Hey guys, unfortunately we've had to take the TCM offline again for a bit because of the recent load issues. While it's not the singular cause of our problems, it is causing the primary amount of strain, which is causing our database applications such as the forums and the Pokedex to not have any room to breathe themselves.

I'll be working to optimise the way the Trainer Card Maker works over the next couple of weeks - but I have a lot of other real-world stuff to get done in the same time period, and that's gonna slow me down. Ideally, we'll have the TCM back up no later than by the end of March. If it's any later than Pokecharms Day, I'll use the extra time I'll have following that to not only optimise, but work on a huge overall upgrade that was already planned to make sure that when the TCM returns, it returns gloriously.

Again, apologies for having to nix any aspect of the site for the sake of the others - but for the time being, we don't have much choice.

In the meantime, if you have a need for a new Trainer Card, you may want to head over to our Sprite forum and dob in a request. I'm sure our many talented spriters would be happy to oblige.

Hey guys, as you'll be aware, the forums have been unavailable for the best part of the weekend - and the Pokedex hasn't been running correctly either.

Both were an unfortunate result of a piece of software installed onto the server on Saturday morning that was meant to help alleviate the load issues - and while it seems that was at least successful, it also was somehow interfering with PHP's session data too.

Once we identified that it definitely was this piece of software causing the trouble, we had it uninstalled and now everything appears to be working as it should once again. Unfortunately, this still leaves the question of what to do about load problems - but at the very least we're working normally again.

Apologies for any inconvenience this issue caused over the past couple of days.

Live in NA?  Did you miss getting this Pichu from a Gamestop?  Have no fear!  It is now available on WiFi through the Mystery Gift.  The event is also active in Europe and Australia- just a reminder for everyone to get their hands on one before the event ends on the 25th of this month. (March)

As most of you should know, this is the Pichu that you must take to the shrine in the Ilex Forest in HeartGold/SoulSilver in order to receive the Spiky-eared Pichu.

Also note: if you've already received this Pichu from a Gamestop you cannot get another one via WiFi.

Cheers~

This year, for Pokécharms Day, we are going to be running an art contest for all members of Pokécharms: In a similar style to the Shogakukan illustrator competition in Japan recently, we will be providing two images, and you are free to colour them in and add scenery, other Pokémon, objects - anything you like, as long as you don't touch the original outlines. You have ten days from today to submit your piece - the deadline is March 14th, and the winners will be announced here on the site.

The images are drawn by RX, and are of StellarWind's frankly adorable Pokécharms Mascot - a critter who hasn't shown up in a while! The full details are as follows:

Rules:
- Using one of the two pieces of artwork provided, draw and color a scene (anything you like!) involving StellarWind's unnamed mascot character and various different Pokémon.
- If you so choose, you may enter the contest with both pieces of artwork (a max of one entry per picture).
- Upload your image(s) to the internet and paste the link in a Private Message to Database with the subject title "Pokecharms Day Art Competition". If you require a place to upload your images, feel free to use the Unofficial Pokécharms Image Uploader.
- The deadline for entries is March 14th (three days before Pokecharms Day). They will then be judged by the Pokecharms Staff and a winner chosen. The winner and runners-up will be announced on March 17th - Pokécharms Day itself.
 
Prizes:
- The winning piece of artwork will be displayed via the Pokecharms news, and the artist will receive a beta invite for Trainer-Space (the soon-to-be interactive, sister website of Pokecharms) and their choice of a custom forum title. 4th Generation Pokémon video game prizes will also be available via the WiFiConnection, including a wide variety of rare items and an assortment of Pokémon (to be announced at a later time).
- Two runner-ups will be chosen, have their artwork displayed within the Pokecharms news, and also receive a choice of 4th Gen video game-related prizes via the WFC.

As it says, all entries are to be PMed to Database - any submissions in the comments will be deleted. But, with that said - this is an open competition, so anyone is free to enter - whether you're one of our seasoned regulars, or never posted at all, feel free to join in with the fun!

Click the images to see the full view.

Does anyone out there want to see the new Phantom Champion Zoroark trailer?

