Pokemon Go Winter Events Simmer Down

Pokemon Go players have had an exciting last few weeks as Niantic released quite a few bonuses. The app was filled with Pikachu’s wearing Santa hats and special gift boxes with ultra balls stuffed inside.  Trainers found that spawn rates were being increased inside the game for the starter Pokemon and new baby Pokemon were added in at the beginning of December.

According to accounts on r/pokemongo, though, wild Pikachus have lost their hats. This is not surprising as we are quite a bit passed the holidays now. Others report that the store has also stopped selling the special edition gift boxes.  The event was stated to last to the 8th of January and will continue on in the form of the increased spawn rates for starter Pokemon.

Though the winter events are over expect more activity from Niantic coming soon. With holidays like Valentine’s day around the corner, we have a great chance of seeing another round of specials be announced for the game. It’s also worth noting that at any time we could see the release of the remainder of the generation 2 roster on the app.

Nintendo Switch Announcements Almost Here

Ever since the NX information began trickling out, fans of Nintendo have been eagerly awaiting any information to be released. In the closing months of 2016 the NX’s official name was released, and so began the flow of information for the Nintendo Switch.

Set to release in March, the Switch has had little information floating around about it. However, on the 12th we’ll all be treated to a Nintendo Conference all about the Switch and we’ll finally get some long awaited details. As Nintendo’s next console, the Switch has already been shown to dissolve the line between home consoles and portable gaming devices by offering the power of a home console while being able to be taken away from home without ever turning off your game.

The information that is most desired seems to be a list of the launch titles, prices, and some more specific hardware information. There is also the elephant in the room, The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. Nintendo hasn’t stated it will be a launch title, and the game has been in development long enough that fans feel the release should come much sooner than later. So be sure to keep an eye out for Nintendo’s new info on the Switch on the 12th to see what their next console has to offer!

Pokemon Hoodies to keep you warm

With 2017 finally here we have a few more months of cold weather ahead and the possibility of snow is reaching it’s highest in most places. So, what better way to combat the cold than with some awesome Pokemon hoodies to keep you toasty until Spring rolls around?

Shiny Umbreon Hoodie

Umbreon is a hugely popular eeveelution that hasn’t seen a lot of love lately. Fortunately for fans of the classic Dark type Pokemon, this hoodie has a gorgeous image of a Shiny version of Umbreon adorning it. The electric blue of shiny Umbreon mixed with a night sky and a reflection in rippling water is absolutely breathtaking, and on top of being great art, it will keep you warm.

Kyogre and Groudon Hoodie

Kyogre and Groudon were some of the first legendaries to really take center stage during their respective generations main story and this made them extremely memorable. This hoodie celebrates them in their Primal forms with some official artwork that looks great and is instantly recognizable to any fan of the series. There is also a bonus Pikachu waving to anyone looking at getting their kids this hoodie!

Generation Six Starters

Pokemon X and Y really revitalized the series for a lot of people and paved the way for this past year of 20th-anniversary goodness. This hoodie sports the starters for the generation, Froakie, Fennekin, and Chespin, as well as a Pikachu and the Pokemon logo. kids who enjoyed the last generation of Pokemon games can enjoy a hoodie with some of the most popular starters of the entire series.

Eggs no Longer Hatching Evolutions

One of the most recent additions to Pokemon Go were the baby Pokemon introduced in the 2nd generation of the main games. These currently have increased chances of being obtained through the events in Pokemon Go, but there is a major detail that is being discovered with the update. This change does mean that some Pokemon previously available via eggs will now have to be caught in the wild or raised from a hatched baby Pokemon.

Some long time players of the main games may remember having to take special measures for getting certain baby Pokemon, but in Pokemon Go it seems they have simply removed the ability for Pokemon like Pikachu, Clefairy, and Magmar to be hatched from an egg. This may make getting certain Pokemon take a little longer, but will also make the final product much stronger.

Also, remeber that there is currently a spawn rise in the starter Pokemon. So, if you want to finish evolving up that Squirtle you got over the summer now is the perfect opportunity to grind for candy.

Lastly, there have been rumors that Togepi can fully evolve into Togetic as of right now. If you have a Togepi let us know if it happens to evolve!

Last Chance Arceus Event

This year there were a lot of event Pokemon being handed out, and most players have collected a large number of Mythical Pokemon that they normally wouldn’t be able to obtain. To finish out the year, though, we’ve got another chance to grab an Arceus for our collections.

This event is available in North America, Australia, and Europe. For those looking to grab Arceus in North America, you’ll just need to use the code ARCEUS20. As for Europe, the code is ARCEUS2016.

