Pokemon GO

[melmer]

How long before the first Pokemon related death as someone walks in front of a bus chasing psyduck, or murdered down a dark alley hunting for snorlax. Gotta catch the all.

On a lighter note it does look fun I can fully imagine that Times Square event really happening... Probably with 10x as many people. I'm sure there are more than a few people that would genuinely travel the globe to collect Pokemon.

If that stuff works by GPS they could create special events anytime there's large gatherings of people like at festival etc

[melmer]

Rihanna's ahead of the game

[SuperBiasedMan]

They've really diverged even further here than they did from Hitman Go to Lara Croft Go.

It does look pretty fun as a direct copy of a generic game model that might be more fun if it's got Pokémon and tons of players. Glad it has actual Android version too, but what the hell was that trailer? It seemed like it was meant to be an inspiring thing. I wouldn't have been surprised to see "We can make a difference." flash up on screen.

[Henroid]

Remember all those times in Pokemon games where you're walking down the road, minding your own business, and them some eight-year-old runs up to you forcing a battle while going, "Bug pokemon are neat!" and then you metaphorically bootstomp that eight-year-old into the ground?

 

Pokemon Go is going to bring that experience to real life. It'll be hilarious and awkward. I can't wait.

[BigJKO]

Alright. I'm pretty happy with this, honestly. If you're going to start doing mobile games, bringing your most popular kid IP that's insanely addictive.. Probably a good way to start strong. Don't throw in too much F2P in there (I would say none, but LOL RITE?) and I'll buy it (metaphorically, because it'll be F2P).

 

Gotta Catch Em All!

[Henroid]

What they haven't announced is that like previous Pokemon generations this will have two versions; Pokemon Go and Pokemon Went.

[JonCole]

Niantic's logo was shown as working on, they made Ingress for Android (and later iPhone) for Google. I played it for a good six months or so and really got addicted to it, but it's hard to recommend at this point because 1) it's fairly esoteric, particularly to newcomers now that it's been out for like two years 2) the theme is not all that compelling. Starting out on the ground floor on this game with a theme that's a lot more accessible is sure to make Pokemon Go a great game. I'm curious to see the actual gameplay, Ingress had a very similar trailer (below) and the game is far more simplistic in interface with an Google Maps-like primary UI and mostly menus to traverse.

 

 

Also, there are tons of Ingress meetups. The company itself creates in-game events where they the game's opposing teams fight it out for 24 hours in a certain city (can be all around the world) or something to get the higher score and get recognized. Beyond that, there are tons of smaller meetups by the local communities. I anticipate a similar thing happening here. I mean, in the actual Pokemon games they've messed around with capturing certain Pokemon at certain times of day or limited windows of real world time, that template will apply wonderfully to this AR game.

[juv3nal]

weird I remember there being an april fools thing that was basically this...let me see if I can dig up a link.

yup:

[Gwardinen]

I actually laughed out loud at the ending of that trailer, so Pokemon Go had already given me more than any of the games since Yellow.

[Merus]

Niantic's logo was shown as working on, they made Ingress for Android (and later iPhone) for Google.

 

That was what made me sit up and take notice: Niantic's already made an augmented reality game. They take what they learned from Ingress, do it better, and couple it with a license that really, really fits with the design of Ingress, then they have the potential to make something really special.

[Dewar]

This game might cause my wife to buy an iPhone. I guess we'll see.

[SuperBiasedMan]

This game might cause my wife to buy an iPhone. I guess we'll see.

Not sure if this is what you meant but it will be on Android too.

[Trip Hazard]

Just cringed myself half to death watching that trailer

[Dewar]

Not sure if this is what you meant but it will be on Android too.

 

We're two of the hundred or so poor souls who have Windows Phones.

[Apelsin]

Is it just me that felt oddly satisfied that there seemed to only be Pokémon from the original 150 in that trailer?

[Brett E]

Why can't people just let Snorlax sleep? Sure they have a terrible habit of sleeping in the only passage between areas but still, it seems a bit harsh.

[Rilen]

Why can't people just let Snorlax sleep? Sure they have a terrible habit of sleeping in the only passage between areas but still, it seems a bit harsh.

A Snorlax sanctuarycould be a false park plan consisting of multiple paths, roads, and critical bridges for them to sleep on, and the staff would just use different entrances to pop in and out. 

[root]

I was honestly kind of dismayed by the trailer because it looks pretty much exactly like a reskinned Ingress, which I don't really find at all compelling or interesting as a game.  I was kind of excited to see that they were tapped to work on the Pokemon franchise until it started to become apparent in the gameplay examples that they can only sing that one note.  I'd love to be proven wrong, though.

[Merus]

I think it'd have to be at least a little different; Ingress's faults arise from fairly subtle problems with its basic design, and even some minor adjustments to fit the theme would probably result in a better game. For instance, Pokemon Go will almost certainly map collecting pokemon to visiting specific locations, just like Ingress. However, if each location holds a different pokemon, the core loop goes from 'walk to portal, hack, repeat ad nauseum' to 'walk to specific "habitats" to find a pokemon you don't have yet'. They could very easily do something like have water types appear on shorelines and rivers, electric types in industrial areas, etc. etc.

 

Then there's levelling pokemon; presumably, because you can battle pokemon, there'll be a training element, so then what's that going to be? Will they tie it to steps, or do you grind up pokemon by going to "habitats" and battling? Is it "battling" or a Pokemon-style battle, with moves and mechanics? Will they implement the EV system from the Game Boy games, where the way your pokemon levels depends on what it fights?

 

I can imagine using the basic framework of Ingress and making something much, much more interesting.

[Brett E]

A Snorlax sanctuarycould be a false park plan consisting of multiple paths, roads, and critical bridges for them to sleep on, and the staff would just use different entrances to pop in and out. 

 

[Cordeos]

Bats are hard to catch

 

[TheLastBaron]

I don't know how this game works at all, but it appears that the cemetery right next to my house is a Pokemon gym.

[rohlfinator]

This must be more popular than they expected, it seems like the servers have been down more often than not.

[Dewar]

That's too bad, my tablet doesn't have GPS

[eRonin]

I went for a walk in the park yesterday afternoon to catch some Pokemon and check out some gyms, but it started raining and the sun set and I got soaked trying to beat a gym in the dark, and then the game glitched and even though I beat the enemy Pokemon, it didn't register as me beating it, then my GPS got all screwy. Not a good experience. I think I'll stick to daytime adventures.