Ramblings from the Marginalized

Internet and Nintendo and Pokemon and video games September 10th, 2007 by HMTKSteve

Last month I broke away most of my Pokemon content onto a new site called PokeFarm. I lamented the loss of traffic over here at hmtk.com. Are you wondering what happened to the farm?

The above chart shows visitors to the site as recorded by Google Analytics over a one month period. The average for the period is 1,129 visitors every day.

Now we see the Page Views for the site. Yes, the totals are over 100K for the period. Why the sudden spike at the end? I added the tracking code to our forums. I made a slight mistake when I added it and made it add to the stats for the www part of the site when I wanted it to track the forum subdomain alone. I think I have fixed that now and I will know by the end of the month.

Regardless, Page Views between both parts of the site hover between 8K and 11K daily. I would not be surprised to see this site generating 300K Page Views monthly in a very short amount of time.

Which leads me to my next question: How do I monetize this?

I'm already running AdSense and AuctionAds but they do not add up to much. I need something that will reach the target audience of PokeFarm AND deliver to my advertisers. The best fit I can think of is web game sites. I just do not know how to reach them!

I also signed up for AdBrite and I'm using their rotation feature to display AdSense ads until they can sell some of my inventory. With close to 10K impressions per day they must be able to do something for me!

If you are an advertiser or an ad network please contact me about this!

The News from the farm is good. The community is really growing fast around this site. We are beginning to run out of Pokemon on farming nights. We have even implemented some new features on the forums that have resulted in increased member participation.

If you have not seen the PokeFarm why not pay it a visit and see what it is all about?

Internet and Pokemon August 16th, 2007 by HMTKSteve

The PokeFarm is growing!

As you all know I moved nearly all of my Pokemon content to a new site called PokeFarm on Aug 3, 2007. Some of you may have also noticed the drop in traffic HMTK.com sustained because of the content move. I have no doubt that the traffic levels here will rise again just as they have done before but what I wanted to share with you today is the growing nature of the new site.

All data was generated 12-Aug-2007 04:13 MST and covers the month of August.

This data shows the overall traffic for the new site. Even though the hits are high the visits are low. Take a quick look at the amount of bandwidth the site is consuming as well. You can't trust the hits number because it also includes bot traffic. Let's delve a little bit deeper.

This graph shows daily usage of the site. Notice the unstoppable upward movement? Indeed PokeFarm is a website in growth mode. Do you know why it is in growth mode? I'll answer that question at the end of the article.

Now we have our daily breakdown chart. Here you can see the raw numbers for each of the data fields. You might be wondering why the last day has such low numbers, the reason for this is that the report is generated early in the morning and not at the end of the day so the day's traffic is not accurately counted.

Wondering about why PokeFarm is seeing such insane growth? There are two reasons:

Many of the older articles that I moved off of this site were already indexed and bringing in tons of search engine traffic. When I moved them I also create 301 redirects on this site so that the search engines would be able to send the traffic to its new home.
The new Pokemon games for DS have just been released in Europe and we are seeing a large number of European Pokemon players coming to the site to get rare Pokemon.

When you launch a new website it is always good to look at the niche you intend to fill. Even though their are tons of Pokemon sites on the net PokeFarm fills a new niche that did not exist with the earlier games. By adding Internet trading to the new games Nintendo has created a new niche for Pokemon. We jumped on it first and we provide a great service. We also have a great domain name.

Pokemon August 3rd, 2007 by HMTKSteve

Where are the Pokemon?

Some of you may be noticing that the amount of Pokemon articles has been declining. I'm talking about the archives not new content. The reason is quite simple.

The Pokemon are moving to their new home, PokeFarm.com. Some of the content may stay here but most of it is moving away. I'm writing the 301 redirects so that all of the old links will still take you to the content. The only difference for you is that rather than the URL being hmtk.com it will be pokefarm.com.

Farming will still be happening, it just will not be happening here.

Internet and Pokemon July 24th, 2007 by HMTKSteve

The Pokemon will be moving

We will soon be moving most of the Pokemon content to its own domain; PokeFarm. It will probably not happen before the end of the month but it will happen.

Right now I am spending some time to decide on what open source platform to use.

Games and Nintendo and Pokemon and Wii June 26th, 2007 by HMTKSteve

Pokemon Battle Revolution: First Glance

Pokemon Battle Revolution Cover I just picked up my copy of Pokemon Battle Revolution for the Wii and I'm reading through the instruction manual. I have not played the game yet so this will just be a "first glance" article where I cover things from the instruction booklet that I feel will interest you.

On the back of the box is a symbol indicating you will need two Wii-remotes. There is also DS connectivity as long as you also have a Diamond or Pearl game in your DS.

Save Games

29 Blocks of Wii system memory are needed to save the game.
Up to four save game files.
You can not move the save game information to an SD card.

I was worried that they would only allow for one save game (as was standard on the Game Cube RPG games) so I am glad to see that up to four save games will be allowed. Not being able to move the save file to an SD card means don't bother looking online for hacked save games.

Colosseum Mode

Use rental Pokemon or Pokemon 'copied' from your DS games.
Multiple colosseums all over Poketopia.
Customizable Battle Passes.
Transfer a Battle Pass to your Wii-Remote memory.
Copied Pokemon also keep their held items.
Copied Pokemon remain in the DS game (think of it as a clone being made).
You can battle against 'friend passes' even hen they are not online.
Playable with the Wii-Remote.

The Colloseum Mode is very much like the older Pokemon stadium games from the N64 days. Pokemon do not gain experience while battling and you don't lose them from your cartridge. It looks like it copies ALL of your Pokemon at once, that means ALL of the Pokemon in your cartridge become available for battling!

