Nintendo UK Announce Pokémon Battle Tournament 2014

[Demelza]

Early this morning Nintendo announced a brand new tournament for Pokémon X and Pokémon Y owners in the UK. The tournament will take place in GAME stores and shopping centres across the UK between the 1st of March and the 5th of April, with a grand final being held in London on the 26th of April.

The tournament will be using the official VGC 2014 rules and will be single elimination knock-out. Four different groups will be held at each regional tournament with the winner of each group then getting to take part in the championship in London. The groups are as follows:

• Ultimate Pokémon Expert group for players 13 and over. The prize for winning this group at the championship will give you a week-long trip to Japan and a pass to the second round in the VGC event in May.
• Junior Pokémon Expert group for players 12 and under. The prize for winning this event will see the winner earn a weekend trip for the whole family to Alton Towers theme park, as well as a pass to the second round for their age group in the VGC event.
• Pokémon Apprentice group for fans who want to take part but may not own a 3DS or copy of Pokémon X or Pokémon Y. For this tournament partakers will have a copy of the game and/or 3DS supplied to them for use in the event. Winners of this group will earn themselves a bundle of 3DS games up to the value of £300
  
• Ultimate Pokémon Team group for a 16 and over player to team up with a family member aged 12 or under. Again for this group you can use your own console and games or they can be supplied to you at the event. Winners of this tournament can earn themselves a £250 Nintendo UK Online Store voucher and a group trip for four to EGX London 2014.

To be in with a chance of competing in the tournament you need to register through the tournament's official site here and pick which event you'd like to take part in. Rather than working on a first come first served bases, all entries will be riffled and the players with the chance of taking part picked from that.

The full list of events is as follows:

Bullring, Birmingham - 1st March
GAME Churchill Square, Brighton - 1st March
GAME Murraygate, Dundee – 2nd March
Intu Eldon Square, Newcastle - 8th March
GAME Hamleys, London - 8th March
GAME St. David’s Centre, Cardiff - 8th March
WestQuay, Southampton - 15th March
GAME Meadowhall, Sheffield - 15th March
GAME Castle Street, Banbury - 15th March
Bluewater, Kent - 22nd March
GAME Back Of The Inns, Norwich - 22nd March
GAME Victoria Centre, Nottingham - 22nd March
Intu Trafford Centre, Manchester - 29th March
GAME Westfield Stratford City, London – 29th March
Intu Braehead, Glasgow - 5th April
GAME Cribbs Causeway, Bristol– 5th April

We wish the best of luck to all those who take part, and may the best trainer win!

 

[baratron]

Nice. Who from 'Charms is likely to enter? I lack the ability for competitive play, but I'll happily go along to cheer on one of my friends

 

[Demelza]

Put my name down for the Bluewater event on the 22nd. It's the only one within a reasonable distance of me, ignoring London itself which I couldn't really afford to get to for a qualifier and then the championship if I got through.

Didn't really appreciate the idea of having to put my name down for two locations as I'd never make it to any of the others, especially when they only give you three days notice of you being accepted to an event.

We shall see what happens. xp

 

[Doctor Oak]

I put my name in for Sheffield and Manchester. We'll see if I end up being drawn (not holding my breath), but it'd be worth a shot if I do.

... Just need to make a team and stuff now, just in case...

 

[Linkachu]

I find it interesting how all of the top prizes are so varied. The week-long trip to Japan definitely sounds best (especially if meals, boarding, and travel costs are covered) so @Demelza and @Doctor Oak must go out there and win it all!

Of course that's assuming that either of you even get chosen to play. Very odd way of handling the entries...

 

[Demelza]

Of course that's assuming that either of you even get chosen to play. Very odd way of handling the entries...

It's purely a perfect example of Nintendo UK still very much finding their feet in terms of how to run a decent Pokémon tournament. In a heck of a lot of ways this is much worse than the idea of working with the StreetPass groups like they did for their last tournament.

Been reading a bit more about the tournaments and how this one is being handled. Apparently overall only 16 players are getting to take part in each regional (I assume this is 16 per category in each regional rather than 16 overall), which is frankly a really low number and could have been a bit higher if they'd worked with the StreetPass groups again and given them enough notice to sort out better venues. I think that's why choosing a second location annoyed me so much as well, because when I can't even realistically get to my second choice, especially on the less than a weeks notice Nintendo is giving, it doesn't feel fair to other players who could have had that spot. The very least they could have done is pulled peoples names sooner for those that have to travel considering the slim chance of getting in...

The prizes are definitely nifty, and drawing peoples names at random is likely a fair system, but the rest of the running of this tournament feels pretty poor. A few oversights have been made really and clearly show Nintendo have a long way to go before we see something decent from them besides our VGC event (which I think TPCi handle instead anyway).

 

[Pokémon trainer accalia]

i wanna go, and win the long trip to japan!!!!
the sad thing is probably won't be able to
don't have a 3ds or 3ds xl(i want the limited blue pokemon x and y 3ds xl)
and i don't have pokemon x or y!!!!
im gonna cry!!

 

[Doctor Oak]

It is somewhat better that it's just a random draw, rather than relying on first-come-first-served, especially since the amount of time and effort required for a tournament larger than the 16 entrants they're going for grows exponentially.

Also, to be honest, I'd rather have the trip to Japan than the VGC place. :x

 

[ThatSeviper]

is this going to be in australia :3

 

[Teapot]

is this going to be in australia :3

Its organised by Nintendo UK, so no. Check with Nintendo Australia to see if there's an equivalent tournament.

 

[ThatSeviper]

ok its just that me and my freind wanted to join