The lights are on
In a brief Nintendo Direct this morning, Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and Game Freak announced a new way to store Pokémon. Alongside Pokémon X and Y on October 12, a new Pokémon Bank will be released. The downloadable software will store 3,000 pocket monsters.
The Pokémon Bank will also be compatible with Black/White and Black/White 2 via a the Poké Transporter. Players can use the Bank to import their previous Pokémon into X and Y. The Bank will carry an as yet undisclosed annual fee.
Additionally, Nintendo confirmed that Pokémon-themed red and blue 3DS XL units will be available in North America on September 27. It does not seem to be a bundle with an early release of the game.
Pokémon X and Y will be available on October 12, 2013, with the original three starting Pokémon in tow (with mega evolutions, too). You can read our recent hands-on experiences from PAX 2013.
You can check out the full Pokémon X and Y Nintendo Direct below.
Our TakeNintendo addressed the reasons for a Pokémon Bank fee head on: ongoing maintenance and compatibility with future titles. Unfortunately, leaving the pricing a mystery so close to launch seems like an error. In the Nintendo Direct chat, people were noticeably upset that there is an annual charge for this program. Nintendo is allowing people to assume the worst, and would do well to get in front of this quickly by announcing the price.
I like those 3DS designs. I just wish they were normal 3DS' s.
Only upside i see is tranfering pokemon from older games to newer: but other then that its rather pointless considering the in game storage system has more then enough space
Still waiting on nintendo to be like "official pokemon mmo incoming" (could this be a teaser to one though o.o)
Eh, this seems like an all right idea depending on the price. In the end, it won't affect me much.
It's an annual fee, guys, jeez. Once a year. 5$ a year. You'll be hard pressed to find a cheaper subscription service.
Is Nintendo trying to lose money and/or customers? It seems that way looking at how they're handling the WiiU, their own games, and how to announce things. They really should have put the price up when they announced this service because now anyone can imagine a price for it, maybe some will think it costs $15 a month, some may say $2 one time, we can't know. Saying the reasons why it would need to be paid for is nice, but that's not the only info we need on this. If it's cheap, I'll get it so I can send my pokemon from white over to y when I get it, plus it can be useful for future pokemon versions so I can keep my attachments to the pokemon I have instead of feel bad every time I start a new game.
Yes! I knew it. It is just a preorder or just buy the 3DS in store?
I mean it's cool, like the one for Gamecube it helps with massive collections. But unless you're a die-hard Pokemon fan I don't see many people coughing up much money for this with a subscription model.
Well. I will be getting the Pokemon Bank.
a great feature, and WOOHOO to the limited edition! (hope they release the charizard and eevee editions too)