Pokemon

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl fans in North America who want a free gift of the Darkrai Pokemon can head down to Toys R Us on May 31st and June 1st between midday and 4pm.

To find your nearest Toys R Us store, head over to http://www.toysrusinc.com/tstorelocator.

via GoNintendo

The Wii Shop Channel has been updated with the ability to send someone a Virtual Console game as a gift. To send a gift, select the software you want to send in the Wii Shop Channel, select “Gift”, and choose a friend from your Wii Friends Roster - you can also give it a personal touch by attaching your own Mii and a message.

If you’re looking for something to give someone, you could always try the recently added Nintendo 64 title Pokemon Snap, enhanced by integration with the Wii Message Board, allowing you to share your best shots with friends.

We’re feeling a little festive at The Gamer Gene, so we’re giving away a Virtual Console game to celebrate Christmas (and test out the new functionality, of course) - check out how to enter at this post.

Nintendo, The National Institute of Aerospace and Nortel LearniT have joined forces to use Pokemon as a learning aid to teach science. The program is aimed at elementary and middle school students and focuses on astral sciences. An activity component will even allow teachers and students to submit questions to experts in the field. Robert Lindberg, NIA’s President and Executive Director had this to say about the project:

“We are thrilled to offer educators a resource program that utilizes popular characters to enhance the learning experience for students in fields of study that will only grow more crucial as we move forward in the 21st century.”

This isn’t the first time Pokemon have been used for learning with the Pokemon Learning League taking many awards for its approach to teaching kids about Math, Science, Language Arts and Life Skills. Here is what George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications had to say about the corroboration:

“We’re honored to have our characters take what sometimes may seem like dry topics and help make them come alive for students. The collaboration provides an opportunity for children to learn 21st century science using 21st century tools with characters they’re familiar with.”

Lets hope it’s a little more Pikachu than Snorlax.

To celebrate the release of Pokemon Movie 9: Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, Nintendo and JB Hi-Fi have teamed up to gift Pokemon players with the (apparently) sought-after character, Manaphy.

Those interested need to visit a JB Hi-Fi store between 7-13 November with their DS and a copy of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, and follow these instructions. To find a JB Hi-Fi store near you, use this site.

GfK have released the Australian game charts for the week ending July 15th, making it perfectly clear that Pokemon is, in fact, the digitized form of crack cocaine.

GfK via IGN