Warp Zoned Presents
All Articles: Pokemon Black/White
Mortal Kombat decapitates the competition in April NPD report
It’s no secret that the video game community has responded to NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat reboot with a resounding “I love it.” But like Shao Kahn taunting a clearly inferior kombatant, the game also emerged on top of The NPD Group’s April 2011 sales report. And according to a tweet from Kombat creator Ed Boon, the game sold over 1,000,000 copies during the month. Flawless victory indeed.
April 19’s other big release, Portal 2, teleported its way to the top of the list with a strong #2 showing. Of course, it’s important to point out that a good portion of Portal 2’s sales were digital downloads through Steam, which isn’t counted by the NPD.
But the biggest surprise from last month’s top ten might be the absence of Sony’s SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs. The online shooter was also released on April 19th, one day before hackers took down the PSN. The service has yet to return and its offline status definitely contributed to SOCOM 4’s lackluster sales.
Hit the jump for the complete top ten of April’s bestselling games. (more…)
Pokemon Black/White Review: You Can Catch It, But It’s Certainly Not a Legendary
Pokemon games follow a pretty simple formula: you live in a world full of pocket monsters that exist in harmony with humans. Your character is a pretty typical kid who wants to go out on adventures in Unova and become a Pokemon trainer. You’re entrusted with a Pokedex and told to fill it. On the way, you make enemies and friends, battle ace trainers and campers, and, of course, catch a ton of Pokemon – preferably all of them, if you’re so inclined/psychotic. But Pokemon Black and White introduce a new factor to the equation – a coherent storyline, with plot twists and all. The question is – does this add or detract from the series we’ve come to know and love? (more…)
Posted in DS, Reviews, Top Story
Tagged Pokemon Black/White
Check out this picture of every Pokemon ever
Every wonder what a drawing of every single Pokemon would look like? Well, wonder no more, because Japanese artist Jippe has made the dream a reality by drawing all 646 existing Pokemon in one place – including those from Pokemon Black and Pokemon White. In addition to this crazy depiction of all the pocket monsters you gotta catch, he has more Pokemon art on his website.
Urge to go catch Pokemon all night…rising…
Posted in DS, Etcetera, News
Tagged Pokemon Black/White
Nintendo sells almost 400,000 3DS units in first week
Nintendo hit it out of the park again, selling nearly 400,000 3DS units in its first week on sale. But it couldn’t overtake its little brother as, according to Nintendo, the NPD group announced that the DS family sold over 460,000 units in the month of March, “propelled by sales of more than 1.3 million Pokémon White Version games and more than 1.1 million Pokémon Black Version games.” I guess that smear campaign isn’t working.
But 3DS owners have more to look forward to than just 3DS without the glasses. There’s a free system update coming soon that, besides allowing DSi and DSi XL owners to transfer their DSiWare games, will also give access to the Nintendo eShop. There’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, which was finally given a June 19 release date. And, finally, Netflix is coming to the 3DS, reportedly later this summer, which is awesome news for those of us with both an unlimited streaming membership as well as a 3DS.
Nintendo of America’s senior director of Corporate Communications, Charlie Scibetta, said that “Nintendo provides people with the best video game experiences, from 3D visuals without special glasses to a touch-screen interface to motion controls.” Nintendo reps are really heavy on the “3D without glasses” angle. Hey Charlie, I’ve got your new slogan: “No glasses? No problem.” Bam.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Pokemon Black/White, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Pokemon Black/White dominate sales chart
The NPD Group has revealed the list of bestselling games for March and the latest Pokemon game, Pokemon Black/White, has caught the top of the chart.
Pokemon White Version came out on top with Pokemon Black Version just behind it in the number two slot. According to Nintendo, both games combined to sell nearly 2.5 million copies (over 1.3 million for White and another 1.1 million for Black).
New releases were well represented among last months bestsellers with Homefront (#3) and Dragon Age II (#4) both taking up residence in the top five. The bottom half of the top ten was also almost completely made up of new releases including Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (#6), Crysis 2 (#7), MLB 11: The Show (#9) and Fight Night Champion (#10).
Hit the jump for a complete look at the NPD Group’s top ten for March. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops, Crysis 2, Dragon Age II, Fight Night Champion, Homefront, Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, MLB 11: The Show, NBA 2K11, NPD, Pokemon Black/White
Pokemon Global Link launching April 13 for Black & White
Nintendo has finally announced the concrete date for Pokemon Global Link, and it’s coming at you in two days on April 13. We previously detailed the robust online, browser-based features, which include a dream world where you can collect items, a well-supported battle community, and extras Nintendo may distribute from time to time.
“The Pokémon Global Link further expands the world of Pokémon and enhances the global connectivity of Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version,” said J.C. Smith, director of Consumer Marketing for The Pokémon Company International. “Pokémon has always been about communicating and battling with others, and the Pokémon Global Link has taken that philosophy to a new and exciting level.”
While all of these features are great, you have to wonder why Nintendo is employing unorthodox, browser-based solutions for online multiplayer. From friend codes and beyond, their failure to adapt to the growing connectivity of gaming has probably contributed greatly to their machines still being seen as babysitting tools.
Posted in DS, News
Tagged Pokemon Black/White, Pokemon Global Link
Pokemon Black & White shatter previous series sales records in U.S.
Now into its fifth generation of games, the Pokemon series is not losing any steam. Nintendo announced that day one sales in the U.S. for Pokemon Black Version and Pokemon White Version total over a million units when they released on March 6. That surpasses the previous Pokemon sales record in the U.S., which incidentally was the debut of the last generation, Diamond and Pearl.
Charlie Scibetta, Senior Director of Corporate Communications for Nintendo of America said, “these sales numbers illustrate the continued strength of the Nintendo DS family of systems. Already established as the nation’s best-selling video game platform of all time, the installed base of more than 47 million makes it the ideal hand-held for developers to reach a huge gaming-focused target audience.” While the DS is already firmly established as one of the strongest platforms of all time for quality titles, I’m not sure if I would say the target audience is “gaming-focused.”
Posted in DS, News
Tagged Pokemon Black/White
Presidents of the United States of America catch ’em all
They sat in a boggy marsh with lump, they crushed a peach in their fist and they performed a duet with Sir Mix-A-Lot. But do you believe that The Presidents of the United States of America can also catch ’em all?
The 90s alt-rock gods (in my mind at least) performed their Pokemon tribute song “Can’t Stop (Catchin’ ‘Em All)” at the Pokemon Black and White launch party this weekend in New York City. If you couldn’t make it down to the Nintendo World Store, don’t worry, we’ve got the song right here:
This is definitely one group of Presidents that I’d never want to impeach.
Posted in DS, Etcetera, News
Tagged Pokemon Black/White