So even though I have tests, a partially broken website, and a headache, I decided twenty minutes ago that I was bored. In doing so, I made a phenomenal discovery.
- After establishing that I was going to be receiving Diamond and Pearl TCG scans later this week, I decided to go work on [my new, updated layout] (still a work-in-progress) for a minute or two.
- When I added in a new section to the top-link bar on the new layout, "Wi-Fi League," I decided it was time to show the layout to my forum members, who could comment on it. So, I posted this thread on our forums, asking for opinions on it.
- I then decided to go on AIM and ask a classmate about our AP Gov test tomorrow, so I was distracted for a few moments from Pokemon.
- When refreshing my forums, there was a new post in the thread I had just posted, so I visited the thread, read the post, and went back to working on the layout.
- In working on the layout, I became bored again, so while randomly scrolling down on the page, I clicked "[Old News Archives]" in the left menu and began reading old news I posted years ago.
- Okay, I'm bored again, especially with having to read all of that light blue background behind black text that was burning my eyes.
- Hey, let's go to the newer old news archives, which are the numbers down on the bottom of the main page! In doing this, I came across the April Fools joke I made two years ago about the Pokemon named "Chance." I thought of how funny it was and how some people believed it.
- Again, I became bored. So then, I just rolled back in my chair and started thinking about my tests. Then my mind drifted to the Pokemon, Giratina, and how I thought it was scary, since I associate it with testing time (don't ask why).
- Hey! People made April Fools jokes this year, too. One was about a "Pokemon Opal," which featured Giratina.
- After thinking about this, I randomly and suddenly typed "PokemonOpal.com" into Firefox.
Say what?!?! PokemonOpal.com actually exists?!?! And what's more - it actually redirects to Nintendo.com, the distributors of the Pokemon games?
Wow, could this actually be reserved by Nintendo because a fourth generation game, Pokemon Opal, is coming out in the future, and they don't want anyone taking the domain name? Just to be sure, let's check out who "PokemonOpal.com" is registered to.
Registrant:
Nintendo of America Inc.
4820 150th Ave NE
Redmond, WA 98052
US
Domain name: POKEMONOPAL.COM
So there you have it, folks. Could this be the next Pokemon game, since there is already a website reserved for it? Only time will tell - this does not mean it is "for sure," so don't take it as fact just yet, or as proof that Pokemon Opal is the next game. Nintendo could just be reserving anything Pokemon-related, although this is very coincidental and suspicious.
EDIT: In doing further research, it appears that PokemonTopaz.com and PokemonAmythest.com are also registered. These two names, along with Opal, were registered in October of 2002, meaning that Opal being the next game holds much less merit due to the year it was registered. This might just mean that these COULD be future Pokemon game NAMES that Nintendo wanted to reserve in case they ever used them. A while back, when FireRed and LeafGreen were released, Pokemon "Water Blue," or something similar to that name was discovered registered in a Japanese trademark database, but that game or name never came to be. Still, even though this seems now to be disproved, it's interesting that Nintendo would go out of their way to reserve those website domains.
Yay! The problem should be totally fixed within the next 24 hours.
Dreamhost: I completely understand your frustration and am sorry that we were not able to get this problem resolved sooner. I have transferred you to the server '(BLA)' and you will receive an email shortly with information regarding the move.
This message is just a quick note to inform you that your account has been moved from (BLA) to (BLA). If you did not request this move, do not fret. It is just part of our efforts to spread load and make your hosting experience more pleasant. Keep in mind that if you have been accessing your account by going to (BLA).dreamhost.com (which has never been the correct method) that this will stop working. You should always access your account by logging into your domain instead. This should not affect any of your services, but should you notice any problems, please contact support at (BLA HA HA).
Okay, now back to studying for AP Gov and IB Math tomorrow. I am going to bomb IB Math. :D
EDIT: This is the latest message from Dreamhost: "It appears that your web server has also been the victim of a few networking issues (in addition to a dramatic increase in visitors). Should these problems persist, let us know and I will check into transferring your account to a different server." I "let them know" and asked them to move the site, so hopefully, this problem will be fixed soon. ;)
Sorry about the server craziness. Our host and the amount of visitors trying to access this site broke it, so our host is working on fixing the problem. In the mean time, if you refresh any page multiple times, the site will work!
