Pokémon is releasing 3 free 5th Generation starter Pokémon with hidden abilities, kicking off with my personal favorite from Black & White, Serperior. The promotion is only available for the current generation of Pokémon games – Alpha Sapphire & Omega Ruby – and it's a fairly simple process.
Start up your copy of AS or OR and choose "receive mystery gift." You'll then input the following code:
POKEMON497After the process finalizes, you'll just need to go to your nearest Pokémon Center in the game and make sure there's one open spot in your party before speaking to the Delivery Girl standing to the left of the Center counter. And that's it! You've got a Serperior with a hidden ability! Next up will be Emboar, starting on January 29th. keijimatsu from deviantart
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With the release of the latest installment in the Mario Kart series, Nintendo is providing some digital download grace to the masses. Now that Playstation and Xbox are offering free digital downloads on a pretty regular basis, I guess they felt the pressure to get in the game, even at a much more moderate level.
When you buy Mario Kart 8 and register the game with your Club Nintendo account (you definitely will need one of those, so go sign up if you haven't already) you're prompted to receive a download code for one free game, from a selection of four; Pikmin 3, Wii Party U, New Super Mario Bros. U, and The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker are all available for your choosing. [Edit. note: Personally, I would suggest either Zelda: Windwaker or Pikmin 3. I already had Zelda before the offer began and I'd never played a Pikmin game, so I decided to give it a whirl. I like it a lot, as evidenced by the fact that I haven't played Mario Kart 8 since Pikmin finished downloading.]
Now, Nintendo isn't going to be rising back to the top of the game anytime soon - or anytime that the Wii U is their primary console - but I at least take gestures like this as attempts to stay relevant, especially amidst such. terrible. decisions.
All that said, Mario Kart 8 really is a great new addition to the series, and while the gameplay itself hasn't been revolutionized, the social sharing aspect has been a real treat. After a race, you are given the option to select a highlight reel which you can modify minimally, and share it to Nintendo's own Miiverse and to YouTube. The slo-mo recaps have especially highlighted the care that has gone into character reactions. Luigi, long the put-upon wayfarer of the series, has found new life as a vengeful driver – behold the "Luigi Death Stare":
The offer is good until July 31st, so you've got plenty of time to take advantage. More details can be found on Nintendo's website.Follow @harveywalkerFollow @ClosetCaseRoman
Nintendo just released this bit of information via Twitter within the last hour announcing that *GASP* the Pokémon Bank service has indeed launched in a few Asian countries and that it might just be on its way to North America soon!
Pokémon Bank has launched in certain Asian countries. (1/2)
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) January 22, 2014
Please stay tuned to our social channels for updates on availability in other regions, including North America. (2/2)
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) January 22, 2014
Pokémon Bank (hereafter referred to as Pokébank) and Poké Transporter are two services being launched on the Nintendo 3DS and 2DS to finally bridge the gap between the current 6th generation of Pokémon games and the previous generations. Pokébank will be a cloud-based service wherein players can store up to 3,000 of their own Pokémon. The opportunity to access 30-day free trial of the service will be available until January 31st as of press time, though due to the rocky rollout of the service, this date could be extended. Poké Transporter is the free companion tool that serves as the vehicle by which players can transfer their Pokémon from the four 5th generation games – Pokémon White, Pokémon White 2, Pokémon Black & Pokémon Black 2 – to the current 6th Generation games, Pokémon X & Pokémon Y.
As has been widely publicized, the Pokébank rollout got off to a rocky start. Nintendo had intended to launch both services two days after Christmas. However, during the initial launch in Japan, Nintendo found that the combination of users accessing the new service, added to the users who were linking their systems to the newly-introduced Nintendo Network ID for the first time, was in fact too much for the servers to bear. Nintendo’s strength has never been – and quite frankly, will never be – online services, but they are at least making strides into this modern era of internet connectivity. The Nintendo Network ID serves much like an Xbox Live account or an Apple ID, allowing games demos and game content to be downloaded, deleted and re-downloaded later. As such, step one in your preparation for Pokébank should be to link your handheld to the Network.
Creating a Nintendo Network ID:
If you are a new 3DS or 2DS owner, you will need to create an ID. To do so, follow these directions:
Assuming you have already created a Mii for your system, you will need to navigate to your 3DS or 2DS’s System Settings.
