To me, the shiny encounter rate seems to be the same as all previous games, to be honest. Nothing's changed. Just like in any other Pokémon game, the only thing that shinies depend on is your luck. If you're lucky enough, then you may run into one shiny Pokémon after another continuously. If you're not, then, well, you may never be able to encounter one. It's been more than a week since I've gotten Pokémon Y, I think, and so far, I've been able to run into only one shiny. It was a Litleo, which I found on Route 22 at the beginning of the game. I wasn't able to capture this Pokémon though, unfortunately, because I accidentally made it faint when trying to weaken it. ): Anyway, if you've been encountering shinies more often, then have you given any tip to any people recently? I've heard that handing out tips actually increase the chances of your shiny encounter, buuut… it's still unconfirmed. If it does turn out to be true, then every time I go out to a restaurant, I'll always make sure to leave some tips behind.