EDIT: Added D/P Blister pack news story (the first news story).
Ahhh! My first IB test is Thursday, and it involves analyzing a poem or prose passage! Worst part is, I can only study for it by reading other poems and prose passages to gain experience, and I suck with both! Ahhh! My English teacher also threatened to kill me today if I did anything Pokemon-related during these exams, so I am updating my website in high hopes. Just kidding. ;) On a lighter note, PokeBeach will be having at least two surprises before summer, although one is, as of now, "not-for-sure." I'll call the first one "Project Arena" and the second one "Project DP." Although the Modified Card-Dex still has not been upgraded, as I have promised constantly for the past few months, it will be sometime soon, with new features. Can't wait!
On two final notes, our Diamond and Pearl Wi-Fi League still exists (yes, I will continue to harass everyone about it), and is a very huge success, so if you want to see what it is all about, you can read this thread, then join our forums if you want to be apart of the League. Also, although I posted a few days ago that I have added transparent Diamond and Pearl Ken Sugimori images, people seemed to have, for some odd reason, missed the update, sending me e-mails asking me when I am going to put them up. Well, they are up! You can view our Ken Sugimori gallery by [clicking here]. To view the Diamond and Pearl images, click "Pokemon Images," and go to the fourth column for all released and transparent Diamond and Pearl images!
Diamond and Pearl Blister Package - A new blister package will be released in June, featuring two Diamond and Pearl booster packs, an EX Power Keepers pack, a Palkia coin, and a Chimchar promo (it is unknown if this card will be holographic). The blister pack will go for around $14.00, and you can view a larger image of the packaging by clicking the picture to the right.
New Diamond and Pearl TCG Rules - Over the weekend, the official Pokemon TCG website updated with new TCG rules that will go into affect when the first [Diamond and Pearl] set is released this month. This is similar to when EX Ruby and Sapphire was released four years ago, and Pokemon Organized Play made new rules, such as that only one Pokemon can be retreated during a turn and you cannot draw a card on your first turn (wow, FOUR years already?). You can view the new rules by clicking here. It is highly suggested that if you play the game, you learn the new rules for when the set is released.
Arceus, the Alpha Pokemon - Many people have been wondering what Arceus looks like, since the only pictures that are available of it are its [in-game sprites], which are not very detailed. Thanks to a few hackers, two pictures of Arceus have been posted on the internet, each from Pokemon Battle Revolution (the Ken Sugimori image probably will not be released for a while, since Arceus is not legally obtainable at the moment). Click the thumbnails below for larger images.
Sources of images: Game Radar, PokePoek
Old Movie Trailers - In celebrating the 10th anniversary of Pokemon and Pokemon's past, the official Japanese movie website has posted old movie trailers from movies one through eight. All of the trailers contain scenes that were made only for the trailers, and were not included in the actual movie. It is also worth mentioning that these were not the only trailers made for each movie - each Pokemon movie has at least three different trailers made for them over time, with each trailer being released as the movie comes closer to completion (we already have two trailers for the 10th Pokemon movie, Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai, and there is bound to be at least one more before it is released in July in Japan). The trailers on the website appear to be the second trailers released for each movie, not the first or the last, so there are scenes that were made for the movies in them, and scenes that were not. To view each trailer, click the links below.
1: Mewtwo Strikes Back
2: Revelation Lugia
3: Lord of the Unknown Tower
4: Celebi, a Timeless Encounter
5: The Water Guardians of Altomare
6: Wishing Star of Seven Nights
7: Visitor of the Space Fissure, Deoxys
8: Mew and the Aura-Guiding Hero, Lucario
Funny how Ash is always screaming "Pikachuuuu!!!!!," Pikachu is falling, or Pikachu is crying. Such drama.
