Pokécharms: Difference between revisions

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== Nemesis' Pokémon Reviews ==
== Nemesis' Pokémon Reviews ==


Originally a one-off feature on ''Nintendo Gamer'' following the release for [[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire]], Nemesis' Pokémon Reviews have since become cornerstone features on Pokecharms, and are critically well received upon each installment. The simple premise is that Nemesis, one of the 4-piece webmaster team, gives a list of his opinions on each Pokémon, based on a variety of influences, in an aim to spark discussion on the subject. The Generation 4 Review saw Nemesis looking over all 493 Pokemon, including a renewed look at the original 386 featured in the [http://www.pokecharms.com/nempokereview/|second Review] in what Nemesis has said to be his last Review. Key distinguishable features in this new Review compared to the one before it is the presentation and style - instead of a simple list, each page is now laid out more aesthetically and is often broken up by small inserted sections focusing on a single train of thought brought up while discussing a Pokémon before it.  
Originally a one-off feature on ''Nintendo Gamer'' following the release for [[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire]], Nemesis' Pokémon Reviews have since become cornerstone features on Pokecharms, and are critically well received upon each installment. The simple premise is that Nemesis, one of the 4-piece webmaster team, gives a list of his opinions on each Pokémon, based on a variety of influences, in an aim to spark discussion on the subject. The Generation 4 Review saw Nemesis looking over all 493 Pokemon, including a renewed look at the original 386 featured in the [http://www.pokecharms.com/nempokereview/ second Review] in what Nemesis has said to be his last Review. Key distinguishable features in this new Review compared to the one before it is the presentation and style - instead of a simple list, each page is now laid out more aesthetically and is often broken up by small inserted sections focusing on a single train of thought brought up while discussing a Pokémon before it.  


Another version of the Review was planned during 2006, featuring opinions from other Pokécharms staff and forum members presented in the same manner as it was originally conducted - as an online chat about each Pokémon. While the groundwork for this Review was laid and work begun on it, eventually it was scrapped in favour of a return to the original format focusing on the new 107 Pokemon of Diamond and Pearl.
Another version of the Review was planned during 2006, featuring opinions from other Pokécharms staff and forum members presented in the same manner as it was originally conducted - as an online chat about each Pokémon. While the groundwork for this Review was laid and work begun on it, eventually it was scrapped in favour of a return to the original format focusing on the new 107 Pokemon of Diamond and Pearl.
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Pokecharms launched it's latest feature on the 12th March 2007, allowing anyone, whatever their image editing capabilities, to have their own Trainer Card image in their signatures without the need of using another person's Trainer Card 'Shop' as they are often referred to on Message Boards in just a couple of minutes by filling out a simple form.  
Pokecharms launched it's latest feature on the 12th March 2007, allowing anyone, whatever their image editing capabilities, to have their own Trainer Card image in their signatures without the need of using another person's Trainer Card 'Shop' as they are often referred to on Message Boards in just a couple of minutes by filling out a simple form.  


As well as creating the image for the user, the site also offers the ability to host the Trainer Cards for them without the need for their own webspace or third party sites such as [http://www.photobucket.com|Photobucket]. As word began to spread about the program - including an officially endorsed promotion of the system on Serebii.net's forums by Serebii - eventually the offer of giving away bandwidth for the service caught up with the site and in the early hours of the 26th March 2007, the bandwidth limit for the site was exceeded. Pokecharms' hosting plan was upgraded to cope with the massively increased traffic and bandwidth, and arrangements have since been made to help ensure that the limit is not reached again.
As well as creating the image for the user, the site also offers the ability to host the Trainer Cards for them without the need for their own webspace or third party sites such as [http://www.photobucket.com Photobucket]. As word began to spread about the program - including an officially endorsed promotion of the system on Serebii.net's forums by Serebii - eventually the offer of giving away bandwidth for the service caught up with the site and in the early hours of the 26th March 2007, the bandwidth limit for the site was exceeded. Pokecharms' hosting plan was upgraded to cope with the massively increased traffic and bandwidth, and arrangements have since been made to help ensure that the limit is not reached again.


As of the 26th March, 15,632 Trainer Cards have been made since the launch of the program.  
As of the 26th March, 15,632 Trainer Cards have been made since the launch of the program.  

Revision as of 12:33, 26 March 2007

Site Background

Pokecharms, an amalgamation of Pokémon and Lucky Charms, is an Irish Pokémon fan site that caters to UK and European Pokémon fans.

The site's slogan is "Wii're Crazy and Proud of It" (formerly "We're Crazy and Proud of it" but changed following the announcement of the name for Nintendo's latest Home Console, the Wii) and makes no bones about breaking convention in its news posts, often opting for a conversational blog style when reporting on Pokémon and video game news.

