THE NEW JRBNET

I would like to inform you all that after years of waiting, and the missed 3rd anniversary, the NEW JRBNET is now READY! This site will still always be here, and you can come back to it for reference. The NEW JRBNET has been in beta for sometime and there are already posts. It is now called ILEX FOREST. Find it here at IlexForest.net!

Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade's Pikachu Balloon

This video is also available on YouTube!

63 Days

I have made an important decision. For the next sixty-three (63) days, JRBnet will be, I guess you could call it, on pause. After the sixty-three days, JRBnet will most likely be back online with a new website. Thankyou for understanding. This site that you are reading this post on now is also considered closed and will never be updated again as of October 24, 2007. For the mail new site and that JRBnet copyright information go to the main news site here: This Link!

UPDATE:
Pocket Pikachu Log will now close of pause, it will continue getting updates daily!

Pokémon Ranch

With the new Wii Ware system coming onto the Wii in the Spring of next year, Nintendo has announced one of their own Wii Ware games; Pokémon Ranch. This game has you transferring your Pokémon from Diamond & Pearl to Pokémon Ranch. However, it does not seem to be just a Storage Program. According to the Press Conference, you are able of raising the Pokémon in the Ranch. To what end? We do not know. It could be levelling them up, or it could just be a faux leveling up specific to this game. When we have more details we will let you know, as well as screenshots when they are released.We have obtained the first screenshots of this game, which shows the game in its entirety. In this game, you seem to use your Miis to move around the farm. Once transferred, all your Pokémon shall be there in a cute, low polygonal glory. Just remember, this is a small Wii Ware game that obviously has to be less than around 100MB for publishing due to the Wii's memory limits. With this, you interact with all the Pokémon. Some are flying, most on ground and you interact with them in this manner. We hope to get more details soon, but click to view the screenshots. We should have our own soon:

11th Pokemon Movie Teaser

The official Pokemon movie website has revamped itself for the 11th Pokemon movie, featuring Regigigas (and possibly Shaymin, since flower fields are shown, and it is the next "hidden" legendary). There is a teaser trailer to the right of the website (click the play button), and it shows a COLOSSAL Regigigas emerging from the ground (it is basically the same scene that was shown in July's CoroCoro). The location scouting for this movie took place in Northern Europe (Scandinavia), so we can expect beautiful nature scenery for this movie.

Dialga and Palkia also appear at the end of the trailer (Palkia has the same voice as that animal Obi-Wan rides in Revenge of the Sith - the one the clones shoot down), but they won't have any major part in the movie, especially since the footage of them is just re-used from last year's movie trailer. Teaser trailers for Pokemon movies often convey situations that do not happen when the actual movies come out, so expect this to be true with Dialga and Palkia (possibly with the fact that Regigigas is huge, too).

If Shaymin is in this movie, what roll will it have? Maybe it sealed away Regigigas a long time ago, it has become weak [insert nature theme somewhere, like human-induced global warming has hurt it or something, and Regigigas is going to kill them for it], Regigigas has escaped, and now Ash and crew must save the day? Maybe Regigigas is destroying all of the pretty flower fields and they hire their local gardener, Shaymin, to regrow them all, while we all learn about photosynthesis in the process? Maybe Shaymin is evil and it plugs into Regigigas to create Regishaymin to terrorize everyone? Who knows... We'll find out more about this movie in December, when a longer trailer is released.

de PokéBeach

Watch Mystery Dungeon 2!

How would you feel if you randomly woke up one day and discovered you were a Piplup? TV Tokyo is now airing the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Time and Darkness Expedition television special on their website, which answers that very same question! The special is almost 30 minutes long, and to watch it, scroll down on the page linked to above and select "1Mbps" if you have a high-speed internet connection, or "500kbps" if you have a slower connection.

de PokéBeach

GTS Website Up!

