"Pikachu, I choose you!" With those words, 400 Pokémon players from 26 countries around the world will vie Saturday and Sunday for the title of World Champion in the 2010 Pokémon Video Game Championships in Kona, Hawaii. Kids and teens compete in two age groups by playing the "Pokémon HeartGold" and "SoulSilver" versions of the titles available on the Nintendo DS console. U.S. champions and qualifiers will do battle against winners from competitions in Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain. The U.S. competition started in May and lasted two months before crowning 11-year-old Wade Stanley of San Diego, California, and 16-year-old Wesley Morioka, of Chicago, Illinois, as champions in the Juniors and Seniors age groups.
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Hawaii will play host to hundreds hoping to be world Pokémon video game champions
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Pokémon launched in 1996 in Japan,  two years later in the United States
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U.S. champ has put in as many as 3,000 hours on Pokémon, is confident he can win worlds
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Creators say Pokémon games appeal to serious and casual players alike
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He said there are players who like the strategy and the competition of the battle as well as collectors who enjoy exploring the vast @placeholder world in an attempt to "catch them all."
Wesley Morioka
Senior Champ @placeholder "blames" his uncle and aunt for getting him hooked on Pokémon 11 years ago.
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Senior Champ Wesley Morioka "blames" his uncle and aunt for getting him hooked on @placeholder 11 years ago.
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Both Stanley and @placeholder said they put a lot of thought into their Pokémon teams for the competitions and practice against older siblings because no one their own ages will play them.
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@placeholder thinks he's put in about 2,000 to 3,000 hours of actual game play over the past 11 years, not counting time spent researching, planning and practicing.
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Smith said the competitions give the kids a sense of purpose for all the hours of play they put into @placeholder.
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@placeholder has been holding championship tournaments for its video game version and the trading card version since 2004.