According to Zap2It, the most recent Pokemon movie, Arceus and the Jewel of Life, has been given an air date. It will air as a part of the You Are Here block on Cartoon Network, Friday, November 20th at 5:30 p.m. Eastern.

Here are pictures of the 2009 Pokemon TCG World Championship Decks: Crowned Tiger, Stallgon, Queengar, and Luxdrill.

The cards are not tournament legal (they have a special back to show that). However, if you just want them to play with friends or for collecting, it’s an inexpensive way to get these rare cards in the decks. The decks will be released later in the month.

Product Description:

Players can experience the thrill of competing like Master Trainers every time they open a Pokemon TCG 2009 World Championships Deck.

There are four powerful decks to choose from – each one a card-for-card replica of an actual title-match deck! Learn winning strategies from some of the best players in the game and start making your own plans for the 2010 World Championships!

Each Pokemon TCG 2009 World Championships deck contains:
- 60-card deck (cards have a different card back and are not tournament-legal)
- 2009 World Championships booklet

Po Bronson, author of the book “NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children” and a Newsweek blogger, has posted an essay about how Pokemon has helped his son’s math and reading. They were reluctant to allow their son to have any Pokemon cards in the beginning, but soon saw the benefits of Pokemon:

That following school year, in his first-grade class, Pokémon became social currency. About half his class was entranced by the cards. At times it seemed ridiculous, but then I’d hear my son plop down two cards and talk out more complicated math problems than anything he saw at school: “160HP minus 110HP plus 30 resistance points minus 20 weakness points equals 60 points left,” he’d say, then plop down two more cards to solve.

I didn’t know then what I know now: Through this repetition, his brain was transforming. Heavily used neurons were learning to fire together, and these chains of neurons were becoming myelinated in thin sheaths of fat; by this process, “gray matter” is converted into “white matter.” The sheath surrounding the nerves acts as an electrical insulator, increasing neural speed by 100-fold. Active repetition also began tuning up the nerve capsules that connected his prefrontal cortex to his parietal cortex in the back of the brain. When these superhighways of nerve tissue come on board, the brain learns to delegate math to the back of the brain, making computation speed radically faster.

While we weren’t aware of the neuroscience, it was plainly obvious: Pokémon cards were making our son’s brain really fast at elementary-school math. I began to buy him cards. Lots of cards.

The second half of first grade, our son started reading the fine-print paragraphs on the cards. He got more reading time in through his love of Pokémon than he ever did at night, when we handed him books. He did read the books out loud to us, but it was a necessary chore. Pokémon was never a chore. And I noticed the paragraphs on the cards were syntactically far more complicated than anything he read in books. Soon, the same brain transformation that drove his math speed was reproduced with his reading speed.

Pokémon had taken over his brain. But in ways my wife never expected. Early in second grade, his math teacher told us he was as fast at math as the fifth graders. Not bad for a kid turned away by most of the local private schools prior to kindergarten.

 
Po Bronson has another follow-up posting here as well: Marshmallow Boy vs. The Pokemon Kid – The Neuroscience of Children’s Passions

Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver have now sold 2.47 million units in Japan. It also came in first in sales for the week ended October 11, with 189,000 sold for the week.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky has been released.

Press Release:

POKÉMON MYSTERY DUNGEON: EXPLORERS OF SKY LETS PLAYERS BE A POKÉMON
Special Episodes and New Hero Pokémon Deliver More Exploration and Discovery

REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 12, 2009 – Today’s launch of the PokĂ©mon™ Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky video game for the Nintendo DS™ and Nintendo DSi™ systems gives players the opportunity to play through a game as an actual PokĂ©mon. This newest installment in the PokĂ©mon Mystery Dungeon video game series expands on the fun found in PokĂ©mon™ Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and PokĂ©mon™ Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness with new content, original storylines and more PokĂ©mon for players to interact with. Players begin the game as one of 19 different hero PokĂ©mon, which include five hero PokĂ©mon not included in previous games. From there, players team up with partner PokĂ©mon and set off on an adventure to save the world from destruction.

“The PokĂ©mon franchise has delighted fans for more than a decade by providing unique video game experiences based on exploration, storytelling and social play,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “PokĂ©mon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky delivers an amazing adventure, with a touching storyline and memorable characters for players to enjoy.”

Throughout Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, players will interact with more than 490 other Pokémon in this dungeon-based role-playing game and uncover an immersive storyline by playing new Special Episodes. In these Special Episodes, players experience new stories through the eyes of some of the supporting characters that first appeared in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness.

The game also includes a number of interactive elements that let players connect with one another. Players can send a demo dungeon to a friend’s Nintendo DS or Nintendo DSi system over a local wireless connection, or access special missions over Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection via wireless broadband Internet access. Up to two players can also trade items over a local wireless connection.
For more information about Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, visit www.PokemonMysteryDungeon.com.

The official Japanese Pokemon website has posted screenshots of PokéPark Wii: Pikachu’s Great Adventure. The game will be released in Japan on December 5, 2009.

Arceus will be distributed at Toys”R”Us stores in the United States and Puerto Rico during November 7th through November 15th. Just bring your Nintendo DS/DSi to a Toys”R”Us store, and your copy of Pokemon Diamond, Pokemon Pearl, or Pokemon Platinum.

When Arceus is traded to Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, you get to pick to receive Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina (all will be level 1).

The 13th Pokemon movie trailer has been posted on the official Japanese Pokemon movie website. The trailer shows a brief clip of Lugia and Ho-oh in battle. The movie will be released in Japan in Summer 2010.

The Oak’s Letter item is now available on Nintendo Wi-Fi during September 28th to November 8th. Oak’s Letter allows you to capture Shaymin:

Shaymin was first available via special distribution to Pokemon Diamond Version and Pokemon Pearl Version, and now you have another chance to capture this special Pokemon! To do this, you’ll have to obtain Oak’s Letter via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, get the National Pokedex in your game, and head to a place in Victory Road you couldn’t access before.

The official Pokemon Platinum website has posted screenshots of Arceus. Information on when on how to get Arceus will be revealed at a later date.