New game of millions. Why the world is going crazy with Pokémon Go. Pokemon Go: New Pokemon, Trading, and Customizable PokeStops The New Pokemon Game
Via exchange/trade. This is very good news for people from the other side of the world who have their eyes on the Pokémon that are characteristic of individual regions, such as the Australian Kangaskhan, for example. Niantic CEO John Hanke at the annual Comic Con show in San Diego, California revealed that the team is indeed working on adding trading, new training options, along with customizable Pokestops, and an increase in the number of Pokémon themselves from the latest generations of Nintendo. They are also thinking about adding a breeding function for Pokémon.
What's new in Pokemon Go?
The most interesting thing that will soon be introduced to players is PokeStops with the ability to personalize. According to Hanke's own description, the idea is that gamers will be able to receive items that will act like (which, when activated, summons and holds nearby Pokémon on blue PokeStops), but will mutate the PokéStops themselves. For example, it will be possible to turn a PokeStop into a healing place, essentially making it a temporary PokeCenter. And it will also be possible to make the PokeStop attract a certain one, for example, as an all-electric Lure (bait that electric Pokemon “bite on”). It will also be possible to choose which items will be available at PokéStops for trainers.
New Pokémon in Pokemon Go
Of course, everyone is looking forward to the appearance of new Pokémon from the latest generations. And they will appear soon, Hanke confirmed. There are currently 151 Red and Blue Pokémon in the game. And CEO Niantic said that the team is looking for interesting ways to integrate new characters into the world of Pokémon Go. It all sounded like the company didn't have a clear timeline for when this would happen or what it would look like, but it makes it clear that the arrival of new Pokémon won't just be a batch update with whole generations to come.
Trading in Pokemon Go
Hanke also noted that the (trade) feature is currently under development. Trading has been an integral part of Pokemon since the first generation of games, and its introduction to Pokemon Go is also appropriate. Probably, each player has a monster with a cool level of skill, but it would be cool on a walk with a friend just to exchange with him what you personally lack for further development.
Breeding in Pokemon Go
Pokemon breeding is also one of the important elements of the series. This will be a smarter way to generate Eggs for players.
New workouts in Pokemon Go
Improvements in training will also be very welcome. Still, the only way Upgrading Pokemon in Pokemon Go is about catching a Pokemon of the same species and trading it for seeds, which are used to increase CP power. Fighting in your own team of Pokémon in your "gym" is also "training" in the game, but in essence it only accumulates experience and improves the performance of the "gym" itself. An advanced training technique that provides alternative ways to improve your Pokémon's skill level will come in handy.
Even if you have to wait months or even years for the developers to launch new Pokémon or other new features, true fans of the game will not have time to get bored.
About the nomination
The gaming industry is like the sea. Either the waves rise to the skies, or a calm reigns for several months, but life in it is always in full swing. And this sea is truly unpredictable. Experts are waiting for a storm, but get only a couple of surges, and vice versa. That's exactly what happened this year. We will tell about the most important trends and currents in the industry, natural and unexpected, in this nomination.
3rd place. Achievements of Russian eSports
Russian big sport this year was surrounded by scandals related to the Olympics in Rio. Once again, fans and stakeholders were able to make sure that serious international competitions are tied to politics, undercover intrigues and machinations. Against this background, eSports seems even more transparent and open. In addition, everything is very good with him this year.
Russian players have shown excellent results in tournaments around the world, but the achievements of the Albus Nox Luna team should be especially noted. The guys managed to reach unprecedented heights - according to League of Legends. Until 2016, not a single team from the CIS countries was able to do this. Unfortunately, British titans from H2k-Gaming didn't allow Russian players to rise higher in the standings, which ANX with a score of 3:0. But throughout the championship, journalists noted that Albus Nox showed a really beautiful and professional game.
An equally important event was in Russia. Yes, not the first time. eSports was already included in the All-Russian Register of Sports in 2001, but it was removed from there in 2006. Let's hope that the re-inclusion will be final. Moreover, it is quite natural. Suffice it to recall how large-scale League of Legends was at the VTB Ice Palace in Moscow and how much attention it attracted from the press.
Not only gaming, but also sports publications write about virtual battles in detail. If the international sports federation settles the issue of the inclusion of the relevant disciplines in the program Olympic Games, then it is possible that Russian teams will defend the honor of the country already at the Tokyo Olympics.
2nd place. VR
Science fiction writers predicted its onset, gamers around the world dreamed of it, and now it has come - the era of virtual reality. VR headsets are no longer an unrealizable fantasy, prototypes that are shown to corporate heads behind closed doors, and exhibits from exhibitions. Now these are quite specific gadgets that anyone can buy in the store.