The official Diamond and Pearl GTS website is now online and running! The website shows details of trades going on around the world (although they are probably not in real time), including which Pokemon are traded the most, what their individual attacks are, and all sorts of statistics concerning different countries and the most popular Pokemon traded in those countries. You can also bookmark your favorite Pokemon and countries for easier access to statistics on them.

The website, however, only seems useful for satisfying curiosity about trades going on around the world, since no actual interaction can take place between your DS and the website (it is only for viewing statistics on trades, and nothing else). Since you can see the attacks of Pokemon being traded, I guess the website could be used to extrapolate what types of strategies people are using for certain Pokemon, but other than that, it is just for fun it seems. Still quite an interesting website, though!

de PokéBeach

Pokemon Diamond: Best Selling Video Game of the Year!

Wii and Nintendo DS Sales Fuel Pokemon Momentum

Grown Men and Women Rediscover the Games of their Youth

Pokémon games have always been best-sellers. But the huge popularity of the portable Nintendo DS™ and the Wii™ home video game system has put the Pokémon craze into a whole new category.

Just check out these statistics:

- According to the independent NPD Group, through July Pokémon Diamond is the best-selling video game of the year on any system, while Pokémon Pearl ranks No. 3.

- The newly released Pokémon Battle Revolution already ranks at No. 5 on the list of best-selling Wii games for the year.

- Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl for Nintendo DS have sold more than 3 million copies in the United States alone.

- Pokémon games have helped boost sales of Nintendo hardware. According to the NPD Group, Wii and Nintendo DS were again the two best-selling video game systems in the United States in July.

"These hard numbers show that the Pokémon franchise and Nintendo's systems are striking a chord with players of all ages and drawing in huge numbers of new players year after year," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "But anecdotally we're also seeing that these new Pokémon games are appealing to older players, the same ones who played the original Pokémon games when they debuted in the United States almost 10 years ago."

Grown men and women with kids of their own proudly announce they are training Pokémon and having a blast doing it. Gamer site www.Penny-Arcade.com ran a four-part comic about the artist's Pokémania, while Kristin Brandt of ManicMommies.com posted: "I have become obsessed. I have played for many, many hours (I can't even admit to how many – it's embarrassing)… And I can't seem to stop! There are more Pokémon to capture, more levels to conquer and more badges to earn!"

The Pokémon franchise has sold more than 164 million games worldwide. For more information about Pokémon Battle Revolution, Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl, visit www.Pokemon-Games.com. Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other Wii features, visit Wii.com.

de la PE2K

Pokemon GTS Website: September 15th!

The official Pokemon GTS website will be launched this month on September 15th. The website will contain various GTS information such as most popular traded Pokemon and most popular Pokemon in a certain country. You can bookmark a Pokemon and see what's available and from where. You can also bookmark a country to see what Pokemon trades are going in and going out.

The Pokemon GTS website will be at www.Pokemon-GTS.net (Again, site will be launched on September 15th, so it's not working yet)

de la PE2K

Pokemon in Super Smash Bros Brawl: Pokemon Stadium 2, Gliding, Special Moves!

Pokemon Stadium 2

Pokemon Stadium 2 is a new stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Pokemon Stadium 2's terrain will transform into four different types: Electric, Ground, Flying, and Ice. Pokemon will also appear in the background (as you can clearly see in the Ground transformation picture, Dugtrio and Cubone can be seen in the background). [Read More Here: Pokemon Stadium 2]

Also, check out the song for the stage here: Pokemon: Pokemon Stadium/Evolution

Charizard Can Glide

Pokemon Trainer's Charizard will be able to glide in the air with its wings, as well as other characters with wings such as Pit and Meta Knight. [Read More Here: Gliding]

Pokemon Special Moves

Here's some pictures showing the special moves for the Pokemon Trainer's Pokemon. The moves showcased include Squirtle's Waterfall and Withdraw, Bulbasaur's Bullet Seed and Vine Whip, and Charizard's Flamethrower and Rock Smash. [Read More Here: Pokemon Special Moves]

de la PE2K

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2: Commercials

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2: Commercials

Here's some new commercials of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2:

- Commercial #1: http://touch-ds.jp/mediagallery/st78_a.html

- Commercial #2: http://touch-ds.jp/mediagallery/st78_b.html

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2: Video

Also, here's a 2 minute and 13 seconds long video of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2:

- Video: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/yftj_yfyj/movie/index.html

de Pe2k

NYT Article on PKMN

For many Pokemon fans this article will seem a bit out of touch with the Pokemon community and Pokemon fans in general but it does have some information about Pokemon USA's marketing strategy and goals for the Pokemon franchise.

