Monday, September 27, 2010

Read an RPG Book in Public Week is here!


The Escapist's thrice-annual Read an RPG Book in Public Week is on again! Time to dig up one of your favorite RPG's from the closet, take it to a restaurant, the park, or wherever, and spread the word about just how fun and exciting role-playing can be. Just make sure it's a more family-friendly RPG; we don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.

Read an RPG Book in Public Week haapens on the weeks of March 4, July 27, and October 1. Its purpose is to raise awareness of role-playing games and their benfits as well as show the world they are in no way "Satanic" or evil. Heck, it might be a good excuse to take a couple of friends and actually play one!

More info on Read an RPG Book in Public Week can be found here.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

More info on the Pokeathlon League mini-season

The official Pokemon website amd the PokeGym have released more info about the new Pokemon League season! Or shall I say mini-season?

As I have previously mentioned, the upcoming League cycle will revolve around the Pokeathlon. The five Pokeathlon events and their corresponding promos are as follows:

Ring Drop: Donphan HGSS and Spiritomb AR (just in time for Halloween!)

Hurdle Dash: Crobat UL and Expert Belt (cool enough)

Snow Throw: Delibird HGSS and Azelf LA (finally!)

Block Smash: Steelix UL and Special Metal Energy (OK if you need them)

Disc Catch: Houndoom UD and Special Dark Energy (possibly the best "nice-to-have" League promo so far)

Each League season will last 5 weeks, which means this cycle will end somewhere around March, which is probably when Pokemon Black and White are coming out in the US.

The upcoming crop of League promos looks pretty hot, so why not stop by your local Pokemon League and grab yourself some?

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Neo Fights: Deck Building for Absol-ute Beginners

Neo Fights is a new article series on The Warp Point that aims to show players new to the Pokemon TCG what they need to know.

New to the game? Returning to the game after a long absence? You're definitely going to need a new deck! But what to do? Follow these simple steps and you'll be well on your way to becoming a Pokemon TCG master!

Step 1: Buy Theme Decks. 3-4 theme decks will give you a good assortment of Pokemon, Trainer cards, and Energy to start with. Try to get decks with several different Energy types - e. g. both theme decks from HS: Unleashed (Grass/Fighting/Steel and Darkness/Fighting/Psychic respectively), the Stormshaper theme deck from Arceus (Psychic/Electric), and the Ember Spark deck from HeartGold/SoulSilver (Fire/Electric). The HS: Undaunted decks (and, presumably, any future sets' theme decks) contain an extra booster pack, making them a hot commodity for beginners and masters alike.

Step 2: Buy Tins. Aim for tins that have Pokemon Lv. X (Regigigas, Heatran, Giratina, Shaymin, Arceus) or Pokemon Prime (Typhlosion, Feraligatr, Meganium) that have counterparts in theme decks. This will make your theme deck-inspired decks that much stronger. The booster packs are an added bonus.

Step 3: Buy Booster Packs. The more, the merrier (within reason). If your budget allows, buy an entire booster box. Don't buy packs that aren't Modified-legal.

Step 4: Organize Your Stuff. Get yourself a binder or two and put your rares and foils in them. A 4-pocket binder is perfect for this purpose. Your commons, uncommons, and Energy cards should go into a separate box.

Step 5: Trade. Write down a list of cards you need for your deck and put it in your trade binder. Trade only for those cards.

Step 6: Go To Leagues. A lot. You can earn promo cards simply by playing the game, including staple Trainer cards. Leagues also give you a chance to look at the season's hot decks, seek out new and interesting combos, and generally have a good time. Check pokemon.com for a League (or Leagues) near you.

Step 7: ???

Step 8: Profit!

Thanks to Rogue Archetype for coming up with the original list of suggestions on the PokeGym!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

New League Season Info and Promos!

The theme for the 2010-2011 Pokemon League will be Johto-related, but won't feature the Gym Leaders. Instead, each League season will be based around a Pokeathlon event. The League promos will follow the same pattern as last year - one nice-to-have promo featuring a Pokemon who does well at the Pokeathlon event in question, and one gotta-have promo featuring a card that's in high demand by beginners and Pokemon TCG masters alike. Each League promo will have the same funky foil treatment as last year's promos, with the new Play! Pokemon logo watermarked in the text box.

The first League season will feature the "Ring Drop" (a sumo wrestling-like event) and the promos will be the non-Prime Donphan from HGSS and Spiritomb from Arceus (oh yeah!).

More info on the rest of next year's League promos as it comes out.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Scientists create "quantum dice"

A group of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light in Erlangen, Germany, have created one of the first true random-number generators. By splitting a laser beam and measuring the vacuum fluctuations that occur, these scientists have managed to create what is in essence a "quantum die". This promises to be of great value in the online privacy industry (not to mention cryptography and, we hope, gaming).

More information can be found in this ScienceDaily link.

Now if they could only make one small enough to fit in a Royal Crown bag....

Monday, September 6, 2010

Go forth and be Triumphant, Trainers!

The next Pokemon TCG set will be called HS: Triumphant. This will be the last of the HG/SS sets, and it promises to be exciting! Eight new Pokemon Prime (including Machamp and the much-anticipated Gengar), two new Legend duos (Dialga/Palkia and Cresselia/Darkrai), and a plethora of new Trainer, Supporter, and Stadium cards (including some real game-changers) await collectors and players alike. The Lost Zone will feature prominently in this set.

Prereleases will be held on the weekends of October 23rd-24th and 30th-31st, with the set coming out November 2nd. The Prerelease sleeves will be green with a silhouette of Celebi in white.

This set is going to shake things up come Cities, so be sure to get your hands on some as soon as it comes out!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Just a friendly reminder...

...that as of yesterday, the new Pokemon TCG Modified format is now Majestic Dawn-on. Also, all POP packs and DP Promos 1-21 are now Modified-illegal. Please adjust your decks accordingly.