Gamertell

Pokemon and one of its most famous creatures, Pikachu, made their way into the world’s vocabulary years ago. Now, Pikachu is making its way into medical vernacular. A newly discovered protein has been dubbed “Pikachurin” by Japanese scientists.

The July 20, 2008 web edition of Nature Neuroscience (which requires a subscription to view) discussed the Osaka Bioscience Institute’s discovery of pikachurin, a protein which aids kinetic vision. The protein was named specifically for Pikachu, because of the character’s agility.

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The ultimate Pokemon finals are ongoing, and you may have a chance to enter. See, The Pokemon Company and Pokemon USA teamed up to create this super challenge, the Pokemon Video Game Showdown 2008, where 16 US players and 16 Japanese players of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl would duke it out for glory. While the official entry period for players closed, additional players who attend the Qualifier Tournaments. 

There are two Qualifier Tournaments being held in the US, and they’re on both coasts. The California Science Center in Los Angeles will be having one on July 12, 2008, and the Altman Building in New York will be having one on July 19, 2008. Both tournaments start at 8am. People will be broken into Junior (born after 1996) and Senior (born before 1995) divisions, and up to 128 alternates from each division will be chosen to participate.

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Pokemon fanatics will want to borrow a kid and head to Burger King after the Fourth of July. Burger King will be running a special, worldwide kid’s meal Pokemon promotion from July 7 to August 3, 2008.

The official website (which isn’t open yet) will display the prizes that will come with the meal. Along with the obligatory toy, each meal will also come with one of 12 Pokemon Trading Card Game: Diamond & Pearl cards. The cards will likely be handed out at random, so visitors might have to eat quite a few meals to collect them all.

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If you’re a YouTube fan, chances are you’ve encountered the Caramelldansen phenomenon, a strange, 30~120 second video that shows cartoon-style versions of popular anime, cartoon or video game characters doing a bunny-wiggle dance to the hyper song “Caramelldansen.” After sitting through the entire video, you’ll be a bit stunned, perhaps wondering what is going on. Yes, you’ve stumbled upon an outdated meme.

Since then, fans have decided to dance the “Caramelldansen” dance, dragging their favorite characters with them. No series is safe, no character too unlikely, to become…

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June is shaping up to be a fun month for Pokemon Diamond/Pearl owners. On May 31 and June 1, 2008, Toys “R” Us stores were offering up a Darkrai download. Now GameStop stores will be offering up Deoxys.

On two separate weekends in June, 2008, GameStop stores will be offering Deoxys as a download. So if you live near a GameStop, stop in between June 20~22 or from the 25~27 with your DS and either Pokemon Diamond or Pearl to download the exclusive pokemon to your game.

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Title: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness
Price: $34.99 (each)
System(s): DS
Release Date: April 20, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Nintendo (The Pokémon Company)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone” for mild cartoon violence.
Pros: It has “Pokémon” in the name, the character and town graphics are good and attacks can be mapped to buttons.
Cons: You have to buy two games, the gameplay is more frustration than fun and the dungeons graphics are really bad.
Overall Score: One thumb sideways, one thumb down; 62/100; D-; * 1/2 out of five.

The game is technically adequate but the blandly generated dungeons don’t do the franchise justice. Also, for all of the well-intentioned features and pretty decent graphics (as is expected at this point from any Pokémon DS game), I played this for a few days, put it down and then never wanted to pick it back up. I had zero care as to the level of my avatar or getting through the next random dungeon. Instead, I am pretty content to leave it as-is, which is a really bad sign for a role-playing game that is intended to be enjoyed for months.

Click through for the full review…

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A couple of my friends are serious Pokemon addicts, so after the Mudkip teaser, I was quickly ordered to complete a second cross stitch with a similar theme. Since I only like the pokemon which look cute, I decided to do a cross stitch featuring Smoochum, Elekid and Magby.

Click through for more information and cross stitch links…

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In case you haven’t heard the rumor/revelation, the new version of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl will be called Pokemon Platinum. Scans from Coro Coro Comic magazine confirm the new DS Pokemon title, which may be out in September 2008 in Japan.

The title Platinum doesn’t really fit among Diamond and Pearl. Platinum is a white-gray metal and diamonds and pearls are precious gems. It’s like one of those games you played in school, where you had to pick out the thing that didn’t belong. There are plenty of more appropriate names for Pokemon Platinum, so let’s look at a few options…

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After a long-ish drought, it looks like the Virtual Console is getting the goods again. With the recent news that SNES classic EarthBound is likely to land on the VC and today’s release of super-addictive N64 puzzler Pokemon Puzzle League, I’m happy to be a retro gamer again. Also on tap this week is NES brawler Renegade, but I’m going to be too busy with my Tetris Attack Clone to bother. All VC titles are available on the Wii Shop channel, with a fresh batch arriving every Monday at 9 AM Pacific time. Wii points can be purchased at a rate of $1 for 100 points. The new games bring the North American count to 223.

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Its been a long time coming, but finally Pokemon fans will be able to collect yet another exclusive pokemon. On February 3, 2008, Gamertell reported that a Darkrai event was scheduled for the United States. Thanks to a tip from reader Jess, it has come to light that dates have finally been set for Darkrai distribution.

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