Remember Squirtle and Jigglypuff? They’re Back
By WILL WADE -- Published: August 27, 2007

Playground fads come and go, as those who have found themselves with neglected collections of Beanie Babies can attest.

Pokemon video game characters on display at a shop in Tokyo. The company says that it has learned to be more selective about licensing its name.

But the Pokemon franchise, which enjoyed a long run of popularity in the late 1990s, is a rare example of a craze that has come back, for reasons that have as much to do with corporate maneuvers as they do with the tastes of the average 7-year-old.

Pokemon, which stands for “pocket monsters,” consists of a set of whimsical characters with supernatural powers who appear on trading cards, in video games and in television cartoons. And while most parents thought they had seen the last of Pikachu, Squirtle and Jigglypuff years ago, these days children are trading the cards on the playground again, playing Pokemon on their Game Boys and tuning in to a new animated series.

“We’re on fire,” said Holly Rawlinson, vice president of licensing and entertainment for Pokemon USA, a subsidiary of the Pokemon Company joint venture created by Nintendo and two other companies. Pokemon USA is responsible for managing the Pokemon name everywhere but in Asia.

Pokemon began in Japan in 1996 and reached the United States two years later. By 1999, it had become such a cornerstone of pop culture that the characters were featured on the covers of Time, The New Yorker and TV Guide; in 2001 the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade added a Pikachu balloon.

But the attention led to overexposure. “One of the things about brands that enjoy enormous popularity is that they tend to also crash,” Ms. Rawlinson said.

Although the games and cards have always sold consistently to their core audience of boys, starting in about 2003 sales of licensed merchandise came to a standstill. “There was very little, if any, product on the shelves,” Ms. Rawlinson said. “It was a very tired time for us.”

So at the beginning of 2006, Pokemon USA set out to revive the brand. The coordinated effort was timed to culminate with big product introductions that began this spring.

First, Pokemon USA took control over important components of the franchise that had been managed elsewhere, including the trading cards that had been distributed by a division of Nintendo, and the cartoons, which had been handled by 4Kids Entertainment.

In April, Nintendo of America released two games for the hand-held Nintendo DS game system, Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl. In June, the Cartoon Network began the 10th season of the franchise’s cartoon series, this one called “Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.”

Also in June, Pokemon USA’s trading card unit began shipping a new series of cards featuring the 104 characters created for the Diamond and Pearl introduction (like Piplup, Chimchar and Turtwig) as well as many of the old characters.

It was the first time that new games, a new television season, and a fresh batch of cards were introduced in this country at roughly the same time, Ms. Rawlinson said. “All the elements support each other,” she said. “The kids play the Diamond and Pearl games and watch the new shows, and they immediately want to get the new cards.”

Another element of the revival has been a change in toy vendors, from Hasbro to Jakks Pacific, which introduced a new product line. Jeremy Padawer, Jakks’s vice president for brand marketing, said Hasbro had focused on a few main Pokemon characters, but his company is shipping toys that use more than 100 of the 500 characters.

The new merchandise was showcased this summer at the Toys “R” Us store in Times Square, which opened a temporary Pokemon boutique. Next month, Toys “R” Us plans to open Pokemon boutiques in its 585 other domestic stores, said Ronald D. Boire, the president of Toys “R” Us.

Sales of the trading cards this year have already exceeded sales for all of 2006, and by the end of the year are expected to triple last year’s total, according to Pokemon USA. The June 4 debut episode of “Pokemon Diamond and Pearl” on the Cartoon Network was the top-rated show that day for boys ages 6 to 11.

