The back-end to PokeBeach is completely busted. I am probably going to delete the entire system tomorrow and replace it with a new system that I have been working on for the past few weeks. There may be some downtime. But at least we finally have some news!

All About Pokemon Figures has discovered a sticker product advertisement for To the Conquering of Space-Time, naming a new "Pokemon A." This happened last year in which "New Pokemon A and B" labels were posted on various movie 11 products, later turning out to be Shaymin Sky Forme and Giratina Origin Forme. The new Pokemon may be Arceus, though that is merely speculation at this point.

The sticker product, amid our heroes' Pokemon and Pokemon we already know will be in the 12th movie, names Heatran as a sticker. Could Heatran be in the film as well? Sometimes Pokemon products feature Pokemon unrelated to what the products are promoting, so we cannot know with any certainty.

Monferno and Staraptor are among the movie 12 stickers too. Is this a hint that Ash's Chimchar and Staravia are going to evolve soon?

As we reported early last month, a new Pokemon is going to be revealed at the Japanese World Hobby Fair on January 18th. Will it be this new Pokemon A? Arceus? Something else? We'll find out soon!

*tumbleweed*
This has got to be the slowest news month in Pokemon history. Come back in 2009 for more news! Glad the year is almost over - good riddance 2008. Hope 2009 is much brighter.

I knew I forgot to do something! Last week's time's quiz asked, "Which of the following real-world animals HAS BEEN made into a Pokemon?" The correct answer was a chicken (Torchic, Combusken, Blaziken), which 42% of the voters chose correctly. The moose came in second place, but there are no moose Pokemon (did you confuse a moose with Stantler?).

Since this is the second time the correct answer has been in first place (though not answered by a majority of the people), the score is... WPM: 7, Voters: 2. Try this week's quiz!

In DP111, "The Ruins of Iron Island," Team Galactic Mars and her Purugly are scheduled to appear. Following is DP112, "The Pikachu-Piplup Odyssey," in which Pikachu and Piplup get lost and encounter Deoxys. This will mark Deoxys' third appearance in the animé. DP111 will air in Japan on January 22nd while DP112 will air on the 29th.

Super Smash Brothers is going to be released in Japan on the Wii's Virtual Console sometime this January. It is the very first game of the Super Smash Brothers series, the latest incarnation being Super Smash Brothers Brawl. The game will cost 1,200 Wii points ($12).

There is no word yet on if or when it will be released in America. The Japanese re-release comes almost 10 years after its original Nintendo 64 release of January 21st, 1999, so perhaps America will get the game in April (since it was released here April 26th, 1999).

Redshark has been updated to fix errors on a Magneton and Magnezone card that many people were reporting (guess they're popular cards). You can download the new installer by right clicking and saving this link.

Lack of updates on PokeBeach = lack of news in the Pokemon world.

Toho has sent us real scans of Bonds to the End of Time cards, which have been added to the set's page. Bangiras has also gone through all of the translations and fixed some errors. Enjoy!

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas yesterday and that you all spent quality time with your families! Family is the most important thing you can ever have... no matter what.

We have received word on two Platinum tid-bits: there are six Pokemon LV.X in the set, including Giratina and Shaymin, as well as three Shiny Pokemon, which are again (ugly, scratchable, not-as-good-as-the-Japanese-special-holos) reverse holo cards.

The three Shiny Pokemon are undoubtedly Vulpix, Swablu, and Lotad from Galactic's Conquest. The six Level X's will probably be the Shaymin from Intense Fight in the Destroyed Sky and the Shaymin (Sky Forme), Giratina (Origin Forme), Dialga G, Palkia G, and Drapion LV.X's from Galactic's Conquest.

As with previous sets, two binders featuring artwork from the set will be released. The first pictured below is a 4-pocket, 14-page binder and the second picture is a 9-pocket, 10-page binder. One of the Shaymin shown on the binders will probably be the artwork for the fourth booster pack of the set.

Platinum's two theme decks will be named Rebellion and Flourish. Rebellion will feature Giratina while Flourish will focus on Shaymin. To read more about Platinum, read this news story. You can also check out our spoilers and scans for Intense Fight in the Destroyed Sky (11th movie-related cards in the set, like Shaymin LV.X and Giratina) and Galactic's Conquest (the entire set) to see what Platinum will contain when it comes to America.

Pokemon.com has revealed the names of Giratina's two Formes for the U.S. release of Pokemon Platinum. The Giratina we know from Diamond and Pearl will be called Giratina "Altered Forme" (known as "Another Forme" in Japanese), while the newly designed Giratina is named Giratina Origin Forme (as in the Japanese version of Platinum). The Giratina we have known for a few years is called "Another Forme" because the new Giratina is considered Giratina's true Forme.

Mai_Kingdra, the creator of Redshark, is now looking for people who wish to test the prototype Mac OS X version of Redshark! If you would like to test it, please send an e-mail to redsharksupport at gmail.com and briefly state why you would be a good candidate.

A screenshot of the prototype version can be seen below. Click the thumbnail for a larger image. If all works well, the Mac version should roll out to PokeBeach in early 2009. When that happens, Mac users will be able to practice the Pokemon TCG for the first time on the computer, plus against fellow Windows players through the internet!