Pokemon Go just came out and everyone you know is probably playing it more
than that every website is writing about it every News Network is broadcasting
about it and everyone is posting pictures of cute pokemon on social media
but how and why for the uninitiated
pokemon go is an augmented reality game made by Niantic these are the same
people who launched Ingress in 2012
Ingress is also an augmented reality game that uses google maps data so in
Ingress real-life locations turn into portals that players can then claim and
defend for their team
it's pretty complicated to play but the idea clearly has a lot of longevity in
2015 Ingress had seven million players the success of Ingress laid the
groundwork for a collaboration between the Pokemon Company and Niantic Pokemon
Go uses the same framework is Ingress it takes your real geographic location and
turns it into a Pokemon dream world
the smallest landmarks like that weird mural that you walk by every day become
important destinations in the app and pokemon are theoretically all around you
so let's go back to the beginning your Pokemon journey starts with downloading
the app on iOS or android right now it's out in the US Australia and New Zealand
the rest of the world will have to wait
server overloads have delayed the game's launch in other locations that is a
testament to the games
massive popularity you can either login through google or through pokemon trainer
club account as of a few days after the game's launch though servers for the
pokemon trainer club account have been down pretty much constantly there was a
little kerfuffle regarding how much of your information niantic could access by
your google account
it turns out there was an error that said that they had permissions for all
of the information
this was not so and it's being corrected so theoretically hopefully within a week
of the game's launch all of the login problems will be eradicated
so you can keep hunting your raticates its
passing at that hurdle here you are in Pokemon Go
so what do you actually do? Pokemon Go has some elements of the original
pokemon games that we know and love but not all of them right now you can't
trade pokemon with friends or user pokemon to duel with those friends or to
duel with wild pokemon but you can walk around and catch wild Pokemon wherever
you are you'll see roads and landmarks represented in the app just like they
appear in real life when you see a little rustling tuft of grass that
means a pokemon is nearby
there's also a meter that shows silhouettes of nearby pokemon
tap on a pokemon and you'll find yourself in the most challenging mini
game of all time
flinging pokeballs at that sucker until you catch it
I'm not trying to be sarcastic it can actually be pretty hard to aim throwing
a Pokeball means swiping up on your screen until the football lands in the
ring around the pokemon boom
so now you have a Pokemon you can name it you can feed candy and star dust to
increase its power level you can evolve it and just like in the original games
you can duke it out with other players at pokemon gyms you can find the
nearest gym easily in the map
it's that huge tower that usually has a pokemon on top dominating the skyline
each gym is claimed by a team which has the most wins at that location
you can't choose a team until your level five so you can't fight at gyms until
you're level 5 either
once you do reach level five though you can fight at the gym and against players
on opposing teams to strengthen your team's position at the gym
battling means tapping an enemy to attack and swiping to dodge the pokemon
with a higher attack power will win but you do actually have to try to dodge the
attacks if you let yourself get beaten up you will lose that battle even if
your pokemon is more powerful
you can make your Pokemon stronger using in-game items like that candy I
mentioned earlier
candy and Stardust are items that you get from catching pokemon there's
incentive to catch multiple of the same type of pokemon because you'll get
star dust and candy for it which is why i have 17,000 zoo bats other items you
can buy in the game with poke coins
let's talk about micro transactions you can buy poke coins for cold hard cash
or get them from winning local gym battles spending poke coins will get
you loads of items like incense which you can drop on yourself to attract more
wild Pokemon to your location within a 30 minute period lures are almost the same
thing but they can be attached to poke stops for the same effect if you attach
a lure to a pokestop you'll probably see everyone else come running your
direction too pokestops with lures are indicated in the app with this pink
swirling flower petal effect so everyone knows the lure is there everyone knows
you're going to get some sick Pokemon at that location pokestops are like gyms
in that they're located at landmark's when you get close enough to one you can
tap and swipe it to see a bunch of loot fallout usually I get three or four
pokeballs
maybe an egg if I'm lucky maybe five pokeballs this all makes Pokemon Go
sound like a game that's made up of a thousand moving parts but it's really
not that complicated
and in fact there's not actually a lot that you do when you're playing it
you go outside you follow your map you catch pokemon despite or maybe because
of that simplicity
it has become an instant cultural phenomenon even people who weren't
originally Pokemon fans are playing it
the Nostalgia factor is obvious I mean every 20 to 30 something has probably
been waiting their whole lives to be able to catch pokemon in real life but
even if you weren't actually a part of the pokemon craze you definitely
couldn't miss that it was happening so that means that this is the first time
Pokemon has been really truly accessible on a device that everyone owns and it's
hyper visible not just on social media where people are posting pictures of
rattatas in their burritos but also in real life out in the world where people
are bumping into each other in the park because somebody just found a moltres
that's pretty much all there is to Pokemon Go so far
Niantic has said that future updates will introduce trading as well as reduce the
tole the game takes on your phone's battery until then see you at the gym
you son of a bitch
it froze? nooooo
it's just a giant meowth that I can't catch because it's so big
nooooo