Playtest: Pokemon Soul Silver

And the Pokemon game I've been squeeing about has been finally released in Japanese. Of course, I got the chance to play it. Well, a good first half hour of it. Here's the rundown:

-The opening sequence now features a nicely rounded 3D Lugia or a Ho-Oh, depending on your version.
-The opening sequence also includes that guy who was chasing after Suicine in the Crystal version. Could Heart Gold and Soul Silver mean a combination of Silver/Gold and Crystal?
-I'm still not too happy with the female sprite design so I went with the male. The character of the opposite gender you choose from the start appears in game though. I'm not too sure if they play the same role as the opposite gender in Pearl/Diamond/Platinum.
-Yes, your pokemon DO walk beside you ala Pokemon Yellow. You can turn around and talk to them, too! When you do, you get little emoticons that tell you its mood.
-The biggest change would be with the menu. The menu can be activated by the X button but always remains on screen on the touchscreen part of the DS. As shown in said screenshot below:



So far, everything feels the same apart from the obvious changes. Makes me even more excited to get my hands on the English version!
Pokewalkeeeeeeeer~~ I WANT IT.

Heart Gold and Soul Silver announced for English Release!

A few months ago, pokemaniacs around the world were treated to a bit of good news: the return of Gold and Silver as HeartGold and SoulSilver. We held our breath, hardly believing the news. For the more pessimistic, it was more of "Oh no. Yet ANOTHER pokemon game." and for the fans, much screaming and fangasming was to be had.

Be prepared to fangasm yet again.... for I bring you...



THE ENGLISH TRAILER.
Now go watch it! No further commentary from yours truly is needed. Shoo! Git!

Speculated release is Spring 2010.

E3 Videos!

Scribblenauts is looking interesting. Your main goal is to gather pieces of Starite in the level using any means possible. With over 100,000 words to play with (check out the video to see what I mean) this can lead to some very interesting puzzle solutions!

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Pokemon Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky has been given a trailer which shows stuff that isn't present in Explorers of Time/Darkness (As far as I've encountered). I see a Shaymin... and an Igglybuff... Intriguing.

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Also, Golden Sun is looking awesome.

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In other news from Siliconera, it seems that Gaijinworks is now thinking of porting Visual Novels?
Gaijinworks' was responsible for the localization of Miami Law and its president was former president of Working Designs, Vic Ireland.
Sounds like a good idea to me! The Visual Novel genre is greatly underrated but I don't really know how Americans would take to it. Always worth a try, though!

And finally an update!

And after a slow news run... I finally have something to update about!



First off: XSeed has announced that it'll be bringing Ragnarok Online DS over as an English release! For those unaware, the Japanese version was released some time ago. It plays like a sort of Zelda game where you point at enemies to attack them or to walk to a certain location. It's your typical RO fare with a plot and a couple more character classes thrown in: the dark knight and the shaman.

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In other news, more details for Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul silver have come up. Here's what I understand so far:

I was right about the whole thing with the starter Pokemon following the trainer around! Apparently though, this may hold true not only for the starter but for any specific pokemon in the party. Not too sure about that, though..
The menu's gone a significant change, too if visible from the screenshot below. Everything's more touch screen oriented and most likely ala PDA style.



Also, the female protagonist has gone through a really big change. I dunno if it's for the better. See for yourself.



I'm not too fond of the big hat myself...

Also, there seem to be some preorder bonuses for the upcoming Arceus-centric movie. You get a Pikachu colored Pichu (??) and a notch eared Pichu which trigger a cutscene in Crystal's Celebi location as well as a special Arceus that brings up some sorta history lesson on the world of Pokemon!

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Source:
DS @ Joystiq.com
Siliconera

Pokemon Sunday Reveal

And S.S. delivers! Here's said episode of Pokemon Sunday where Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver were revealed. Along with the reveal, a few seconds of gameplay was shown. Seems that Gold was being followed by Chikorita. Are we looking at something like Pokemon Yellow again?
Of course, things can change when the actual game comes along but... this is pretty exciting news!
The entire video is in Japanese without subtitles so... I apologize to those who don't speak Japanese but as far as I understand, the release date is set to Fall of 2009 as early speculation gave out.

CONFIRMED

According to IGN and several other sources, Nintendo has confirmed the release of a Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver remake. Entitled Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, the release has been dated in Japan by Fall of 2009. Prediction of an American release by... oh, say, 2010.
As well as updated graphics and system, there was something about a new element being released as well.

It's been ten years since Gold and Silver was released. Only fitting a remake would come out by now. Since its release in 1999, the game has sold over 23,000,000 copies worldwide.

Personally, I'm pretty excited about this. One of my favourite Pokemon of all time have come from the Kanto region and I have pretty fond memories of this game. I'm expecting more than just a graphical overhaul but I'm sure Nintendo knows better. Yes, I've also added a Pokemon tag seeing as it's not really a dying genre and I am a self confessed Pokemaniac.
Now if you'll excuse me... I have to squee.

Sources:
Original article on Official Japanese Pokemon site