Much to discuss today!  I’ve been so busy with the awesomeness that is Kid Icarus, I’ve barely had time to blog about all the other sweet games that are coming out soon.  And I haven’t even talked about Mario Party 9, which I’ve been playing off and on for a while.  ZOMG!  Not to mention the BIG DAY is fast approaching… the Pokémon Video Game Competition Regionals!

OK first things first:  Spirit Camera – Cursed Memoir.  If the above picture isn’t enough to convince you, then obviously you aren’t into this type of game.  I think this is a GENIUS idea for a game.  Spirit Camera is exclusively a 3DS game, and comes with an AR Book.  Much like the AR cards that accompany the 3DS console, this AR book contains certain images that, when scanned with the 3DS camera, brings ‘ghosts’ or ‘demons’ or something like that… to LIFE!  Basically this game turns your house into a ghost hunting journey!  You have to save your soul (I think?) from being trapped in the book (which they call a diary) forever!  Viewing your personal surroundings through the “Spirit Camera” aka your 3DS will show ghosts hiding in YOUR house and you have to deal with them!  OK I honestly have no idea what you actually have to do in this game other than run around with your 3DS… but honestly, that’s all the info I need to know to make me want to get this game!  Luckily my birthday is next week…  🙂

Spirit Camera is releasing on Friday, April 13th in North America.  Exciting!  Visit their hauntingly cool website for videos and more details!

Mario Party 9 is another game I’ve been playing lately.  This is a Wii console game, one of the few reasons for me to turn on my Wii these days.  I am enjoying the new take on the Mario Party style – instead of traveling around the game board on your own like in the previous versions, you are in a little car with your opponents, traveling together!  You have to fight Bowser’s minions along the way, and it’s a lot of fun.  However, I must honestly say that I’ve been playing the single player version of the game as well, and it’s kind of frustrating.  The new Mini Games are refreshing, but I do miss some of the fun items that you used to be able to acquire in the older versions.  In MP9, you only collect different types of dice, which is kind of boring.  But change is progress and I think the new style of gameplay works!  But it’s definitely more fun to play the multi-player mode.

In other news, I posted something on my Facebook Fan Page (what?  You don’t like my page?  CLICK HERE NOW!) earlier today that had an actual RELEASE DATE for Pokémon Black and White 2.  This is only a release date for Japan mind you, and I’m not entirely sure if it’s accurate.  But people are saying June 23rd.  I am totally going to preorder the JP version of this game…  I can’t wait until the fall to get this game in English!  But I will wait for play-asia.com to actually have a release date listed on their site.  Then I’ll know it’s OFFICIAL and bite the bullet.  But I do enjoy procrastinating so I’ll do that for the next week or so lol!

Speaking of procrastinating, I’ve been doing that a lot in regards to my Pokémon team.  Despite the PVGC being less than a week away, I still haven’t fully assembled the team I will use to challenge my opponent[s].  In fact, I haven’t even printed out my official Player ID card or whatever I need to register for the event.  So I still have a lot of things to get done before Sunday!  But I am very much looking forward to going on a day trip to Philadelphia with JDubz!

As of now, my current team is:

• ZAPRONG (Electivire)
  • A special Pokémon I received in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness!
  • Move set: Ice Punch, Fire Punch, ThunderPunch, Cross Chop
• LUCARIO
  • He’s shiny!
  • Move set: Psychic, Aura Sphere, Dragon Pulse, Dark Pulse
• YABBA (Hydreigon)
  • Levitate ability!
  • Move set: Crunch, Hyper Beam, Dragon Pulse, Flamethrower
• WHIMSICOTT
  • Another shiny!
  • Move set: Stun Spore, Grass Knot, Psychic, Hurricane
• TOADETTE (Seismitoad)
  • Poison Touch ability!
  • Move set: Sludge Bomb, Drain Punch, Strength, Muddy Water
• BATTY (Swoobat)
  • Fall in love with me!
  • Move set: Psychic, Attract, Fly, Shadow Ball

After writing this out… I wonder if I should sub in some other Pokémon.  A lot of people were using Haxorus at the last tournament I attended… should I swap him with Hydreigon?  Also, I realize I have doubled up on some moves.  Is that even allowed?  I should probably look into changing a couple of moves.  But I dunno if I have all the TM’s I’d need…

Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me.  Does anyone have any recommendations or advice for my team?  All help is appreciated!!