True, contrary to our expectations, the revolution as such did not happen. Of course, a new field for all kinds of experiments has appeared, which the leading developers are in a hurry to take advantage of. Most likely, in the coming years, we will fully appreciate the potential of the current generation of helmets. But VR failed to turn the industry upside down in 2016.
To see this, just look at the sales forecasts. According to SuperData, neither Oculus Rift, nor HTC Vive, nor PlayStation VR were able to reach the one million units sold mark in 2016. It's not even close. Sony was the most successful with its PS VR, which the magazine Time included in the list of the main inventions of the year. 750 thousand PS4 owners wanted to buy a new accessory for their console, since it costs almost half the price of Oculus and Vive, and besides, it does not require a powerful computer. But even this figure is not impressive compared to the initial forecast of two million helmets sold in the first three months after the release.
Frame from the game Batman: Arkham VR.
Anyway, about VR. Admired, praised, scolded. This is not just a trend, but the beginning of a new stage in the gaming industry.
1st place. Pokémon Go
It seems that the word "hype" was invented specifically to describe all the madness that was going on in the world in the first months after the release of the mobile game from the studio Niantic. Pokémon were literally everywhere. They were caught by your friends, acquaintances, work colleagues, they were talked about on the Internet, on TV, on entertainment and serious radio stations. It seems that even the grandmothers on the benches remembered Pikachu, which they had not heard from the kids for fifteen years. The world has been taken over by Pokemon mania.
$14 million in a week, $200 million in a month, stock growth nintendo by 86%. became the most downloaded mobile game in the USA and one of the most successful games in history. It will be studied by marketing students, and developers - perhaps the same Niantic - will try in vain to repeat its phenomenal success.
However, the phenomenon and the phenomenon that it is unique. You can't beat him by mere repetition. But the development of ideas is quite possible. Pokemon GO has rendered a huge service to the mobile and not only the gaming industry: it has proved the viability and relevance of augmented reality as a format. Several new AR games are already being developed. Who knows, maybe one of them will change the picture of the world even more.
Pokemon GO and the development of AR deservedly receive the title of the main trend of 2016.
It is almost impossible to predict what awaits us in 2017, because trends are an unexpected thing. Nobody knew that in 2016 the most discussed topic would be a mobile game about pocket monsters. And in the new year, the initiative can be intercepted by anything or anyone. All next year we will tirelessly discuss and Nintendo Switch, and Hideo Kojima's new game, and the development of virtual reality. But which of these will become the main trend, we will find out at the end of the year.
New game million. Why the world is going crazy with Pokémon Go
20 years later, Pokémon are reborn
The generation of the 90s remembers well the mass fascination with Pokemon - pocket monsters of Japanese origin with unique superpowers. Then, in the wake of the popularity of the animated series of the same name, a whole industry developed: collectible cards, comics, toys. 20 years later, Pokémon was reborn with the Nintendo-developed Pokémon Go game. Niantic Labs.
How it works
Pokémon Go is an online location-based augmented reality game that arrived on July 6 on iOS and Android. The game is currently only available in US, New Zealand and Australia. App Store.
After the game is downloaded and installed, the user launches it and turns on the camera. On the screen, he sees what is happening around him, and the application, meanwhile, inserts Pokemon there. Moreover, if two people stand in the same place, they will be shown the same Pokemon, but only one of them will be able to catch it. You can play without turning on the camera, then the screen will display a map with objects and the player's avatar.
For the capture of wild Pokemon give "stardust" or "candy" - a special game currency. Both of them increase the fighting strength of the Pokémon, and candy helps to move it up the evolutionary ladder. The Pokémon of different users can then participate in practice battles.
Where are Pokemon hunted?
With the advent of Pokémon Go, video games have shifted to new level. Now users need to go out and interact with other people, and gaming adventures entail real ones. For example, a teenage girl from Wyoming was looking for a water Pokémon in the river and found a corpse, an American Marine caught his first Pokémon while serving in Iraq, and Jonathan Theriault hunted for Pokémon in the ward of his wife, who was about to give birth.
American volunteer fighting ISIS with the Kurdish militias caught his first pokeman on the Mosul front line. #poke pic.twitter.com/PMbdYaIYqJ
The Big Pharaoh (@TheBigPharaoh) July 10, 2016
American cafes and shops used the game as a marketing ploy, inviting visitors to "catch Pokemon". In many of these places, there were GYM's” or “pokestops” - places to replenish in-game resources.