A New Affiliate! - I usually refuse to affiliate with other websites, since I do not believe in affiliation (that's another story), but I came across a new website that reminds me of Meowth346's old Pokemon Forever. The webmaster is making a sincere effort to present Diamond and Pearl in-game data, and has already created an IV Calculator and downloadables to help people with Diamond and Pearl. I contacted him over the weekend to affiliate, since he reminds me of both myself when I was first starting my website and Meowth346 with his in-game data, so here we are! His website is MetalKid's Gaming Resources. It looks like it will become a promising Pokemon game website.
*goes back to studying*
If you have Diamond and / or Pearl and have not joined our Diamond and Pearl Wi-Fi League, you are officially missing out.
I am now entering study mode, which means I will have less time for this website until around May 23rd (I will get in an update whenever I can, although they will not be as frequent). Since people keep e-mailing and PMing me with "WHY YOU NOT UPDATEEEEEE?!?!" and "OMGGG!!! Where is the news?!?!" I have produced my schedule below for the next four weeks in the hopes that you all understand why I need to focus on studying, even though I am pretty sure I have alluded to this time period over the past month or two in my updates. I only have one period of time in which I can earn my IB Diploma and test well to receive it, plus all of the extra AP junk I have devoted myself to, so I must spend my time in books rather than here for now. Afterwards, I will have a free 3.5 months (excluding vacations) to work on this site and make it even better.
===THIS WEEKEND===
Thursday, May 3th - IB English (12:00-2:30)
Friday, May 4th - IB English (8:00-10:30)
===NEXT WEEKEND===
Monday, May 7th - AP Gov (8:00-11:00)
Monday, May 7th - IB Math (12:00-2:00)
Tuesday, May 8th - IB Math (8:00-10:00)
Wednesday, May 9th - IB History (12:00-3:30)
Thursday, May 10th - AP English (7:30-11:00)
Thursday, May 10th - IB History (12:00-3:00)
===WEEKEND===
Monday, May 14th - AP Bio (7:30-11:00)
Monday, May 14th - IB Bio (12:00-3:45)
Tuesday, May 15th - IB Bio (8:30-10:45)
===WEEKEND===
Wednesday, May 23rd - IB Spanish (12:30-3:30)
At 3:30 on May 23rd, my year will basically be over, since I will have only three finals and a few weeks of school left (if you take AP/IB tests at my school, you don't usually have to take a final for that class). On that day, I will bolt to Target and get Diamond and / or Pearl, which is my ultimate goal for this month!
The fourth generation is officially released today! And people say Pokemon is dead...
Join the PokeBeach D/P Wi-Fi League - Our forums have been re-designed to celebrate Diamond and Pearl, and if you went to the store this morning to get your copy of one or both of the games, you should join our Wi-Fi League on our forums along with many other players! In our Wi-Fi League, you can negotiate trading of both items and Pokemon in your very own "My Player" thread, setup tournaments, and battle others instantly by making a thread every time you want to start a battle (with your own rules and without the clutter of a dozen or so people talking in a chat room all at once)! The advantage to joining our League is that you can search through other player threads to find Pokemon you want, or you can specify Pokemon you are looking for, since the Global Trade Station within the two games only allows you to trade Pokemon you yourself have encountered in the wild or Pokemon that you own (for example, if you have not come across a Darkrai in D/P, but you want one, you cannot trade for one with the GTS). It is also much easier to find shiny Pokemon, since many players have posted what shiny Pokemon they have. You can also specify how you want to battle beforehand, plus search for people to battle with! It is extremely easy to join this league and to make your own thread (or topic) - it literally will take you under three minutes, so what are you waiting for? To get started, register on our forums (if you are not already a member), read this thread, and you will be up and running within minutes!
Ken Sugimori Diamond and Pearl Images - It has taken me about two weeks, but I finally finished making all of the Ken Sugimori Diamond and Pearl Pokemon images transparent. The only two Pokemon missing are Shaymin and Arceus, since those two images have not officially been released yet. You can view all of the Diamond and Pearl Pokemon images, along with all of the official English names, by visiting our Ken Sugimori Pokemon page (the old, large images that were not transparent have been removed for now). Please note that these images are for private use only (such as in your signatures and avatars, your own self-created images, etc.), so please do not steal them for your own website or web page and place them in a gallery such as the one above or on your pages, since they took me several weeks to work on (however, feel free to make your own). If you do use them, please be sure to provide credit to us. Thank you! Next, I will be working on the shiny versions of each of them, so stay tuned!