Total merchandise sales this year are expected to exceed $50 million, compared with less than $4 million last year, Ms. Rawlinson said.

After the overexposure issues of recent years, the company has learned to be more selective about licensing its name. “We get requests for all kinds of products, but now we turn a lot down,” Ms. Rawlinson said. Would-be Pokemon products that ended up on the reject list include diapers and gerbil cages.

In some ways, Nintendo’s success with Pokemon games is similar to that of its Wii gaming console. Breaking with the traditional strategy of aiming a console at gamers, Wii has become a best seller by aiming at people who did not play games, thus serving to expand the overall market.

The Diamond and Pearl games on Nintendo’s DS system, which let players compete against one another over the Internet, have done the same, according to Wilbert Rivera, a sales associate at a Manhattan GameStop store. Being able to battle against people all over the world “adds more challenge to the games, more depth,” he said.

The games are selling both to young fans and older, more experienced gamers. “Who’s buying it? Everybody,” Mr. Rivera said.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/

de la PPN

Pokémon MD2 Special

Here are some screenshots of the new anime episode of the second Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games: Time Exploration Team and Darkness Exploration Team. The episode will air in Japan on September 9, 2007 (no date for the US).

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Time Exploration Team and Darkness Exploration Team for the DS will be released in Japan on September 13, 2007. There is currently no US release date available.

de la PE2K

Pokémon TFG: September 19!

Press Release (08/06/07) Pokémon Launches Long-Anticipated Trading Figure Game in North America Answering High Demand from Pokémon Fans, Company Releases First Set of Trading Figures in U.S. Pokémon USA, Inc., a worldwide leader in trading card games, today announced the U.S. release of the Pokémon Trading Figure Game (TFG), slated to hit stores on September 19. This marks the latest milestone in the Pokémon collectible gaming evolution since the release of the phenomenally successful Pokémon Trading Card Game in Japan in 1996. The first set of figures released will include more than 40 popular Pokémon characters and Trainer figures; select booster sets will include Pokémon from the recent Pokémon Trading Card Game: Diamond & Pearl release. Gameplay includes a dynamic spinning mechanism for each Pokémon that lets players send their figures into battle against one another in an entirely new way. By mixing and matching figures, players can expand their battle choices right from the beginning, encouraging a similar sport and strategy as practiced in the world-renowned Pokémon Trading Card Game. The TFG is easy to learn and play, and is appropriate for players age eight and older. “Pokémon fans reacted with great enthusiasm to early previews in the U.S.,” said Tsunekaz Ishihara, president and CEO, The Pokémon Company, and co-creator of both the TFG and the original Pokémon Trading Card Game. “The high quality of the figures, the collectible nature of the game, and the exciting mechanism for battle were all very popular with players of all ages. We feel we have created a truly distinctive game that will carry on Pokémon’s tradition of excellence.” The two Pokémon TFG starter sets include basic rules that will have fans playing in minutes: a two-player arena playmat, Trainer cards, and four different dynamic figures, including a Trainer figure. Boosters will expand gameplay and add new figures and Trainer cards to players’ collections. The starter sets will be priced at $14.99 and the boosters at $3.49 for one figure, $6.99 for two figures (including a random mystery figure) and a Trainer card, and $9.99 for three figures, including a random mystery figure and one of three special promo figures (Chimchar, Piplup, or Turtwig) from the Diamond & Pearl release as well as a Trainer card. Future expansions—with additional popular Pokémon to increase the possibilities for battles—are under development. Figures were sculpted with care by Kaiyodo Co., Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, which has been a manufacturer of original, limited-edition assembly-type plastic models for more than 40 years. In addition to the upcoming Pokémon TFG, Kaiyodo produces a wide variety of other popular model lines for enthusiasts all over the world. For more information and updates on the Pokémon TFG, fans can visit www.go-pokemon.com.

