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Nintendo

Nintendo and DeNA to establish joint venture company called Nintendo Systems • ZebethMedia

Nintendo and mobile games company DeNA are forming a joint venture company called Nintendo Systems that will aim to enhance the digitization of Nintendo’s business. The joint venture builds on Nintendo’s years-long partnership with DeNA that began in 2015. The two have since worked together to develop a handful of titles, including Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Mario Kart Tour, Miitomo and Pokémon Masters. Nintendo announced the news alongside its latest financial results. The company notes that since the amount of capital of the joint venture company is greater than 10% of that of Nintendo, it will become a Specified Subsidiary of Nintendo. The new company will begin operations in April 2023 and will be based on Tokyo. Nintendo’s Tetsuya Sasaki will be the president of the new company. Nintendo says the objective of the new venture company is to focus on research and development to strengthen the digitization of Nintendo’s business and create “value-added services to further reinforce Nintendo’s relationship with customers.” “With the integrated hardware-software model at the core of its business, Nintendo also strives to provide enhanced experience and service outside of its dedicated gaming system,” the company said in a statement. “In order to provide this experience in a holistic manner, Nintendo is working to maintain and expand its relationship with consumers primarily through Nintendo Account.” Nintendo, together with DeNA, has made significant strides in the mobile gaming space. Of the six titles that two have produced together, Fire Emblem Heroes has been the most successful, as it hit $1 billion in global player spending in June, according to data from Sensor Tower. As a result, Fire Emblem Heroes was Nintendo’s first mobile game to surpass $1 billion in spending. The data also shows that Mario Kart Tour brought in $293 million, while Animal Crossing brought in $287.6 million. The company says the establishment of the joint venture company is subject to all necessary approvals, including those required by the competition laws of involved countries. Nintendo also notes that the news will have no effect on its results for this fiscal year, and that the effects it will have on future results will be incorporated into financial forecasts from the next term onwards.

Get a load o’ this guy! (There’s a new ghost dog Pokémon called Greavard) • ZebethMedia

I cannot feasibly write a new post on ZebethMedia dot com every time a new Pokémon is announced. I did skip over Bellibolt, the electric frog Pokémon that generates power from its big belly. But you know what’s even better than the partner Pokémon of a VTuber gym leader? Greavard. So here we are, writing a post to tell you about this haunting, good boy. I promise, any editor who is reading this, I did not spend more than twenty minutes on this important update in technology news. Coming to “Pokémon Scarlet and Violet,” Greavard is like a cross between a Litwick (the candle Pokémon that debuted in “Pokémon Black and White”) and a bearded collie, as one Twitter user delightfully illustrated for us here: In other words, Greavard is a ghost dog. In other other words, according to the Pokémon Company, Greavard is a “lovable subsurface lurker.” That’s either a really great or really terrible Tinder bio, and I can’t decide which, so don’t blame me if you scare off your future wife. Why “subsurface”? According to the video, it looks like Greavard appears in the wild like a little candle on the ground, submerging its body beneath the surface — maybe the name “Greavard” is supposed to combine “graveyard” and “grief,” and this ghost dog is trying to reunite with a new owner to shower with love? Let’s not dwell on that for too long. But when you approach the shining candle, Greavard will jump out of the ground while “letting out a spooky cry that would startle most unsuspecting people — though it doesn’t appear to do this with ill intent,” the Pokémon Company says. “Greavard has such a friendly and affectionate personality that paying it even the slightest bit of attention will make it so overjoyed that it will follow Trainers wherever they go. Of all the Pokémon residing in the Paldea region, it is known to be especially easy to befriend,” the press release reads. But of course, because Pokédex entries are haunting and horrifying, this ghost dog has some pretty dark undertones. “Greavard will slowly and inadvertently absorb the life-force of those around it, so it’s best not to play with it too much. What’s more, it also has powerful jaws that can shatter bones. A single bite from Greavard can be grievous—so Trainers are advised to approach it with caution,” it says. I don’t know what to make of that, but I’m definitely catching a Greavard who will become best friends with my Lechonk. I think he’s just a good boy who needs a belly rub in the afterlife. He cannot hurt me. “Pokémon Scarlet & Violet” will be released for the Nintendo Switch on November 18. We played a sneak preview of the game and wrote about it here.