Diamond and Pearl Episodes for Viewing - If you missed the three Diamond and Pearl episodes that aired as a movie together on Cartoon Network this past Friday, you can now watch them here temporarily! You can view them by [clicking here]. All three episodes are together, and since I started to record them about 30 seconds after the whole thing started to air, I missed the entire intro song. However, someone has posted it on YouTube, so you can watch it here. The episodes will be taken down within the next few days, so watch them while you can!
A very quick update!
New "Dialga vs. Palka vs. Darkrai" Trailer - The official Japanese Pokemon movie website has updated with a new trailer for the 10th Pokemon movie, Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai. The entire first half of the trailer contains scenes from the first trailer, but there are now new scenes featuring Darkrai, the characters of the movie, and Ash riding a Pidgeot (hmmm...). To view the trailer page, you can click here.
Pokemon D/P Airs Tonight - Cartoon Network will be airing the first three episodes of Diamond and Pearl tonight at 8:00 PM, where we will finally hear Dawn's dub voice and watch Diamond and Pearl in America for the first time! If I have not fallen asleep after coming home from school, I will record the episodes and post them later for a temporary time to view, in case anyone misses them. Remember, Diamond and Pearl for the Nintendo DS come out on Sunday, and if you buy them, be sure to check out PokeBeach's Wi-Fi League, where you can arrange trades, battles, and tournaments for Diamond and Pearl!
The "education facility of torture and doom" is keeping me busy this week, as usual (but I am happy to report my laptop was dropped only once this week with no damage when I put it in its case and forgot to zip the other side of it closed, then started running with it to my next class and it slipped out :p). I will try to update tomorrow, however (and if not, Friday night)! I have finished all of the D/P transparent Ken Sugimori pictures, but I still have to touch up some of them, so I will hopefully have those up in the next update (and then later, the shiny forms). Diamond and Pearl come out Sunday!
Ahh! Friday the 13th! Expect something bad to happen, unless you perform some good-luck ritual to prevent it! I have been working on transparent Ken Sugimori Diamond and Pearl Pokemon images, so I will probably have them up sometime next week.
PokeBeach Wi-Fi League - Diamond and Pearl are not even out, yet the Wi-Fi League here is already booming! If you are going to buy Diamond and Pearl, or have Pokemon from your Gameboy games that you are going to transfer to D/P and then trade to other people, what are you waiting for? Read this thread on our forums to get started, and if you have not actually joined our forums yet, register here! People in our league are already arranging to trade Shaymin, Darkrai (from the glitch in D/P), Manaphy, R/S Pokemon, shiny Pokemon, and everything else possible (except Arceus, since it's not available yet), and both battles and tournaments will soon follow, once players establish well-rounded teams! Get a head start and join our Wi-Fi League - it takes literally under two minutes to make your "My Player" thread, and the entire process is not complicated at all (I even label the steps!). You never know if that shiny Pokemon you want is available here from someone, and it is traded to someone else (yes, that is the guilt factor to make you join).
IGN Reviews D/P - IGN has obtained English versions of Diamond and Pearl, and has already posted videos, screenshots, and information from the games. To view their opening article on Pokemon Pearl, which contains links at the end of it for media from the games, click here.
HEY! Let everyone else hear! - It's bad enough that people are constantly coming to me at school and complaining about everything under the sun, but now it's happening online - a lot, and it seriously feels like I am spending hours talking to people everyday just about problems with Pokemon (just one more reason why I have a limited social life outside of the computer). For the past week, I have been getting more IMs than usual, with people expressing genuine concerns about Pokemon, especially the TCG and organized play, and I have found myself saying more and more to several people "Hey, why don't you write an article about it?"
