We now have 55 pre-prerelease scans of HS - Undaunted! As we've said for months, the set is comprised of cards from the majority of Revived Legends, the Battle Starter Decks, the Expert Deck Leafeon vs. Metagross package, a few cards from Clash at the Summit, and several Japanese promos. We'll have more scans later in the week, so be sure to check back! Prereleases take place over the next three weekends rather than the usual two (due to Worlds). To find one near you, go to this link, fill out your zip code and country, then select "Event Date" and check-mark "Premiere Event" (you'll probably want to set the "Distance within" option too). It's too bad TPCi is still not making it easy for people to look up where prereleases are or advertising the events on their front page, but at least we're here for that!

Following the Ash's Pikachu download event taking place in Japan this month at McDonalds, players will be able to download a Manaphy starting August 14th until September 12th. The Manaphy is holding a Lansat Berry and has Aqua Ring and Water Sport as two of its four attacks. Another flyer at McDonalds, below, mentions the Libery Ticket download event for obtaining Victini and reveals one of the Victory Pokemon's new attacks is named Complete Burn, obviously a Fire-type attack. Click the thumbnails for larger scans.

We might get the first batch of pre-prerelease scans tonight.

While we still have no information about the first Black and White TCG set, a few more "preview" products are being released prior to its probable October or November release. In addition to the "Journey Partner" promo collections that were recently announced, a new "Pokemon Card Game BW Starter Set" and "Pokemon Card Game BW Starter Set for Girls" will be released on October 29th for 1,980 yen each. Both packages, aimed toward either boys or girls, comes with a 30-card deck, 20 damage counters, two sheets of status markers, a coin, a playmat, a guidebook on how to use the deck, and a how-to-play DVD. Both decks will feature different cards as well as different packaging, as you can see below. This is the first time in the history of the TCG that there has been a distinction between boy and girl products.

Additionally, on November 20th, deluxe versions of the aforementioned packages will be released for 3,150 yen each. In addition to what the regular packages have, they come inside a trunk case will a deck box, deck sleeves, and notepad. Images of the two products are below - the first one is the boy version while the second one is the girl version. Thanks go to Bangiras for translating the above information!

If I can find my movie notes, I'll post a summary of The Ruler of Illusions: Zoroark within the next few days.

Two new Black and White commercials have been released over the past few days: the first one is the commercial that aired before The Ruler of Illusions: Zoroark and reveals a new shot of Team Plasma (at 0:16). The apparent leader of the team says to a group of Trainers, "What we're discussing is liberating Pokemon." It seems Team Plasma is like the PETA, which is fitting if Isshu is really based off locations in the United States [combined with N's line that "Pokemon are friends"]. The second commercial, courtesy of Legendary Pokemon, shows off new footage of Shikijika and the new Pokemon Musical contests. You can watch them both below.

In addition to these videos, Junichi Masuda announced on his blog that Black and White will only feature fifth generation Pokemon until later in the game: "This time around, until the ending of the games, there are only new Pokemon. Only new Pokemon will appear! This way, adults and children alike will start from scratch, and have the fun of saying 'what's that Pokemon?' just like in Red and Green. When people within the company played it, their feelings were... 'It feels fresh because they're all Pokemon I haven't seen before,' 'I didn't know the Pokemon types, so their attacks surprised me,' 'The new things make me feel like I did when I played Red and Green,' and so on and so on, it was a really good vibe. Designing the Pokemon was an enormous feat... but my graphics team said, 'Since everyone enjoyed it, we're happy!' Please play [the games] and see for yourself! Later!" Whether this fact is absolutely true remains to be seen, but there were indications that this would be the case for several months. I wouldn't doubt there will probably be around 150 or so new Pokemon since everything seems to be resetting with this region, which some rumors have stated as well. But we'll see!

TPCi sent out an e-mail this morning announcing that "Pokemon Organized Play" has been renamed to "Play! Pokemon" and that upcoming tournament merchandise will feature the new name. You can read the full press release below.

PLAY! POKEMON PROGRAM UNVEILED TO POKEMON FANS WORLDWIDE

New Branding for Successful Pokemon Organized Play Program

Bellevue, WA - August 4, 2010 - The Pokemon Company International introduced the Play! Pokemon program today, inviting Pokemon fans worldwide to join the fun at official, year-round Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) and video game events. Whether a seasoned player or new to the world of Pokemon, fans will find that the Play! Pokemon program provides events suitable for all levels of Pokemon knowledge. Some players will opt to visit a local Pokemon League, where they can learn about Pokemon games and win prizes, while others may choose to test their strategies and training at competitive tournaments. No matter where Pokemon fans decide to join the fun, players at all levels are sure to have a great time.

"We are thrilled to introduce Play! Pokemon to our loyal fan base as well as to new TCG and video game fans," said J.C. Smith, director of Consumer Marketing at The Pokemon Company International. "We want to welcome new fans to our Pokemon community, which has seen incredible growth in player participation over the past several years."

The new name and logos announced today will appear initially on hats, binders, playmats, posters, and other printed materials. Players and fans at the 2010 Pokemon World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, August 14-15 will see the newly branded materials firsthand. For more information about Play! Pokemon, including where to find Play! Pokemon events, players should visit http://www.pokemon.com/us/organized-play/.

Play! Pokemon is the new name of what was formerly known as Pokemon Organized Play. Full plans about upcoming Play! Pokemon events will be outlined in the coming months, but they will closely match the timing used in the successful Pokemon Organized Play program.