Select Nintendo Network ID Settings. If you do not see this option, perform a System Update.
Follow the prompts until the option “Create New ID” appears, and then click “Next.”
Side note: The Nintendo Network ID is NOT the same as a Club Nintendo Account, despite a few similar functions.
Accept terms and conditions and enter relevant personal information. The country of residence cannot be changed.
Choose a Nintendo Network ID. It cannot be changed, and it cannot be vulgar. Standard Nintendo fare.
Create a password, then enter an email address. Take the time to review your information. Changing information with Nintendo is either impossible or ridiculously difficult.
Linking an existing Nintendo Network ID:
If you already own a Wii U, the Nintendo Network ID process should be vaguely familiar. Again, this ID is NOT the same as a Club Nintendo ID, so be sure you’re linking correct IDs. Only one Nintendo Network ID can be used on one 3DS/2DS system at a time.
Navigate to your 3DS or 2DS’s System Settings.
Select Nintendo Network ID Settings and click “Next.”
Select “Link An Existing ID”
Read through Nintendo eShop information and related account information and click “Understood”
Enter your existing Nintendo Network ID, password and email, then click “Done.”
Click “Link.”
That’s it! Following these steps will ensure that you are ready for Pokébank when it finally launches.
All information above is from the Nintendo website. For questions regarding the Nintendo Network ID on a 3DS or 2DS system, click here. For questions regarding the Nintendo Network ID on a Wii U system, click here.
For an illustrated example:
Nintendo has had so many missteps in the realm of online gaming, I'm not so sure they still deserve to be as beloved in the hearts of as many gamers as they somehow yet remain. Even I still have a misplace affinity for the company. Sure it's largely nostalgic in nature, but I still somehow own both of Nintendo's newest systems ... and I didn't want to. I wanted the 3DS, sure, I'll admit that one. But the Wii U? Absolutely not. No interest in owning/playing/looking at that system. The only reason I do is because of the Legend of Zelda special edition system. My obsessive purchasing impulses kicked in on that one.
The original Wii was a smash hit during my college years, because it was the perfect passive gaming system. You put a group of drunken co-eds in a house with a Wii, and you KNOW there is about to be some epic (motion-controlled) bowling showdowns. Hell, I wanted the Wii so badly, I bought it for $50 above MSRP from a guy who had decided to sell his and go for an Xbox 360. But the Wii debuted without any sustainable online connectivity at a time when everything was moving online, not just gaming. Facebook had begun to launch en masse to the public and not just to college kids, "tweets" were making their way into national news stories, the iPhone was a mere 6 months away, the original Xbox had found success with their online pay-service, Xbox Live. The closest they had mustered - so far - were eShops for the Wii and DS systems. Tiny microcosms consisting of some retro game releases and a smattering of original downloadable titles.
Jump-cut to: Today. My Xbox Live account is 6 years old. Various roommates of mine over the years have owned Xbox 360s, so even when I didn't have one myself, I had an account because I was always near a system. Online operability is so intrinsically necessary in today's world for a whole host of reasons, the most important of which is convenience. Sure I downloaded a load of the older NES, SNES & N64 games on my Wii, but the process was unintuitive and complicated. Thankfully all of the newer systems now just allow you to link a credit card to your account and download, but there was a time when it was required that you purchase proprietary points and use those in lieu of actual currency. Hell, because Nintendo had no account-based system, your purchases were not tied to you, but rather to your console.
In the last month+, Nintendo has actually taken the step toward unifying purchases and information into one account (almost a decade after everyone else) by introducing the Nintendo Network unified account. This is not to be confused with the Club Nintendo account (which they also sort of use to verify purchases, but not in any substantial way.) No, this is a real effort to broaden their online capabilities and unify users on both of their current platforms regardless of which they may own. Your Mii & (Nintendo's avatar version of yourself) and your account nickname is now the same on both your Wii U and your 3DS. For once, Nintendo actually seemed to be righting some wrongs and gearing up for the real world of online gaming and operability.
