Daily Reflection: Gotta Catch ‘Em All

The big Pokémon weekend didn’t go exactly as planned, however it was still a pretty big weekend overall for Zelda Informer. Don’t worry, we have plenty of Pokémon love still in store, but the news and features were so strong this weekend we had to put a lot of celebrations on hold, even in the midst of one our main staff members going on leave.

This weekend marked our highest viewership ever, edging out the weekend before Spirit Tracks released in 2009. We brought in 22,177 unique viewers this weekend that served roughly 50,000 total page views. Our previous weekend record was 17.456 unique hits serving 33,452 page views. For those wondering, traditionally weekends are when we ironically experience the lowest amount of traffic each week, which seems to be counter to what many sites experience out there.

Of course, this weekend was so big for several reasons, not the least of which was the release of Pokémon Black and White, which made our Pokémon forum the 6th most viewed aspect of the site this weekend. Keep in mind that a new Generation V league is presently under construction and should be ready to launch later this spring.

The big headline news of course was the inclusion of Master Quest in Ocarina of Time 3DS, along with some fleeting rumors about the Wii successor possibly being announced at E3 this year. This doesn’t mean the rest of the news was ignored – we averaged roughly 400 page views for every single news article released this weekend. Our Skyward Sword pieces have been seeing a massive increase in viewership since GDC. Do any of you really care about any of this? Maybe not, but its neat looking at what all went together to create our most successful viewership weekend to date.

So the closing thoughts today naturally reference Pokémon, and why shouldn’t it? Many sites are clamoring that Black and White is the best the series has ever provided. Sure, it’s all new Pokémon, but that is part of what makes the game feel so fresh (so fresh that even I may pick up a copy). Of course, there are others out there that are not nearly as impressed. We’ll have our official review and conversation on the matter later (including a daily blog editorial from Alex Plant every morning until completion of the game).

I have yet to touch the game myself, but in all my years playing Pokémon I realized today that I have actually never once “Caught em’ all”. How disappointing is that? This naturally means with a practical Pokémon reset button hit with Black and White, I have to aim to do what I’ve never done before. I hear it may be too late to do it completely on my own (missed out on getting a particular Pokémon already), but hey – with our large installed base I am sure I can work out a trade to cap out my final roster.

It’s amazing to think how I still mildly enjoy the Pokémon games at age 24. I’m not getting any younger, yet all these great Nintendo exclusive experiences continue to entertain me just as much as they did a decade ago. Do you still play Pokémon? If so, what about the game continues to entertain you?

Oh, and for those wondering which one of our lovely staff is on leave until around E3, that would be Dathen Boccabella who’s last piece released on the site was also about Pokémon: I Miss The Pokéwalker