The new Generation

The new generation of Pokemon games (Black and White) have been out for a few months now.  In terms of gameplay, not much has changed from Generation IV (Diamond/Pearl/Platinum), however, some things have been added or updated; so, as a brief overview, here are some of the major changes:

• GTS: The Global Trade Station, now available in ANY Pokemon center, now has a second option; the ability to trade directly with another Trainer.  The advantage of this is that the Pokemon you may trade are not limited to those you have already seen in the game.  The disadvantage is that you can not give a very good indication of what you want (it is possible through the 'trade message' option, but you have to remember to change it each time you want to trade).
  
  One ingenious idea (and I regret not noting the name of the person who brought it up) is to utilize an 'Unown' alphabet to spell out what it is you are looking for.  If the person you are trading with gets the hint, they may be able to help you.  Of course, if the person doesn't share your language, this may be useless, unless you know the foreign name (in general, if you know the Japanese name and can Romanize it, Japanese trainers will know what you are looking for).
  
  The normal part of the GTS (which I WILL be ranting about sometime soon), where you put a Pokemon up for trade, still functions as it used to; including not being able to obtain Pokemon you have not already seen.

• Pikachu: Yes folks, without transferring it from a previous game, Pikachu, the iconic Pokemon of the series, can not be obtained (short of trading directly with someone over the GTS; since you do not ever see it (in battle) in game, you can't trade via the normal GTS).  This is the first time this has ever occurred in the series.  Most (but not all) species have at least one member of their evolutionary line in the game.

• New Battle modes:  There are two new battle modes.  Each mode is quasi-specific to each game; meaning that one battle takes precedence over the other, depending on which version you are playing:
• Triple Battle (Primarily in White Version): Similar to double battle, this battle uses 3 Pokemon.  Normal rules apply; however, the Pokemon on the Left and Right of your team are limited to attacking the pokemon directly in front of them, and the center one (certain moves can ignore this limitation).
• Rotation Battle (Primarily in Black Version):  This mode also uses 3 pokemon; however, only one is active at a time.  Each turn, you are able to choose a pokemon to come to the front to perform an attack; allowing for highly tactical battles to occur.

• Dream World: The Dream World is a Wi-Fi feature which allows you to put a pokemon to sleep, and play in its dreams.  In the dream world, you can obtain items to send back to your game, as well as one pokemon per trip.  These pokemon typically have a non-standard ability; such as Marill with Sap Sipper.  Pokemon in the Dream world all seem to have a 7:1 Male to Female ratio, with the obvious exception of male and female-only species; this is due to breeding mechanics, as explained below:

• Breeding Mechanics:  These have not changed much.  The big difference is the improved chance to obtain a shiny pokemon, via the Masuda Method.  In Generation IV, if two pokemon from different language versions were bred, the chance of an egg being shiny improved to 1:2048; up from 1:8192.  In Generation V. this improves further, to approximately 1:1313. 
  
  Also, if a female pokemon with a dream world ability produces an egg, there is a good chance that the new pokemon will also have the dream world ability.

I may update this post from time to time, but for now, these are the major changes.  Coming up next, a rant.