Pokecharms originally found its way onto the the Internet in 2001 on FreeServers as a very simple and amateur fan site manned soley by Gary Oak, later known as Doctor Oak. It promised much but featured little and is in general a classic example of "My First Website," as described by Doctor Oak. It was eventually abandoned but not before an ezboard was created in its name that built up a small community of like-minded individuals from another Pokémon fan site, Pokeschool. The purchase of a .com domain was discussed largely on the forum but was eventually discarded along with the site.

Two further Web sites by Gary Oak followed in its wake, RPGCCG and Nintendo Gamer. Both strayed from Pokémon but gave their webmaster a small following that eventually came to the rebirth of Pokecharms in the summer of 2003.

Pokecharms was relaunched as a place for its webmaster and friends to upload fan works and soon grew with that very idea at the forefront, encouraging visitors to upload their work to the site to share with others

Eventually the site strayed from that theme as Doctor Oak and his team of Linkachu, Nemesis, and StellarWind Elsydeon took on the task of covering news on Pokémon Colosseum, then Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen before completely focusing on the Pokémon games, other video games, and the lives of its webmaster team.

Pokecharms has also had an important focus on the Pokémon fandom itself- something the site has strived to support through projects such as Bulbapedia and continues to work with other websites and webmasters rather than becoming part of various inter-site conflicts that have marred the Pokemon fandom over the years.

Pokecharms Day

As part of celebrating the site's Irish roots, every year on March 17th, Saint Patrick's Day the holiday is celebrated as Pokecharms Day and until 2007 featured competitions for the site's visitors to win real-world prizes in. New exclusive content such as Nemesis' Pokemon Review is also often also uploaded in time with the holiday, though the deadline of launching the site's Pokedex for March 17th 2006 was eventually missed and ended up being uploaded later in the month instead.

In 2007, the annual tradition of holding competitions on the site was abandoned following server problems barely over a week before the holiday. Instead the site's webmaster has promised a wider variety of competitions - including an online WiFi Tournament based on Pokémon Diamond and Pearl - throughout the rest of the year.

PokéDex

In March 2006, following years of on/off work, Pokecharms launched its own online Pokédex for the Third Generation using PHP and MySQL. Later that year, the Pokédex was upgraded to include Pokémon and attacks from the new Fourth Generation. Pokecharms' Pokédex is used as a backend for much more than just the Pokédex Program, it is also used to generate pages such as an EV Training advice page and more recently used along with the Trainer Card Maker program.

Nemesis' Pokémon Reviews

Originally a one-off feature on Nintendo Gamer following the release for Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Nemesis' Pokémon Reviews have since become cornerstone features on Pokecharms, and are critically well received upon each installment. The simple premise is that Nemesis, one of the 4-piece webmaster team, gives a list of his opinions on each Pokémon, based on a variety of influences, in an aim to spark discussion on the subject. The Generation 4 Review saw Nemesis looking over all 493 Pokemon, including a renewed look at the original 386 featured in the second Review in what Nemesis has said to be his last Review. Key distinguishable features in this new Review compared to the one before it is the presentation and style - instead of a simple list, each page is now laid out more aesthetically and is often broken up by small inserted sections focusing on a single train of thought brought up while discussing a Pokémon before it.

Another version of the Review was planned during 2006, featuring opinions from other Pokécharms staff and forum members presented in the same manner as it was originally conducted - as an online chat about each Pokémon. While the groundwork for this Review was laid and work begun on it, eventually it was scrapped in favour of a return to the original format focusing on the new 107 Pokemon of Diamond and Pearl.

Trainer Card Maker

Pokecharms launched it's latest feature on the 12th March 2007, allowing anyone, whatever their image editing capabilities, to have their own Trainer Card image in their signatures without the need of using another person's Trainer Card 'Shop' as they are often referred to on Message Boards in just a couple of minutes by filling out a simple form.

As well as creating the image for the user, the site also offers the ability to host the Trainer Cards for them without the need for their own webspace or third party sites such as Photobucket. As word began to spread about the program - including an officially endorsed promotion of the system on Serebii.net's forums by Serebii - eventually the offer of giving away bandwidth for the service caught up with the site and in the early hours of the 26th March 2007, the bandwidth limit for the site was exceeded. Pokecharms' hosting plan was upgraded to cope with the massively increased traffic and bandwidth, and arrangements have since been made to help ensure that the limit is not reached again.

As of the 26th March, 15,632 Trainer Cards have been made since the launch of the program.

External links