Pokemon Black and White - UK events

Here's the list of remaining events for Pokemon Black and White in the UK:

Pokemon UK Black & White events

26/02/2011 - 27/02/2011:

Glasgow Fort - 285 Provan Walk, Glasgow Fort Shopping Centre, Junction 10 - M8, Glasgow, G34 9DY
Brighton - 43-44 Western Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 2EB
Preston - Unit 8, Fishergate Centre, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 8HJ
London Hamleys - 188-196 Regent Street, , London, , W1B 5BT
Reading - Unit 18, Oracle Shopping Centre Reading, Berkshire, RG1 2AQ

I went to one at a branch of GAME in Meadowhall, Sheffield last weekend. Mainly because everyone who brought along their DS and a recent pokemon game could download a free celebi. I got three of them - one for HeartGold, one for SoulSilver and one for Diamond. :)

This celebi unlocks a cool story event in HG and SS. Also, when a player transfers this celebi and the three shiny HG/SS legendaries to whichever version they choose of the new game, some kind of special event happens. I wish I could store more than 3 Wonder Cards. I've currently got one for Mew, one for Jirachi and one for Celebi, and it seems a pity to have to delete one just for the Johto trio. :/

There were four pokemon Black & White demo machines available. They weren't demonstrating the game on Nintendo 3DS, but on DS lites. (Though they had one in the store and the games have special features that are enabled on 3DS). The demo cartridges were unusually long!

I played the demo of Black (it was too crowded to choose which to play). The demo was quite short; you are a trainer with a level 25 [starter pokemon]. All the menus seemed to be disabled except for one that detected other B & W players nearby. You battle someone, someone else, and go to Dragonspiral Tower to see the legendary of the game. It says "The legendary pokemon have appeared at last. What could they want? A new adventure awaits!" and fades to black, and restarts itself with a different random trainer and starter pokemon.

I didn't learn much from the demo other than there are new pokemon, new legendaries, new setting.

But is there really anything more you could want in a pokemon demo? :)

There was also a special pokemon artist at the event who was painting pictures of the new game starters on people. She was really really good! I didn't ask for one to be painted on me, though!

The only shop I have seen in the UK selling Pokemon Black and White with preorder bonuses is Toys R Us (online), so I have preordered a copy of each game from them. It's just an accessory pack, but that might be good. :)

Nintendo 3DS - first impressions

I had a chance to try a 3DS in a shop over the weekend.

It didn't have any games for it, the lady demoing it was just taking 3D pictures with the built-in camera, and there was a little Augmented Reality game where you shoot a floating head in the room where you're standing.

It was kind of ok, but I didn't really like it.

It's got a 3D effect and if you move your head a little to the sides, it moves along with that, but if you move too far it really breaks the picture and you see two completely different ones.

I ended up feeling a bit odd after looking at it for a while. Mildly disoriented.

I don't really like it.

I found myself thinking.... it's really not going to be good as a proper portable like that; I mean, if you're planning on using it while on a bus or train - the bumps as you travel are going to mess things up.

Oh and it probably won't be the same for proper games, but when you switch the console from 3D to 2D, and you're looking at a photo, it makes the photo seem horribly fuzzy and low res.

So now I've seen one, I am definitely thinking [no thanks].

I dunno, when all you have to compare is *actual reality*, the fake 3D effect just isn't impressive.

My new PC

It took a few months, but I bought myself a new PC. Here it is:



It's one of these:

3XS H55 Performance GTS - Custom Series

...except that I customised it so it's got a 40GB SSD drive as the main hard drive, there are a 1TB and a 2TB drive as well for storage, there's a card reader in the front which can also hot-plug SSD drives (!!!), there's a Creative soundcard (mainly because I want to rip my vinyl record collection, and Creative cards come with good features and tools), and I went with Windows 7 Pro rather than the default home edition.

This is the first desktop PC I've bought in nearly 10 years, so I went to a shop that would offer a good system at a mid-range price, then let me customise it with fancy stuff.

...and then they took a month to build it, but I don't really mind. They also got my name wrong almost every time, and gave the courier the wrong address. I don't really mind that either. Well, not much. Well.... enough to mention it in public. :P

This is the first time I've had a PC where the graphics card is almost as big as the motherboard! :)

Things to note:

I didn't specifically choose the boy-racer style case with a window and lights inside, but it is a good case and has lots of ventilation.

It's speedy and quiet. :)