There are 150 Pokémon, if anyone says otherwise they are simply not to be trusted. With that off my chest we can focus on the startlingly ageing fact that Pokémon Red and Blue are celebrating their 20th year since we first held that wonderful game in our young tender hands. We wasted hours if not days of our precious childhood running through tall grass trying to catch these fantastical creatures with the intention of becoming a Pokémon Master like no one ever was.
With this in mind we think it’s about time we pulled out the old GameBoy Colour, jabbed a couple of AA’s into the back (with the battery cover still missing of course), took a hearty blow into that cartridge one last time and relived our epic childhoods…..Pfff who are we kidding, as much as we love retro here at Goos3D, the future is cool. all about the future and Pokémon is about to get a massive revamp all thanks to augmented reality.
Recently we brought you a piece on how augmented reality is going to be used to remove manuals from cars in the near future, but where is the fun in that. So get ready to turn that cap backwards and strike your proudest pose because Pokémon GO…. I choose you!
With the 20th anniversary in mind Nintendo are set to release a limited edition of the 3DS with both versions of the original game built in. Don’t get us wrong, this is a cool piece of kit that if we’re perfectly honest we will probably be investing in ourselves; so strong is our nostalgia for those crazy critters. With that in mind, Poéemon GO is really where the brand will get a much needed update and this game is going to be available on iOS and Android, so no need to invest in anything other than a half decent smartphone.
Niantic, the guys behind Ingress, have been commissioned by Satoru Iwata and Tsunekaza Ishihara of Nintendo and The Pokémon Company respectively, to create the Pokémon GO game for iOS and Android. So far between all three parties they have invested a whopping $20 million into bringing Pokémon to life through the augmented reality game alongside the Pokémon GO Plus, essentially a small wearable developed by Nintendo to compliment the game by using Bluetooth to notify users when a Pokémon is nearby by way of an LED and light rumble.
The game will allow you the standard user to battle, capture, train and trade all their virtual Pokémon through the real world. This is how world peace begins, instead of fighting in the playground or have someone at work giving you grief, challenge their dainty little Starmie go up against your Pigeot and let the Pokémon decide. The game will be free to play which is quite awesome, although it will support in app purchases so you can buy all the Pokéballs after some funky capturing.
The idea for the game was originally conceived in 2013 and has taken this long to get to a stage where they feel confident for an expected release around November this year. With augmented reality the way it is the game will be able to have different Pokémon live in different areas of the world. For example water type Pokémon will live near the water, so to catch that Crabby get down to Lahinch. Given Ireland’s general landscape, one can only imagine the type of Pokémon we will be able to catch here. The creators have also decided to bring this idea a step further with plans to create events world-wide for players to trade, compete in competitions and they have even teased that they will create limited time frame events for gamers to capture the Legendary Pokémon like Mew-two.
The Pokémon Go plus wearable will ship with the game to allow the users a more heads up gaming experience, where the player can be alerted to any of the aforementioned events or sightings of nearby Pokémon, The decision to create the Go Plus rather than create a smart watch app was to increase uptake among players for whom a smart watch is prohibitively expensive.
John Hanke of Niantic stated “For the first time, Pokémon will roam free in the real world. Pokémon GO will allow players to capture Pokémon who inhabit parks, shopping areas, sidewalks and the countryside all around the world. Imagine discovering a Squirtle hiding along the waterfront in San Francisco, a Bulbasaur at Shinjuku Station or a Pikachu beneath the Eiffel Tower.”
I can imagine such a world where Pokemon, wearables and augmented reality come together to back a young boys dream come true. Just hurry on and make it happen .