The Japanese Yahoo website has inadvertently leaked Ken Sugimori images of a new Bug-type Pokemon, the previously revealed swan Pokemon, and Shikijika. You can see all three images below. Victini has been confirmed as a Psychic / Fire type. It is the Victory Pokemon and has a new ability called Victory Star. It stands 0.4m tall and weighs 4.0kg. Ken Sugimori images of Aloe, Dento, and Team Plasma were also leaked.

I was at the Pokemon Center in Tokyo yesterday and they were handing out Reshiram and Zekrom keychains to people who preorder the games - each keychain plays the respective Pokemon's in-game cry. I was in a rush and the line was too long, but maybe someone from Japan will post their cries soon.

Pokemon Sunday has revealed the full character designs of Iris, the new female companion to Ash, as well as a new male character, Dento; both will appear in Best Wishes, the next "season" of the anime that will take place in the Isshu region. Iris is confirmed to have a Kibago as seen in the character sheet leaked a few weeks ago, but nothing is known about Dento at this point in time. Click the screenshots below to enlarge them.

During one of the segments, the Pokemon Sunday crew was able to get inside the new Black and White tour buses that will be traveling around Japan this month. They tried out the game demo inside, battling Belle, Cheren, and encountering a wild Shimama on a rainy route. It is interesting to note that Shimama's mane was white during the first part of the battle, but once it used an Electric-type attack, the mane started to glow yellow... could we have varying animations like this with other Pokemon? [I was watching a low-quality video when I wrote that originally - it glows yellow before and after the attack.] Next week, the show promises to reveal more details on Victini.

Update (6:00 PM) - TV Tokyo has uploaded 5-second clips of Tsuutaja, Pokabu, Mijumaru, and Reshiram. They are presumably from the first or so episode of Best Wishes, which probably means one of the characters sees Reshiram for an instant like Ash saw Ho-Oh and Dawn say Mesprit.

Update #2 (6:30 PM) - The TV Tokyo website also posted biographies of the characters. For Iris, they say, "Her specialty is tree climbing, she makes good use of berries for herself, and she is a girl with very wild behavior. For some reason, she is traveling with the Dragon-type Pokemon, Kibago." For Dento, the new male, they say he is "A Pokemon Sommelier (waiter) who is a source of abundant knowledge and experience, diagnoses the compatibility between Trainer and Pokemon, and gives advice on how to befriend. Is this really, in fact, true?!" My theory based on the biographies: Iris replaces Dawn (obvious to anyone) and Dento replaces Brock or is just a rival in Pokemon Contests. Thanks goes to KurowaSan from our forums for the translations!

Update #3 (6:45 PM) - Higher-quality videos of the anime preview and game footage added below thanks to our friends at Filb.de.

Update (5:30 AM) - News story completely rewritten with new translations below. Sorry for the delay - I was at a school event here in Japan all day.

Today's Oha Suta revealed three new Pokemon: a deer Pokemon, Shikijika (シキジカ); the evolution of Minezumi, Miruhoggu (ミルホッグ); and a swan Pokemon, whose name is currently unknown. The show also confirmed that the evil team in the game is named Team Plasma, as the rumors from earlier in the summer stated. Images of the new Pokemon and Team Plasma are below.

You can watch two video clips of the show below courtesy of Filb.de. The first clip has bullet points below it which explain important information. The second video clip, which is further down, shows Black City and White Forest, each of which are version exclusives.

A press release from TPCi has announced that the Enigma Stone will be available through Wi-Fi download starting this Saturday, as you can read below. The item allows you to encounter Latios in HeartGold and Latias in SoulSilver, and then itself changes into the Soul Dew.

Beginning this Saturday, July 31, through Friday, August 27, players of Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver Versions who have wireless broadband Internet access can receive the Enigma Stone for a chance to catch the amazing, yet elusive, Legendary Pokemon Latias or Latios.

Similar to the other half of the Legendary pair that can be caught normally during gameplay, the Pokemon encountered with the Enigma Stone will be at Level 40. In exchange for the Enigma Stone, Pokemon fans will also get the Soul Dew, a held item that powers up the Special Attack and Special Defense of Latios and Latias. Only Pokemon players who have beaten the Elite Four, claimed the National Pokedex, and have two or fewer Wonder Cards can solve the riddle of the Enigma Stone.

A new Summer Battle Campaign will begin in August in Japan where players will have the opportunity to win Porygon (077/L-P) and Porygon2 (078/L-P) promos. To win them, you will need to get a "Points Card" from participating stores: every time you play a TCG game in a Gym Challenge (Japan's Pokemon League) or buy a LEGEND-era booster pack, you will earn a stamp. However, you can only earn 10 points in total by buying booster packs and only 10 points per day for participating in TCG matches, though you can also earn an extra point per day if you make a new friend (awww). To obtain a Porygon promo, you need five stamps, whereas for Porygon2, you need 15. The campaign will stop at the end of August, though the promo cards can be redeemed up until September 15th. Translations of the two cards are below courtesy of Bangiras. If you put the two cards together, their artwork forms one image!

Porygon - Colorless - HP 50
Basic Pokemon

[C] Ball Up: During your opponent's next turn, any damage done to this Pokemon by attacks is reduced by 20.
[C][C] Version Up: Show a Porygon2 card from your deck to your opponent, and put it in your hand. Shuffle your deck afterward.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 1

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Porygon2 - Colorless - HP 80
Stage 1 Pokemon - Evolves from Porygon

Poke-Body: Short Cut
Each of your Porygon, Porygon2, and Porygon-Z in play has its Retreat Cost reduced by 1 Energy.

[C][C][C] Assault: 50 damage. This Pokemon does 10 damage to itself.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2