de la PE2K

Pokémon Summer Day Camp

Pokemon Summer Day Camp

The Pokemon Summer Day Camp event in the UK was held this month. The event was held throughout the month of August at 20 different Toys "R" Us stores. At the event fans coud play Pokemon Battle Revolution on the Wii, play Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl, learn to trade and battle with trainers around the world, a free Mew download, a free Pokemon goodie bag, and face painting. Fans that dress up as a Pokemon character will also have a chance to win prizes. One first place winner is awarded per event and will get a Nintendo DS, a Cartoon Network Goodie Bag, and Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl, and two runners up get a Cartoon Network Racing game for the DS.

de la PE2K

Pokémon Summer Day Camp

Pokemon Costumes

The Pokemon Summer Day Camp mini site has some pictures of the winners in the Pokemon costume contest. Looking through them all (only update to the 12th at this point) my favorite is the Regirock costume, the Groudon costume, and the Piplup costume. All three of those costumes came in first at their respective events (no surprise there).

You can view the rest of the costumes at the Pokemon Summer Day Camp mini site: Pokemon Summer Day Camp

de la PE2K

IOOO

Wow! Can you believe this? This post, that you are reading right now is JRB's 1,000th post!  How I discovered this is, I was going to post on Poket Pikachu Log and I noticed on my Dashboard, the post count for JRB, which was 999.  So I thought, wow, I have to celebrate.  So all I did was this enjoy.

Pokémon

I forgot to tell you, but Pokémon is new and on now for an hour!

Cup Game.

My YouTube Channel

Manaphy Gift Update

When you go to Toys R Us on September 29th to receive Manaphy, it will be available via wireless download (Mystery Gift).

Unlike the Mew giveaway last year, which had HUGE lines at some Toys R Us stores due to the manual trading people had to do with employees, obtaining Manaphy should not be too time-consuming or difficult, since everyone can download Manaphy at the same time (there may not even be any lines!).

Although I am not completely sure, downloading Manaphy from a wireless signal at Toys R Us could either allow you to only download one Manaphy or download a few. When downloading surfing Pikachu from Pokemon Battle Revolution, you can only download it once per Diamond and Pearl cartridge per the account you are using in Pokemon Battle Revolution. However, if you try Mystery Gift on another account in PBR to get Pikachu, it will allow you to receive the Mystery Gift again, but only a few times more (through the method of using different accounts). Thus, if the Toys R Us wireless signal is the same throughout the event, you will most likely only be allowed to download one Manaphy per cartridge, but if it alternates, you may be able to download more than one Manaphy. Guess we will have to wait and find out what their plan is!

Ponyta for コダック

From Sunday, August 26th to Thursday, August 30th, GAMEFREAK employees Ken Sugimori (artist), Junichi Masuda (director), and Shigeki Morimoto (battle director) will be trading their Japanese Psyduck for your American Ponyta. However, they will only be trading 30 Psyduck each, and thus, chances of making a trade with one of them is very low.

If you want to try anyway, deposit your Ponyta into the Global Trade Station (GTS) during the period of time mentioned above, and request for a Psyduck (with no preference for gender or level). If you are lucky, you may receive a Psyduck from one of them in exchange for your Ponyta, and Psyduck's PokeDex entry will be completely in Japanese text! To check if you receive one of their Psyduck, Ken Sugimori's trainer ID is 38793, Junichi Masuda's is 05458, and Shigeki Morimoto's is 53473.

Manapy Giveaway

If you have never beat, of even played Pokémon Ranger, this is a great opportunity for you! Just like last year's Mew giveaway, but now wireless, Nintendo Power's latest issue states that on September 29, 2007 from noon to 3 at select Toys 'R' Us stores, they will be giving away Manaphy, in a Cherish ball (Darkrai''s ball) holding a Red Scarf. More information will become available closer to the date. It's also like getting two Pokémon, because if you breed Manaphy, you also get the "Sea Drifter" Pokémon!