I knew you would.

The Zorua at the very beginning is adorable, and it looks like we've got some generation II legendaries all up in there. Zoroark also seems to be a shapeshifter. Wonder if that means it's gonna get Transform in the games?

So yeah. Speculation about what the movie's going to be about, commence! (I personally think that Zoroark will kill Ash and take his place for the rest of the series, unbeknownst to his friends. All this despite the fact that Zoroark can still only say its name.)

The Pikachu Coloured Pichu - better known to pretty much everyone outside of Nintendo as a Shiny Pichu - will be available over WiFi Mystery Gift across Europe this month from the 5th to the 26th March for Diamond, Pearl and Platinum.

This Pichu comes with an Everstone (as a handy hint not to evolve it) and knows the moves Charge, Volt Tackle, Endeavour and Endure. Primarily, though, its purpose is to activate the Spiky-Eared Pichu event at the Ilex Forest Shrine in HeartGold/SoulSilver. Trading this fellow to your HG/SS game (also out this month) and taking it to the shrine is the only way to obtain the Spiky-Eared Pichu, meaning you get two special Pokemon for the price of one.

With both the Arceus and Pichu events running in Europe this month, that just leaves the Jirachi event that unlocks a special PokeWalker course to be determined. At this point, though, it's difficult to tell whether this Jirachi will be available at a physical event or over WiFi - if we get it at all.

Hey there, welcome back!

We've been busy beavers all weekend trying to get everything ready in time for tonight - and we just about made it. A few things still need a bit of work to bring them up to the highest standards we expect - but so far I'm very proud of what's been achieved for this relaunch and I hope you'll all enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed putting it together.

The list of updates is pretty huge, so this is going to be split into a few posts detailing what's been updated - but I'll cover the basics right now.

As you can obviously see, we've got a brand new design that I feel is our strongest ever. We look forward to going with this one for quite some time.

The forums have received a big upgrade, now running on the latest version of SMF and allowing us to do some new things with the look and feel that I hope will make using them even more enjoyable than ever before.

The Pokedex is finally back and (almost) ready for Heart Gold and Soul Silver's release in a couple of weeks. There are a few data gaps that still need fixed up, and the more advanced features including a deeper search function and a comparisons function have been held off on until I have a bit more time to make them just right - but, otherwise, our Pokedex has all you need to educate you in your Pokemon's training - and there's lots more to come for it to make it even better.

The Trainer Card Maker has gone a little visual overhaul and had a major Trainer sprite update - bringing our Custom Trainer Sprite count now to 428! There's even more on the way including new templates and new styles - but, in the meantime, an increase in the amount of Pokemon sprites to now include the Platinum and HG/SS versions - as well as their shiny forms is sure to tide many of you over.

Finally, we have the return of an old section and the launch of a new one. The Staff Showcase section returns triumphantly with a brand new interface and back-end system allowing Staff members to keep complete, easy, control over their own sections, and thus allowing them to keep you as up-to-date as possible with their work. Community is a massive part of Pokecharms - as is the creativity of our Staff - and this is an excellent way to combine the two for a very unique feature you wont find anywhere else!

Meanwhile, we have a brand new Generation V section running on the same system that you can use to keep up to date with all the latest news, information and discussions about the upcoming games.

Again, there are more detailed explanations of the updates across the board to follow in the main topic, so head there for more info.

In the meantime, I'd like to thank the staff (and some chat regulars) for making this relaunch happen - I'd never have been able to get all of this ready on my own. I hope you enjoy the fruits of our labour and that this new Pokecharms.com satisfies you even more than the last one!