The only downside to the event is that the codes won’t work if you already received an Arceus earlier this year. But, for anyone who missed out on Arceus for whatever reason, you can now pick one up to finish out 2016. Be quick, though, the event will close out the last day of December.

Pokemon Go Users Desiring Challenges

Reddit users over on r/pokemongo have been spinning interesting ideas since the subreddits launch. One of the most upvoted and fun ideas floating around this week is the possible addition of weekly challenges into Pokemon Go. Challenges would allow for players to have more incentive to play by setting goals and rewarding them for the time they spend in the app every week.

Challenges, or a similar feature, could be a great way to even out the easier acquisition of candies due to recent updates. Being able to be rewarded stardust could round out the game’s balance for resources needed to power up your Pokemon. It could also be a really fun way of drawing interest back to Pokemon Go. Niantic could allow challenges similar to the reveal video of Pokemon Go, a single rare Pokemon showing up that a group of people must battle to obtain.

Girl Uses Sleeping Mom’s Fingerprint For Pokemon Gifts

This holiday season has been great for Pokemon and even Nintendo fans in general. There were a lot of great gifts to go around, which apparently got someone out there a little too desperate to score so Pokemon gear.

An Arkansas family’s six-year-old daughter recently managed to snag her mother’s phone while the mother was sleeping. What did this 6-year-old want you ask? Just $250 worth of Pokemon merchandise for her Christmas presents. To top it off, the little girl even used her mother’s thumbprint while she was sleeping to unlock the phone! She did manage to have the gifts delivered properly, but unfortunately for the parents, they were not able to return everything.

Hopefully, this little girl and her family still had a wonderful holiday season and the little girl learned a lesson in not using someone’s devices without permission. As for everyone else, maybe we should start using complicated codes to unlock our phones? This is a great reminder to keep our phones secure, and a pretty light hearted story among less happy news lately and hopefully, people get a little laugh out of this family’s misadventures. Happy Holidays!

Twilight Princess Manga Coming Soon

For Nintendo fans who love The Legend of Zelda you will find that there is a lot of branded merchandise to buy. The Zelda series has everything from cups to blankets to decorate your house with and games on every Nintendo console you can think of. The beloved series even has a tv series from the 80’s that fans consider a cult classic.

The series over the years has come out with several manga books that contain the stories of quite a few of the main games. Twilight Princess one of the arguably most popular entries in the franchise has been missing from the lineup, however. Now there seems to be a ray of hope as a manga of the game has been released overseas and Amazon has an english edition up for pre-order on their site.

The story is noted for being in a darker style than previous entries in the series and contains a unique style of artwork. The one book looks to contain the whole story in a single volume and will retail for around $9.98 USD. The book will contain slight variations from the game and will be a quicker read leaving out a few scenes from the game.

You can pre-order the manga here.

 

Games For Your New 3DS

With the holidays wrapping up soon it’s time for everyone to hit the stores again for the end of the year sales over the next couple of weeks. So, what better time to stock up on great 3DS games to tide you through the beginning of the new year? We’ll give you some ideas to help you pick a few games you may have missed or haven’t quite convinced yourself to pick up yet.

Bravely Default: Bravely Default is a JRPG styled similar to the early 3D Final Fantasy games like Final Fantasy VII. It was given glowing reviews for its combat and received generally good comments on its story and characters. If you’re a fan of JRPGs then Bravely Default is a great option, as well as its sequel, Bravely Second.

Majora’s Mask 3D: Majora’s Mask was a huge hit on the N64 back in the day and fans were asking for a remake for years before a 3DS version was finally announced. This version has enhanced graphics from the retro N64 version and improved controls.

Yo-Kai Watch: If you’re enjoying Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon so far then Yo-kai Watch is a great next step. It has monster collecting similar to Pokemon with different a focus and combat style.

Pokemon Go Holiday Event

While everyone is celebrating with their families over the holidays Pokemon Go will be giving people a reason to venture off with their loved ones for some boosted gameplay.

Starting December 25th players will be able to more easily acquire the new baby Pokemon added in the last game update. Eggs will not necessarily hatch faster, however, each pokestop will give players a free incubator per day to make hatching eggs easier. Also, there will be increased rates for receiving eggs containing the new baby Pokemon. The incubators are one use, but with increased egg rates they will make hatching a much easier process. There will also be a higher chance of encountering the santa-hat Pikachu during this time. This event will end on January 3rd.

Also, on December 30th the encounter rates for all three first generation starters and their evolutions will be raised as well. This means gathering candies to evolve or power up your starter Pokemon will be much easier, or if you haven’t found all of the starters yet this will be a great opportunity to catch them. This event will end on January 8th.

These events will make filling pokedex entries a lot easier, and are a great holiday treat from Niantic. Good luck catching your Pokemon and be safe out there over the holidays!