Available only in select countries so far.
By Dileep Thekkethil
After the Angry Birds and Candy Crush frenzy, the new trendsetter in mobile gaming seems to be Pokémon Go – an augmented reality-based mobile game developed by Niantic Labs and Nintendo.
The new game that relies on augmented reality and geocaching send the players on a mission to hunt Pokémon hidden in locations around them. For the boys of the 1990s, Pokémon is a familiar cartoon series, which rose to popularity through the Cartoon Network.
After a few years of hibernation, Pokémon is making a comeback and with the change of time Pokémon has received a facelift as it will now feature in smartphones in a game format; both in Android and iOS.
Popular Pokémon characters Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Pikachu, and many others are making a comeback in the game which is currently restricted to a few locations. According to Google Play figures, Pokémon Go is almost on the verge of overtaking Twitter in terms of daily activity, this just two days after it was launched unofficially.
In a lay user’s perspective, Pokémon Go is a very interesting game that makes use of the GPS location of the player and the time to make Pokémon pop up in locations nearby, which can be detected by the camera. Users should catch the Pokémon by throwing the ball.
After a player catches a considerable number of Pokémon and reaches the Level five, he can train Pokémon in gyms to get them ready for battle with other users. Usually, the Pokémon are found in places where more people visit. In India, these could be places like a church, temple or railway station.
Rather than just collecting the virtual creatures, the game is aimed at encouraging people to explore their vicinity and later around the world and get rewarded with more Pokémon.
Interestingly, Pokémon has already started getting fans who use the game within the office, parks, and even the White House.
Also, there are perverted fans who use the game for extortion and other crimes. Such a case has been reported in the US where four extortionists lured victims using Pokemon Go.
As of now, Pokémon Go is available only for users in the US, New Zealand and Australia via Google Play, but a large majority of android users across the world have already downloaded the game via APK, which has to be manually installed on the smartphone.