I played a sneak peak of ‘Pokémon Scarlet,’ the franchise’s first open world game • ZebethMedia

The ninth installment in the iconic franchise’s main series games, “Pokémon Scarlet & Violet” melds the best parts of “Pokémon Legends: Arceus” and “Pokémon Sword & Shield” to debut Pokémon’s first open world game, out November 18. I know what you’re thinking. “Legends: Arceus,” which came out earlier this year, was often described as an open world game despite not quite resembling hits like “Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.” But from the hour-and-change that I got to play “Pokémon Scarlet,” the open world claims seem legit. That is, you can run around and you don’t hit any invisible barriers — but then again, Nintendo designated a very specific corner of the map for these early playthroughs, and I was too busy trying to sniff out brand new Pokémon to put my Koraidon into high-gear and sprint toward the deepest depths of Paldea. Speaking of which: Koraidon and Miraidon, the legendaries that appear on the covers of “Pokémon Scarlet & Violet,” function differently than past legendaries. Usually, the Pokémon that grace the artwork of new games are over-powered beasts like Kyogre, Dialga or Zacian, which you finally capture after several hours of gameplay. But from very early in the game, you join forces with your game’s chosen legendary, who you can use for transportation. In “Legends: Arceus,” players could ride Pokémon like Braviary, Basculegion and Sneasler to fly, swim, climb or just move faster. Koraidon and Miraidon function the same way, except you don’t have to annoyingly toggle between Pokémon. I guess these legendaries are simply more skilled than poor old Ursaluna. So, what’s new in “Pokémon Scarlet & Violet”? To be honest, the demo I played seemed to be specifically designed to not give much more away than what’s already been shown in trailers. But I can reveal one very key piece of information. As previously announced, you can make sandwiches with your Pokémon, similar to camping and making curry in “Sword & Shield.” And unfortunately, yes — you can, indeed, feed Lechonk a ham sandwich. I’m so sorry. Image Credits: Nintendo Three different story routes Paldea is inspired by the Iberian peninsula (Portugal and Spain) — a bit more exciting than the time when Pokémon based “Black & White” off of New York City and gave us Trubbish, a literal trash bag Pokémon. Instead, we get cuties like the little piggy Lechonk, a play on lechon, the Spanish word for cooked pork (that’s why it was so awful that I fed Lechonk a ham sandwich, he is literally a pig, ham comes from pigs, I already apologized, I don’t know what you want from me.) Because it’s an open world game, players can choose what order in which to explore “Pokémon Scarlet & Violet.” There are three story routes, which can be explored in any order: Victory Road, Path of Legends and Starfall Street. Victory Road is your standard Pokémon storyline — you battle gyms, get badges and challenge the Elite Four. Simple enough. But you also have to complete some side quests in order to get the gym leader to challenge you. The grass-themed gym in Artazon, an art-themed town, requires the player to play hide and seek with a horde of Sunflora. This is where the non-linear storyline might get tricky — if you’ve already explored other storylines, will you simply just eviscerate Brassius’ Sudowoodo? Then again, we’re adults playing a game for children. If you want a real challenge from the gym battles, just play a Nuzlocke run. Image Credits: Nintendo The Path of Legends route resembles the boss battles in “Legends: Arceus,” only less frustrating. In “Legends: Arceus,” you had to throw balls of the Pokémon’s favorite food (?) at it while avoiding its ferocious attacks. In the new games, you just battle a particularly strong Pokémon. But the large Klawf that I faced scampered off before I fully drained its health, and I was told not to run after it in my demo, so hey. Maybe we’ll still have to throw food at Pokémon after all. I’m not looking forward to it. Then, there’s Starfall Street, which occupies the “defeat the bad guys!” part of your standard Pokémon story. We first encounter Team Star at a base that’s not too far from Artazon. You have to ring the doorbell to go inside — I accidentially flew over it on my Koraidon, and Team Star did not take kindly to that. Then, you complete another pre-battle challenge: you have ten minutes to defeat thirty Pokémon, like Vulpix, Torkoal and Houndoom. In past games, KO-ing thirty Pokémon that quickly would be difficult. But “Scarlet & Violet” lets you “auto battle” wild creatures, which makes the process of grinding to level up a bit less strenuous. Is this a quality of life improvement, or does it take away the rite of passage of raising your Pokémon? Eh, we already moved past that once the Exp. Share became so overpowered. One inarguably helpful quality of life improvement is “auto heal,” which applies items from your bag to heal a Pokémon back to full health. Gone are the days of feeding your Hoppip three different potions to recover 60 HP. Like other recent games, you can also change your party Pokémon on the go. Image Credits: Nintendo When you defeat those thirty Pokémon, Team Star’s Mela challenges you to a battle against her surprisingly bulky Torkoal, which sits atop the Starmobile, a giant car that wouldn’t be out of place at a pride parade. Even Game Freak is attuned to the disco ball trend! But here’s where it gets trippy. Once you defeat the Torkoal, you can fight the Starmobile. I’ll leave it at that, for legal reasons. Key new features in ‘Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’ I’ll admit: I do not care about Mega Pokémon, or Dynamax Pokémon, or whatever else we’ve been led to believe is the next frontier of battling our silly little guys (shiny mega Gengar is badass, though). But surprisingly enough, Terastal Pokémon