Here's some exciting news for those of us living in the UK - GAME has announced the details of the UK Arceus event and exactly where the events will be held. As with previous events, the Arceus giveaways are at select locations spread over two weekends. Check out the list below to find the one closest to you ~

Saturday 13th March
Glasgow Fort - 285 Provan Walk, Glasgow Fort Shopping Centre, Junction 10 - M8, Glasgow, G34 9DY
Castle Court, Belfast - Unit 55, Castle Court Shopping Centre, Belfast Ireland, BT1 1DD
The Fort, Manchester - Unit 18, Manchester Fort, Shopping Centre, Manchester, Lancashire, M8 8EP
Nuneaton - 7-9 Queens Road, Nuneaaton, Warickshire, CV11 5JL
Swansea - Unit 2, The Pod, Morfa Retail Park, Swansea, West Glamorgan, SA1 7DF
Oxford St, London - 100 Oxford Street, London, W1D 9LL
Brighton - 43-44 Western Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 2EB

Sunday 14th March
Dundee - ...
Craigavon - Unit 16, Rushmere Shopping Centre, Craigavon, BT64 1AA
Meadowhall, Sheffield - Unit 29, High Street, Meadowhall Centre, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S9 1EN
Bedford - 27-29 Midland Road, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1PL
Cardiff - 92 Queen Street, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, CF10 2GR
Norwich - 2-10 Back of the Inns, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1PT
Portsmouth - 226 Commercial Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 1HG

Saturday 20th March
Gateshead - 17 Red Pathway, Metro Centre, Gateshead, NE11 9HX
Preston - Unit 8, Fishergate Centre, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 8HJ
Selfridges, Birmingham - 2nd Floor, Upper Mall East, Bullring, Birmingham, B5 4BP
Aylesbury - Units 36-37, Friars Sq. Shopping Centre, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP20 2SP
Cabot Circus, Bristol - SU16 Cabot Circus, Broadmead, Bristol, BS1 3BH
Kingston - 64-66 Clearence Street, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, KT1 1NP
Plymouth - 81-83 New George Street, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 1RB

Sunday 21st March
Newcastle - 3 Chevy Chase, Eldon Square, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 7XP
Liverpool - Unit 44, South John Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 8BU
Wolverhampton - 55 Dudley Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WW1 3EY
Harrow - 68-70 St Anns Road, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 1JX
Hanley - 214-215 The Potteries, Hanley, Staffordshire, ST1 1PS
Reading - Unit 18, Oracle Shopping Centre Reading, Berkshire, RG1 2AQ
Monks Cross, Callington - Unit B, Monks Cross Retail Park, Huntington, York, YO32 9GX

And of course, don't forget you can preorder HG/SS at the same time and pick up your special Ho-oh or Lugia figure ~

At midnight (GMT) on 1st March 2010, Pokecharms.com will be relaunching with a whole new look and a wealth of new (or, returning) content, features and updates across the board.

This has been quite a while coming, following 2009's relatively quiet year without any major updates or new features for the site - but, finally, next week we'll be launching our new design, new Pokedex, new Staff Showcase feature and more.

In order to work on getting all this up and working properly (as well as to clean out some of the clutter lying on the server), Pokecharms will be completely unavailable from Friday 26th February, through to the midnight re-launch. As such, the forums will be unavailable, and we apologise for that inconvenience - however, when they return, we'll be on the newest version with a wealth of new options and features to try and make up for it.

We're really looking forward to finally being able to share all the stuff we've been working on for the site over the past year and are really looking forward to a renewed Pokecharms - ripe and ready for the Fifth Generation - and we hope you will be too.

Just as assumed by some, the latest CoroCoro has revealed the true form of our mystery Generation 5 Pokémon - and something more. Thanks go to Bulbanews for the scans and translated information.

Meet Zorua (ゾロア), the Evil Fox Pokémon, and its evolved form Zoroark (ゾロアーク), the Monster Fox Pokémon.  The two are Dark-types, stand at 0.7m tall and 1.6m tall respectively, and have a weight of 12.5kg and 81.1kg respectively. For you non-metric users, that's approximately 2' 3.5", 27.6 lb for Zorua and  5' 2.9", 178.8 lb for Zoroark.

More information on both of them is said to coming be in the next CoroCoro, but the title of the 13th Pokémon movie has been updated to "Phantom Champion Zoroark" (or "Ruler of Illusions Zoroark", depending on which translation you go by).

Both images have been thumbnailed, so click on 'em for the full-size scans and enjoy =)