This is where the fandom comes in! Do YOU have a concern, opinion, or problem with Pokemon, such as how things are run, how things are organized, or how things just generally are? Do you think there is a slight possibility that others feel the same, and that if many people share the same opinion, you might be able to raise attention about the certain issue and maybe get something fixed or improved? Well, guess what? You can do something productive with your complaint! If you are passionate enough about your belief (and I don't mean psycho passionate where you will kill to get your way or never give up even when chances of getting your problems fixed are 0%), open Microsoft Word, type up a well-constructed article using spell check and the green underlines, and e-mail it to wpmpb [at] pokebeach.com with the subject title of your article. I will post it on the main page for everyone to read if it is appropriate, and will even make a forum thread where people can discuss your issue. We'll call it an "opinion column," only it won't be a column, and your article will be available on the main page. How's that? So, instead of complaining to me on AIM, making me sit through conversations all the time where I am not interested and have to keep repeating "lol," "haha," "cool," and other fillers in various sequences a bot could do, now others who are interested in what you have to say can read about it and take action! ^_^
EX Power Keepers Scans - Shakespeare has sent me new, "digitally mastered for superior picture and sound," scans of EX Power Keepers. You can view them by [clicking here]. We only have a few more holes to fill until Shakespeare has edited almost every single English card in existence (Yes, that includes promos. He already edited those, but I have not put them up yet since we are going to change the coding behind the displaying of scans). Look forward to it!
The right menu's dates have been updated to be completely accurate now. I have also changed the menu header images. :D
Diamond and Pearl Wi-Fi League - PokeBeach now has a Diamond and Pearl Wi-Fi League, and we are probably one of the first Pokemon websites to start one! If you have Diamond and Pearl, or are going to get Diamond and Pearl in eleven days, you should definitely check this out. With our Wi-Fi league, you can organize battles with other players, participate in tournaments on PokeBeach (after D/P come out), battle PokeBeach Gym Leaders (which will be picked after D/P come out), and trade Pokemon and items from D/P through our forum. The advantage with participating in a Wi-Fi league is that you can find people through the forum to battle instantly, specify how you want to battle, search through players' "My Player" threads to look for Pokemon you want to trade for, put up your own Pokemon for trade in your own thread, and specify the stats of the Pokemon you are looking for (such as nature, level, attacks, etc). To read more about the PokeBeach D/P Wi-Fi league, even if you do not have Diamond and Pearl yet (which most of us do not), you can read this thread on our forums, and begin from there (if you need to register on our forums as a member, which you need to do to make your own "My Player" thread, click here; it takes less than 30 seconds to register). If you do not have Diamond and Pearl, you can still get a head start on this and make your "My Player" thread, since most of us have Pokemon from previous Gameboy games that we will eventually trade over to Diamond and Pearl and make available for trade, and since many of us know what Pokemon we will want when D/P come out (such as Palkia if you only get Pokemon Diamond). Then when you get D/P, you will know where to go when you want to make a trade with someone or when you need to battle someone. Did I forget to mention that winning battles and tournaments in this Wi-Fi league earns you points toward goodies in the future? So check it out!
UPDATE: Due to people asking for a Wi-Fi League for other games, such as Mario Kart DS and Diddy Kong DS, we have also made a forum where people can organize races with each other (or whatever, depending on the game). To read more about this forum and how it works, click here.
Pokemon Battrio - Famitsu.com has revealed a new Pokemon arcade game that will be released in Japan soon (and probably nowhere else). The game features cell-shaded Pokemon in 3D, similar to Battle Revolution, but one can battle Pokemon 3-on-3, hence Battrio. Apparently, players interact with pogs on a real battlefield, and the battle plays out on a television screen, although details on how this actually works are vague. This game will be an arcade game only, so it is unknown if the game will ever leave Japan or move to another system, such as the Wii. To view pictures of the arcade game, you can view Famitsu's Pokemon Battrio page by clicking here.
More "Prettiful" Scans - Shakespeare has now scanned in new, enhanced, high-quality scans for [EX Crystal Guardians]. Currently, we are only missing about a dozen scans of any English Pokemon card EVER, so if you have any of the scans listed in this post and a high-quality scanner, please respond to the thread with what you can send in. Thank you!