When battling you can earn something called "Perfect Points". Thse points are earned by beating a trainer and not having any of your Pokemon faint. You can use these points to re-fight a battle you have lost rather than having to fight all the way through that colosseum again. You can't re-fight all battles and you lose the Perfect Points after you defeat that colosseum.

You also earn Poke Coupons when you win battles. These can be redeemed for gear and...

Mystery Gift
Yes, you read that right! You can get (and transfer to your DS) Mystery Gifts in Pokemon Battle Revolution.

You will be using the "Get Via Wireless" option on your DS game to get the Mystery Gift from the Wii. You then pick up the item from the deliveryman in the Pokemon Mart.

Colosseum Rules

Lv. 30 Open - opponents Pokemon will be at a minimum of level 30 if your are lower. Otherwise they will all be of a level equal to your highest level Pokemon.
Lv. 50 all - Everyone becomes level 50.

Some Colosseums only offer the Lv. 30 Open option

Free Battle / DS Battle Rules

Anything Goes - well, anything goes!
Lv. 50 all - as in Colosseum mode.
Editable rules - customize the battle rules as you see fit.

I'll go into the multi-player battling after I have had a chance to play the game. One thing I did notice is that when battling multi-player over Nintendo WFC Pokemon will use their type name not nickname. This takes car of the problem where people name their Blastoise "Venusaur" and then trounce your Fire Pokemon!

Games and Nintendo and Pokemon and Wii June 25th, 2007 by HMTKSteve

Pokemon Battle Revolution is out!

Pokemon Battle Revolution Cover Today's launch of PokÃ©monÂ® Battle Revolution heralds a number of firsts for Nintendo's hot-selling Wiiâ„¢ video game system. PokÃ©mon Battle Revolution is:

The first online Wii game in the Americas.
The first Wii game to wirelessly link to Nintendo DSâ„¢.
The first Wii game that lets players use their Nintendo DS as a controller.

In battles using NintendoÂ® Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo's wireless gaming service, players can use their Wii Remoteâ„¢ to compete with friends after exchanging friend codes, or against players of comparable skill. The game automatically searches for other players who are online. The sights and sounds of the game bring the action to life as well: The beautiful graphics show each move in full detail, while the action is narrated by the same announcer from the PokÃ©mon TV show.

The game contains a number of battle modes for different kinds of play. In Colosseum Battle Mode, players have 10 different Colosseums in which to stage their epic challenges. In Nintendo DS Battle Mode, players battle PokÃ©mon that they have raised in their Nintendo DS PokÃ©monÂ® Diamond and PokÃ©monÂ® Pearl games. Up to four players can use their Nintendo DS systems as a wireless controller, which uses the same battle interface found in the DS games.

"Already more than 2 million copies of PokÃ©mon Diamond and PokÃ©mon Pearl have sold in the United States alone," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "The arrival of PokÃ©mon Battle Revolution brings those players a whole new set of challenges and, for the first time on Wii, online battles."

Online setup is extremely easy, even for novices. With a few clicks, players are instantly connected, whether they're using a Wii Remote or a Nintendo DS as a controller.

Trainers are fully customizable. Players can select one of three female or three male Trainers and outfit them with clothing, hats and glasses after earning points during competition. Players can even create personalized in-game text for their Trainers to use when they win or lose a battle.

PokÃ©mon Battle Revolution, rated E for Everyone, launches June 25. For more information about the game, visit www.pokemon-games.com. The Official Nintendo PokÃ©mon Battle Revolution Player's Guide is now available at retail.

My Take

I'll be picking up my copy this week as I pre-ordered it two months ago. Once the game store calls to let me know the game is in I will gt in my car and go get it!

This game is more in line with the previous coliseum games rather than the Game Cube games that had an RPG element to them. As such I'm not expecting much out of this game. You can already link up with other trainers for Wi-Fi battling on the DS with Diamond and Pearl. Granted you can customize your trainer and the battles do look cooler but you can't talk to your opponent when battling like you can with the DS games.

Games and Pokemon and Wii May 30th, 2007 by HMTKSteve

Nintendo DS WI-Fi tops 5 Million users

DS WiFi NintendoÂ® Wi-Fi Connection has crossed two huge milestones within just days of one another. Worldwide, since its launch in November 2005, Nintendo's wireless gaming service has now connected more than 5 million unique Nintendo DSâ„¢ owners, and those gamers have racked up more than 200 million game-play sessions. Worldwide, nearly 65 games can be played via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The five most popular globally are Animal CrossingÂ®: Wild World, Mario KartÂ® DS, MetroidÂ® Prime Hunters, PokÃ©monÂ® Diamond and PokÃ©mon Pearl.

Yep, you heard that right, 5 million DS owners are connecting to the Nintendo Wi-Fi service. I'll tell you right now that I am one of them and I can believe it.

Not to bash Nintendo or anything but... I have been having a lot of trouble using the Global Trade Station in my Pokemon game of late. I think it is due to severe server loads on Nintendo's part.

Get it together Nintendo! Pokemon Battle Revolution is only a month away. I don't want to have to deal with dropped connections the way I do now with the Global Trade Station.

Games and Pokemon and Wii May 25th, 2007 by HMTKSteve

Wii Preview: Pokemon Battle Revolution sprites

Pokemon Battle Revolution Cover Are you wondering what the Pokemon are going to look like in the new Pokemon Battle Revolution game? Curious are you?

Well feast your eyes on these wonderful images and see a few of the Pokemon for which Nintendo has released sprites for.

I added the "more" feature here because I don't want the front page of the blog getting cluttered up with long posts with lots of images. If you want to see the images make sure to hit the more tag!

(more...)

Ramblings from the Marginalized

Pokemon

Search:

Recent Posts

Amazon

Top Commentators

Monthly:

RSS Feeds: