Thursday, September 10, 2015

Pokémon Go newest game in franchise


The Pokémon company held a press conference in Japan today, announcing the development of an all new Pokémon game for the iOS and Android smartphones called Pokémon Go. The new title features augmented reality, and is a collaboration between Nintendo, the Pokémon Company, and Niantic, the developers of another augmented reality game Ingress.

Pokémon Go features real world locations, much like Ingress, and allows players to track and capture Pokémon in real life, as well as battle other players in an augmented reality setting. At any location in the world, different Pokémon would appear to players, which really ties in with the Pokémon motto of "Gotta Catch 'Em All".

The Pokémon Company also announced a new Bluetooth device that would work together with the new game. The device, called the Pokémon Go Plus, would notify players when a Pokémon was nearby, or if there was an important event happening near them. This would enable players to continue "playing" the game without having to continually look at their phone.

Pokémon Go has been set to release in 2016.

I think it's pretty cool that games are moving on to what might be seen as the next "frontier" of gaming, which is that of augmented reality. The closest thing that gaming industry probably has to that right now is the Oculus Rift, which in itself is an impressive piece of technology. If more and more games start to use augmented reality, the gaming industry as we know it now would be drastically changed, developers and players alike.

I'll be keeping a close eye on any augmented reality gaming news, or any games that might use that sort of technology in the near future. The fact that it exists brings forth a huge possibility for some much-needed change in the gaming world. Although I'm not too sure how popular it would prove to be, it seems like a logical and solid next step for developers around the world.

In the meantime, I'll be waiting for 2016 so I can finally have a reason to throw a Pokéball at a random passerby without being (possibly) being judged.


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