But in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, monster hunters were not welcome.
"Playing the game is not allowed in a museum that is a memorial to Nazi victims," museum spokesman Andrew Hollinger told the Washington Post. "We're trying to figure out if the museum can be excluded from the game."
Pokémon have been seen in funeral homes, graveyards, police stations, strip clubs. "I don't even know what's worse, the Pokémon in the funeral parlour, or the fact that I see it there," wrote a journalist from Boston magazine.
What does it threaten
The criminals took advantage of the popularity of the new game: in Missouri, a gang of robbers were placed on a special “pokestop” game item that attracts Pokemon. As a result, 11 teenagers became victims.
Australian Sonny Truen lost his job in Singapore because of Pokémon Go. In a mocking Facebook post, he wrote that Singapore is an undesirable place to live because the new game is not available there.
Truen wrote that Singapore is full of "stupid people" and the national IQ will drop if he leaves the country. The man was fired after Singaporeans complained about the message to his employer, online real estate agency 99.co. There are also a lot of stories on the net about how people stood in the middle of the roadway because there were Pokémon.
In Sydney, Australia, in pursuit of a rare Pokémon, a crowd of more than a thousand people occupied a suburban area, preventing local residents from sleeping, throwing garbage and drinking alcohol. In response, eggs and water bombs rained down on them from the balconies.
Pokémon hunters in suburban Sydney
"The park where everyone hangs out is a playground," says one resident. "300 to 400 people gather every night to play a game. It's a very small park and the crowd goes crazy. People scream at the top of their lungs, smoking in the playground.
Senator Al Franken of Minnesota wrote a letter to Niantic Labs expressing concern about the safety of the personal data of game users. He accused the company of collecting user data and potentially distributing it to third parties. He emphasized that most of the users are children, and the default settings for the application imply automatic data collection.
The senator made seven requests for more information, such as a list of "third party service providers" with whom Niantic shares information and the reasons for this.
Records and prospects
After launching in the US on July 6, the game took less than a day to top the App Store's free and top-grossing app charts. One in 20 Americans with a Google-powered smartphone has already installed the game. In five days, the value of Nintendo increased by $7.5 billion.
In the near future, the application with the game may overtake Twitter in terms of daily audience. According to Google Trends, Pokémon Go has overtaken porn in search terms.
business insider
From open sources
On July 7, the game's servers crashed for a while due to overload, and the outages continue again and again. Therefore, the global launch of the hit toy has been postponed for the time being.
"For Niantic and the Pokémon Company, the question is whether they can sustain their popularity for a long time. Some mobile games, such as candy crush and Clash of Clans used a viral start to build viable long-term businesses, while others, including Flappy Bird and Draw Something, became momentary outbreaks.
Pokémon Go in Ukraine
Despite the fact that the toy has not yet been officially launched in Ukraine, our compatriots actively use it. You can download it from here. In the social network "VKontakte" there are a lot of groups of Ukrainian Pokemon masters who are already getting to know each other and organizing meetings in different cities.
Judging by the announcement, a gathering is planned in the capital this Sunday, fans of the game meet at the metro station "Independence Square" at 13:00.
If your friends and acquaintances began to disappear from home for several hours, and then talk about “captured stadiums” and “hatched eggs”, then know that everything is in order with them. It’s just that they, too, were swept by a new wave of Pokemon mania, as happened in the early 2000s. Only this time, the passion literally swept the whole world.
What happened?
July 6 saw the release of a new Pokémon game Pokémon Go, developed for mobile platforms. It took her just a week to conquer the world: Pokémon Go became the most popular mobile game in US history, it broke to the top of the charts in the App Store and is getting close to it on Google Play, and media reports about Pokémon appear every day.
The secret of Pokémon Go's popularity lies in augmented reality technology. The player uses the camera and geolocation system to find and catch Pokémon in the streets, parks, and so on. After that, the player can train and develop their Pokémon, as well as engage in battles with other trainers.
Here's what it looks like: Pokemon sits on the lawn near the road
Who is behind this?
Pokémon Go was released by the Japanese company Nintendo, but the Americans from Niantic Labs helped her in this. Niantic Labs was founded in 2010 as an internal Google startup, but gained full independence in 2015.
Ingress - the first project of Niantic Labs - is also an MMO game for mobile platforms using the rules of augmented reality. In it, players, divided into two teams, fight for influence over "portals" - objects of cultural significance. The player can walk up to a statue or monument and "capture" it in the game. Due to its complexity, the game never gained popularity among a mass audience.
