Aside from Super Mario Galaxy 2, which I can’t play until we get our Wii back from Nintendo, there’s really only two games I’ve had any interest in playing lately: Pokémon and World of Warcraft. I’ve been trying to think of WHY these are the only two games to keep my attention, and in the process I’ve come to realize what my motivations are for playing video games at this point.

Right now, I don’t have a lot of free time. I’m an adult with a full-time job, I live with my fiancé, I’m trying to run a blog and I have obligations and errands and things. When I sit down to play a video game, I want to make sure I get something out of it and I’m not just wasting my precious free time. What I’m really looking for now when I sit down to play is a sense of accomplishment.

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All kinds of new information on Pokémon Black and White was leaked today! Scans from a leaked copy of CoroCoro magazine revealed the three starters, as well as designs for the new Trainers. I know I’ve been talking a lot about Pokémon lately (not just here, but on the Twitter, Facebook and forums. Sorry!), but in the interest of being current I wanted to talk about it again today.

(Also, Serebii webmaster guy. Disabling right-clicking on your page stopped being cool in like 1997. I stole your pictures anyway out of spite. Deal with it.)

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I’ve been training Pokémon since 1998. I’ve caught them all. I’ve had hundreds of battles and traversed five different regions. Next spring, with the release of Pokémon Black and Pokémon White, I’ll be doing it all over again. I’ve done everything there is to do as far as the Pokémon games go, and I’m not tired of them, even at 26 years old. I doubt I ever will.

The Pokémon games are my favorite franchise in video games. Period. More than Final Fantasy, more than Mario, I look forward to a new Pokémon game above all else. I’ve seen the games evolve (pun intended) quite a bit since their humble black-and-white beginnings, and I’ve loved them since the first time I ever picked them up.

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I’m 26 years old. I walk around with a Pokéball clipped to my pocket.

Well, not a Pokéball per se, but a Pokéwalker, the Pokémon-themed pedometer Nintendo has packed in with every copy of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver for the Nintendo DS. You send one of your monsters from your DS game into the Pokéball-shaped device, and as you walk you earn experience points as well as Watts, which you can use to try to find rare Pokémon and items. There are numerous courses you can walk, each one with different Pokémon and items to find.

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