‘Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’ has a VTuber gym leader • ZebethMedia

I didn’t know we needed a VTuber Gym Leader in the Pokémon universe. Then, we met Iono. Last week, Pokémon released a 14-minute trailer about the upcoming “Pokémon Scarlet & Violet” games, which will mark the ninth generation of the iconic franchise’s main series installments. So this morning, when Pokémon unveiled another teaser for the upcoming games, some fans expected that they’d learn about more new Pokémon species as exciting as Wiglett or Farigiraf. Eager trainers woke up in the wee hours of the morning, waiting for the big reveal. Instead, they got a three minute video of a bubbly, electric-type trainer jumping around her set, asking her legions of fans at home to guess her partner Pokémon. The Pokémon Company describes her as an “influencer, streamer, and Gym Leader.” We stan a multi-hyphenate queen! If Iono is as powerful as she is fashionable, then we’ll have a tricky gym battle on our hands. Unfortunately, these games are made for children, so you’ll probably be able to take her out with a solid ground Pokémon… just know even if you beat her in combat, she will likely destroy you with her runway walk, so who’s the real winner here? Iono’s characterization screams “VTuber,” or “virtual YouTuber,” the Japanese streaming genre in which creators inhabit a virtual persona, who they animate by using AR face-tracking or motion capture suits. Since Iono already exists within an animated Japanese video game, it might be a misnomer to call her a VTuber — is she really a pink-and-blue-haired goddess with Magnemite clipped into her hair, rocking the oversized sweatshirt à la Ariana Grande or Billie Eilish? Or is she a different animated Pokémon character who is inhabiting the persona of virtual streamer within a game that is already virtual? Of course, the influencer gym leader has click baited us into waiting until “next time” to find out who her partner Pokémon is, but I’m more curious about whether she’s a virtual character within a virtual game or not. This also begs the question of what video games Iono is streaming, and what games even exist in the Pokémon universe. In main series games, we usually find the latest Nintendo console in our character’s bedroom — we even encounter kids playing the GameBoy and using link cables to trade Pokémon. So, could Iono be as strong a Pokémon video game player as she is a Pokémon trainer? We know that Pokémon exists within the universes of other Nintendo franchises, like Splatoon and Animal Crossing. Is the reverse true, too? Hopefully, our existential questions about the extent of the Nintendo universe will be answered when “Pokémon Scarlet & Violet” come out on November 18. For now, nope, we did not learn any new information about the Paldea region, except that there’s a town called Levincia where Iono intimidates her challengers with her shining, purple eyes and impeccable fashion sense. Deal with it.

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