Pokemon Black Version 2 and Pokemon White Version 2, so these could very well just be expanded variations on the games. Naturally our most interesting speculation comes from the only content we’ve now seen of the games; the images of Zekrom and Reshiram that appear to have fused with the disaster-causing Kyurem.

Let the speculation begin!

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Pokemon and samurai collide in Pokemon + Nobunaga’s Ambition [UPDATE]

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CoroCoro magazine recently teased the reveal of a brand new, “shocking” Pokemon title to be revealed in their January 2012 issue.  Turns out Jump Festa had other plans, seeing as they decided to showcase the game early.There is a chance this isn’t the game, but I doubt it. If the combination of Pokemon and Nobunaga’s Ambition isn’t going to shock people I don’t know what is.

There isn’t much to say on Pokemon + Nobunaga’s Ambition yet since we know little of it. The game seems to take place during the Sengoku period when samurai and armored generals still existed. Now imagine that era, but with Pokemon crawling about fighting alongside these warriors. Based on the screenshots posted on 4Gamer it looks like the game will be a SRPG. It’s set to release for the DS in Japan next spring with Tecmo Koei and Pokemon Company working together on it.

Via Adriasang

Edit: Pokemon fansite Serebii was nice enough to upload a trailer for the game, enjoy!

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No more surprises

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Pokemon Blue may in fact be one of the most influential games of my childhood. It is a series that has worked hard to create a massive world of its own inhabited by fascinating creatures known as Pokemon. As a trainer, you are tasked to find and catch as many of them as possible. Why? For research of course! There was always this amazing feeling that came with finding a new Pokemon and figuring them out. Some, like Abra and Magikarp, seemed pretty useless at first, but through evolution showed how much potential they held. I always looked forward to what my pocket monster would evolve into, or if they would evolve at all. That’s just part of the surprise, you just don’t know what’s going to happen.

Like pocket monsters themselves, the series and its fans evolve with time. It is far easier for us to access information on not just Pokemon, but all of our favorite games due to the growing influence of the Internet. With the knowledge it holds we no longer have to buy games based on the best boxart on the shelf. Videos, written reviews, pictures, and several means of research are at our disposal. This …

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Wild Pokemon Gray Domain Spotted

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In spite of its development being denied earlier this year, a domain name has been registered for Pokemon Gray. While this could be a simple case of protecting the name for the future, it wouldn’t be a surprise given Nintendo’s habit of pumping out a middle ground game with each generation of Pokemon.

This shouldn’t be taken as hard proof of the game’s existense, but these domain registration stories often turn out to be true. Since we don’t know anything else for the moment, let’s talk about where that lobster and chicken Ash is eating came from.

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Color Coded

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When playing a game, what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you see a horizontal red strip? How about a horizontal blue one or a yellow one? What if I show you a bunch of little purple or green circles? Jagged yellow lines? An undefined red shape with points? A blue area with mild noise? This list can go on for as long as I am willing to type. The answers are: a health bar, a magic/sp meter, a stamina bar, poison, paralysis or electricity, fire, and water, and I would guess most folk reading this got at least five out of seven. Be it games, movies, or even just text, color alone can define what something is for us. For example, there is a difference between a potion and a potion in some games, where the second is probably harder to come by.

This is not a discussion on color’s effect on games, but games’ effect on color. In games, many icons, indicators, and representations are nearly if not exactly identical, and if there is anything that …

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Visible Puppeteers

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Mid-Boss telling a bit too much

Breaking the immersion is a popular criticism in games these days. Perhaps not with those exact words, but anything that pulls a player out of the world within the game for any reason, be it a bug or an imperfect animation or an unexplained mechanic or even the inclusion of collectibles the gaming community tends to put on a frown and shake their collective heads.

 

Much like how this protagonist does to his midboss

In the film and theater world, particularly pertaining to Japanese film and theater, the words representational and presentational get thrown around a lot. To be representational is to be intending to hide the fact that a film, play, game, or other form of narrative media is a fabrication. Conversely, the presentational is that which makes a point to show or simply does not try to hide the fabricated nature of storytelling. Something like Inception is the epitome of representational–absurd sums of money and effort were put into making it seem as real as physically possible, even when the movie steps out of the boundaries of reality. …

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The Bond of Gaming

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Imagine a scenario where you are playing a game on its normal difficulty and you’re a quarter of the way through the game. You’ve been having a good time, especially for the last couple hours. Suddenly, your avatar’s speed is crippled to an agonizingly slow rate, with no explanation as to why. Every single motion that you try to make your character initiate seems as if it’s a monumental task when it’s something as simple as moving forward.

On October 16th, 2007 this type of nightmare mode was selected for my life. I was dead asleep after an exhausting day of classes. Out of nowhere, I heard my cell phone emit the tiniest beep – the indication that someone is trying to call when it’s charging. I glanced at the alarm clock and noticed that it was two in the morning. Wondering who could be calling, I flipped open the phone, groggily mumbling a greeting.

I was surprised to hear my father’s voice on the other end. He told me to put my feet on the floor. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on at this point; however, my legs swung over the edge of my mattress and my bare soles …

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Your new Pokemon

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Lost in the bustle of Tokyo Games Show has been Pokemon Black and White nearing release in Japan. Oh, well, we didn’t forget. And neither did Serebii, who have all the Pokemon in the new game available in list form. With pictures, typings, and occasional stats. And you know you’re curious.

Some quick notes, because I’m sleepy. First, there’s twelve legendaries. TWELVE. Sure, they might not all be legendaries, but they’re mostly after the cover Pokemon in number, so I’m assuming they’re Pokemon. Second, there are a *lot* of three evolution Pokemon, by my count. This is not a scientific conclusion, but there are a lot of Pokemon that seem like they could be viable in the end game, which is pretty fantastic.

And the typings! Oh lord the typings. We have in new types: psychic/fire, psychic/flying, ground/dark, dark/fight, normal/grass, electric/flying, bug/steel, water/ghost (yes!), bug/electric, grass/steel, ghost/fire (yes!!), electric/ground, ground/ghost (fucker is a champ!), dark/steel, dark/dragon (fuck yeah!), and bug/fire. And in old but awesome types, we have new ground/steel, water/rock, rock/flying, water/flying (possibly the most adorable Pokemon ever, by the way), and dark/flying. Oh, and the legendaries are …

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