Pokémon Lunch Contest

Pokémon USA will launch a back-to-school promotion with Armour-Eckrich's LunchMakers that will put characters from the latest Pokémon Diamond and Pearl games on 30 million packages of the portable, refrigerated meals. The 13 varieties (six fun kits and seven "smalls") hit store shelves later this month and run through November.

Packages will tout 10,000 Pokémon prizes in the instant-win sweeps, including 10 trips to New York's Nintendo World to visit the Pokémon Center, Nintendo DS units, Diamond and Pearl videogames, DVDs from licensee Viz and character figures from Jakks-Pacific. And it wouldn't be Pokémon if there wasn't a card to collect: Each product package contains a bookmark featuring a different Pokémon character.

There will be no direct media support, but the brands will market online and at 950 stores via ShelfVision video ads triggered by a motion sensor.

While Pokémon skews about 2-1 boys-to-girls, the sweepstakes is aimed equally at boys and girls ages 5-11. "We made sure to focus on elements that are just as important to the girls as the boys," said Bruce Loeb, vp-marketing at Pokémon USA, New York. "We included tough and cute characters."

Pizza, nachos, chicken nuggets and Cracker Crunchers are some of the varieties that will carry new Pokémon characters Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup along with classics Pikachu, Dialga and Palkia. Armour-Eckrich, Lisle, Ill., is a $1 billion a year company, and its LunchMakers is a leading brand in the portable, refrigerated lunch category.

There will be both an in-package instant win and an online, 2nd chance contest that will run from 7/23/2007 through 2/28/2008.

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl games were introduced this past spring and the Diamond and Pearl toon debuted in June on Cartoon Network.

Further details and full rules can be found at: http://www.lunchmakersgame.com/
de la PPN

New Super Smash Bros. BRAWL Character

If Super Smash Brothers Brawl wasn't awesome before, this has to take the cake - could this game honestly be anymore detailed or jam-packed? Masahiro Sakurai just updated the Super Smash Brothers Brawl website with two Pokemon updates, highlighting the new "Pokemon Trainer" character, who is an actual playable character in the game. However, since we all know Pokemon players do not actually participate in Pokemon battles in the games (as in, physically fighting alongside their Pokemon), the same will apply for this character in SSBB - he will use either Squirtle, Ivysaur, or Charizard to battle in the rounds against other Nintendo characters, as he sits in the background (lazy human). The trainer can change between the three Pokemon by using the Down + B Special, causing the Pokemon to rotate in this order: Squirtle, Ivysaur, and then Charizard, which all have their own movesets that can be used against other characters. The three Pokemon share the same damage meter as well, so switching out does not remove damage when playing during a round. The Pokemon also have a special stat called "stamina," which has negative effects (currently unknown) if the trainer keeps them in battle too long or they are switched out too frequently (a Pokemon trainer needs to know when to switch our their Pokemon, so this stat will keep the Pokemon trainer experience in-check). Pictures of the above descriptions can be seen below (click for larger images).

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Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon 2 Game Commercial

The sequels to the first Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, Time Expedition and Darkness Expedition, now have a commercial running in Japan to advertise their September 13th launch. Click the play button below to watch the commercial. In case you do not know about the two games, allow me to quote our May 13th news story: "The two games will be different from the previous Mystery Dungeon series in that the player must join a guild to train and become more powerful, with the guild leader being Wigglytuff, and its right-hand Pokemon being Chatot. This time around, however, the purpose of the games will be to explore and find treasure, rather than to rescue, as with the previous Mystery Dungeon games. The player will also be able to choose their character from either Munchlax, Pikachu, Piplup, Chimchar, Turtwig, as well as 11 other Pokemon not yet known."

Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon TV Special

On September 9th in Japan, as part of Pokemon Sunday, a new Pokemon Mystery Dungeon special will air. Unlike the previous Mystery Dungeon special, which aired in America before Japan, this one will air in Japan first and will feature both Chimchar and Piplup as the main characters. You can view picture previews of the special below (click for a larger image).