Pokémon Shuffle is the highest profile free-to-play release yet from Nintendo, mainly due to its use of microtransactions to try and get players to spend money in order to accelerate progress. Evidently Pokémon is the franchise for these experiments, as the upcoming Pokémon Rumble World will also have a similar approach.

It seems to be working to a degree, in the sense that a lot of 3DS owners are downloading the game; what we don't know is how many are actually spending money. Though the notice isn't showing in our EU version of the game, Serebii has tweeted that the three million download mark has been passed.

We also have a new week-long challenge in which you take on a Mega Blastoise. Running until 13th April, you have to rack up as high a score as possible in one minute and then submit your score to online leaderboards. If you're in the top 10,000 in Europe, 20,000 in North America or 50,000 in Japan, you win a Blastoisinite stone - the rest, including this writer with his measly score, will get a Jewel as a consolation prize. Accessing this also updates your game to version 1.1.8 (not 1.0.8 as we wrote originally).

Mega Blastoise

Good luck!

[source serebii.net]