TCG, Gameboy, Organized Play/Tournament, and Other News

»ADV 4 TCG Set: Over the last month, details on the soon to be released ADV 4 set in Japan has been leaking out. So far, it has been reported that the set will be called ADV 4: Dual, and that it will feature two 30-card mini decks featuring Team Magma and Team Aqua from Ruby and Sapphire. More details on the set when it is released in October will be reported here.

»6th Movie Mini-Deck: As most of the previous Japanese Pokémon movies, the fifth movie featuring Jirachi will have a 30-card mini-deck released on August 23rd in Japan based on it. The price will be $8.00 (1000 yen) and will include Pokémon that appear in the movie, such as Jirachi, Absol, Flygon, etc.

»E-reader Battle Cards: Ever Since Ruby and Sapphire came out in Japan, many e-reader cards have been released to expand the game. For example, when you purchased Ruby and Sapphire here in America, you either got a Lady Outing or Gentlemen Nils card that allowed you to battle these players on R/S. Well, these are the kind of cards that have been released in Japan, including some berry cards that allow you to obtain them. Now, Nintendo has announced that these type of cards will be available for your e-reader on October 20 in America. Cool features about the cards include battling trainers with the unobtainable Pokémon, getting berries, and a few other things that my Japanese translator won't translate.

»Pokémon Episodes for Gameboy Advance: A few months ago, it was announced by 4Kids Entertainment and Nintendo that they would be releasing Pokémon Episodes for people to watch on cartridges for Gameboy Advance. The cartridges would be able to hold two episodes, and would have controls for you to fast forward, rewind, pause, etc. Now, 4Kids says that they have finished with the development of the episodes, but still need to work on the programming of them as well as getting final license approvals. More details in the upcoming future on release dates.

»E-Reader Promotion: On October 13th, the colors Glacier and Indigo will be released for Gameboy Advance SP. But, that is not even half the story. If you purchase one of these colors, you automatically get a free e-reader! With the e-reader, you will receive some sample booster packs of games to scan on your e-reader.

»Pokémon Crystal Promotion: Across the US, there is a special GBA (not GBA SP, just GBA) promotion that if you purchase one, you get a Pokémon Crystal version absolutely free. If you are interested in this promotion, visit PokemonCenter.com for this exact promotion but remember, this is also happening in stores, such as Target, so if you don't want to pay shipping, call around and find a store with the promotion.

»New Pokémon Leagues and more Ruby and Sapphire Challenge Tournaments: Across the USA, new Pokémon Leagues have been opening up left and right and more Ruby and Sapphire Challenges have been scheduled for different states. To find a league near you, click here. To find a R/S tournament in your area, click here. To view pictures of the San Diego R/S tournament that I participated in, click here.

»Official Website Updates: First off, Pokemon.com has updates their website to being flash-based instead of it used to being image-based (not very important). More importantly, I received an e-mail from Nintendo on the Pokémon Pinball website. Now, it has been updated with new pages and is more interactive. To check it out, click here.

»Japanese TV Commercials: The official Pokémon Japanese website has added a new page containing commercials for the latest and future Pokémon games coming out. Click this link to view the page. The first links are for slower connections, such as 56K, and the second links are for faster conections, such as Broadband.