Pokemon Black and White 2 hitting Oct. 7

Pokemon fans, this news is for you. Nintendo announced today that Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2 will arrive in North America on October 7, with a release following in Europe on October 12. In addition, eShop title Pokemon Dream Radar will also be available for purchase on that day, the company said.

Pokemon Black and White 2 take players back to the Unova region two years after the events of the original games. Players will have additional areas to explore, including Virbank City. Here, players can visit Pokestar Studios and create a movie starring their Pokemon.

Additionally, Cheren and Bianca from the original Pokemon Black and White games return in the new sequels, though they are changed. Bianca is now Professor Juniper's assistant, and Cheren is a gym leader and a teacher at a school in the game's starting location, Aspertia City.

Available for the 3DS, Pokemon Dream Radar has players using the 3DS camera, motion control, and augmented reality technology to catch Pokemon, which can then be transferred into Pokemon Black and White 2. A price for the downloadable software was not announced.

Pokemon Black and White 2 launched in Japan this month and tallied combined sales of over 1.5 million units, outselling second-best performer Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D by a 26:1 margin.

The original Pokemon Black and Pokemon White, which shipped during March 2011 and went on to combined sales of over 11 million, are the most recent installments in the core franchise. For more on those titles, check out GameSpot's reviews of Pokemon Black and White.