BUT... that wasn't the case. In October, Nintendo released latest games the still wildly popular Pokémon series, Pokémon X & Y. They announced then that two compatible services would be launched in December which would allow you to store your Pokémon in the cloud - Pokébank - and transfer them from older DS games -Poké Transfer. That due date was two days ago. Ever the woefully unprepared, Nintendo discovered that this big plan of theirs was in fact too taxing on their servers. (Servers which, I can only guess, had not been upgraded for the occasion.)
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At this point, there's no word on when the services will be officially introduced beyond this pitiful message found on Nintendo's website:
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company International have postponed the launch of Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter - two software applications that were originally scheduled to launch for Nintendo 3DS on Dec. 27 - due to a large volume of traffic to the Nintendo Network service. Due to the high traffic, players are having trouble setting up Nintendo Network IDs and downloading content in the Nintendo eShop on both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. We truly regret the inconvenience, and wish to reassure everyone that providing a solution is our top priority. We apologize for the delay and thank you for your continued patience.
One of the best pieces of #nerdjizz-worthy news arrived on my doorstep in my inbox this morning. To say that I'm elated with the following announcement would be an understatement – Dominic Ford has released a Nintendo 3DS-compatible page of their popular website. It is a showcase of some of Ford's best 3D images and is viewable only with the glasses-free 3D technology found on the Nintendo 3DS. The site will eventually host 3D movies as well.
If you own a 3DS like I do, all you have to do is head over to http://dominicford.com/3ds to take advantage of seeing beautiful, naked men in three dimensions, without wearing glasses! Says Ford, "The Nintendo 3DS, as well as new 3D mobile devices, are exciting to us because they allow our 3D images and movies to be seen in full color and without the need for 3D glasses."
As of right now there are a collection of 20 or so photos ready for your viewing pleasure. Aside from the obvious naughty factor of seeing images on a gaming device of Spencer Reed, Shane Frost or new Dominic Ford-exclusive Bryce Evans clad only in smile, the images can be saved to the Nintendo 3DS memory! I have a feeling that I'm going to need a bigger SD card.
What you see there now is only a taste of what's to come. Soon, there will be an expanded photo section and as mentioned above, video will be available soon. Speaking from experience, I know it's going to be rather hard for me to hold the 3DS in that viewing 'sweet spot' while my right hand is, well, preoccupied. Nonetheless, it will be ultimately worth it. The two great loves of my life are porn and technology, and Dominic Ford has combined them perfectly.
And if the 3DS isn't your cup of tea for porn consumption, Ford isn't stopping at small-screen distribution with the glasses-free modus operandi. While anaglyph (blue/red glasses) allows viewers to watch Ford's 3D content on any regular display, Ford has always seen this technology as a stepping stone. "We are glad people enjoy watching the anaglyph versions of our content. But watching the 3D TV formats on a 3D TV or via new glasses free devices like the Nintendo 3DS is eye-opening to those who have never seen our content in full color. The 3D is cinema quality."
For more information, visit dominicford.com or click below.
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Well, it looks as though Nintendo is going to be the only major gaming company to release a new system next year. And quite frankly, given the Playstation 3 fiasco, they couldn't have picked a better time to go unchallenged.
My only hope is that a photo-realistic Legend of Zelda game will be in the works.
To whom it may concern:
Re: Wii’s successor system
Nintendo Co., Ltd. has decided to launch in 2012 a system to succeed Wii, which the company has sold 86.01 million units on a consolidated shipment basis between its launch in 2006 and the end of March 2011.
We will show a playable model of the new system and announce more specifications at the E3 Expo, which will be held June 7-9, 2011, in Los Angeles.
Sales of this new system have not been included in the financial forecasts announced today for the fiscal term ending March 2012.
The folks over at The Nerd Gamers are hosting a 72 hour gaming marathon to benefit residents of Japan. Gaming Benefit Drives and Japan are a good fit, considering that Japan is the birthplace of Nintendo. Without Nintendo's early innovation, who knows where we'd be today in the gaming world.
The marathon is going on now! Go donate!
With the release of the latest installment in the Mario Kart series, Nintendo is providing some digital download grace to the masses. Now that Playstation and Xbox are offering free digital downloads on a pretty regular basis, I guess they felt the pressure to get in the game, even at a much more moderate level.
When you buy Mario Kart 8 and register the game with your 
The offer is good until July 31st, so you've got plenty of time to take advantage. More details can be found on 