In Pokémon Go, the developers took into account the mistakes of Ingress: they simplified the game and added several new features. In the end, Pokémon Go was a bombshell: just like in the late 1990s and early 2000s, today everyone is talking about Pokémon again.
What is the point of Pokémon Go?
Niantic Labs has made a bet on collecting Pokémon. Remember the motto of the animated series "Catch 'em all"? So here this principle works to the fullest: players of even the first level can carry 250 (!) Pokémon with them. Another thing is that first they need to be found and caught.
As soon as you create your trainer, you will be prompted to catch the first Pokémon. After that, you go outside to look for others. They are found in parks, yards, lanes, and even churches. Some Pokemon can be found almost anywhere, while others will have to run. For example, water-type Pokemon live near water bodies, and electric ones (such as Pikachu) can be caught during a thunderstorm.
When you reach level 5, you will be prompted to choose one of three factions. Now you can engage not only in hunting, but also in battles with enemy trainers and Pokémon. So, in order to capture the stadium for your team (it brings an advantage in the form of experience, coins and stardust), you must defeat the defender Pokémon that the opponents have placed. If you win, then put on the defense of one of your Pokémon - preferably stronger and stronger.
In general, this is all that a novice trainer needs to know - walk around the city, catch Pokemon and sometimes fight. The first guides have already appeared on the network that will help you understand all the intricacies of Pokémon Go.
How can I play this?
At launch (July 6), the game was released on iOS and Android in the US, Australia, and New Zealand. On July 14, the game became available in Europe, and in Russia the official release is promised before the end of the week. But the most impatient can do it now.
For Android owners: you just need to download the .apk file to your device and then run it. Don't forget to turn on your internet connection and geolocation. Be careful - a version of the file with embedded malware is already spreading on the network.
For iOS owners: here things are a little more complicated. You need to create a new AppleID linked to a real American address (such can be found on the Web). After that, the game can already be downloaded through the App Store. Or you can wait a few days.
If you still installed the game, then please note: the connection to the servers can sometimes freeze, because regional servers have not yet been activated in Russia.
Why is Pokémon Go being talked about at every turn?
First, Pokemon are still remembered in Asia, Europe, Australia, and North America. This brand is well-known, new seasons of the animated series are released on it and are published board games. According to rumors, a real race has begun in Hollywood for the right to transfer Pokémon to the big screen.
The second reason is the incredible precedent for augmented reality technology - something Ingress could not even dream of. While game and gaming developers have been busy searching for the perfect formula for virtual reality, Pokémon Go has taken AR to the masses. Without a doubt, such projects will soon begin to appear like mushrooms after rain. Augmented reality can become a new entertainment industry, which will have its own standards and attitude towards games. What are the complaints of users about bad weather, because of which it is impossible to go fishing for Pokemon!
It's raining so I can't go outside to play video games 🙁
The third reason is self-promotion. Many users may object: “Yes, this is a selling article, again a stupid Pokemon advertisement!” Everything is much simpler - Pokémon Go does not need additional advertising. The site of the popular Reddit forum has been filled with stories from the game for days, photos from curious Pokemon habitats are constantly coming across on Twitter and Facebook, and the #pokemongo hashtag remains one of the most popular on Vkontakte.
News feeds here and there are reporting unusual circumstances involving Pokémon Go players. There are a whole lot of them - starting from the case where a young girl found a corpse near the river while hunting for Pokemon, and ending with frank ducks like the news about the largest accident in the United States, which occurred due to the fault of the driver catching Pikachu.
19-year-old Shila Wiggins from Riverton found the body by the river during a morning walk in search of Pokémon. This was confirmed by the sheriff of the county police.
Pokémon Go has also attracted the attention of attackers. According to the police department of the small town of O'Fallon, Missouri, the criminals carried out armed attacks on the victims, who are found using the game. Robbers marked "pokestops" on the map (places where you can get game resources) in deaf and remote places, and then attacked teenagers aged 16-18, taking away valuables. When looking at your smartphone, do not forget about vigilance!
Players and netizens continue to share curious and unusual cases related to the game. Some of them involve significant risks.
Don't catch Pokémon near the train tracks.
Fans of the game are tired of walking around the city and running into obstacles in the form of houses and fences. They synchronized the phone with a laptop and launched a controlled drone, with the help of which they catch drones. Now, to play video games, you can again not leave the house.
Some establishments are already luring visitors with a Pokémon game:
Someone remembered an excerpt from the Black Mirror series, in which the heroine cannot understand why everyone around is standing with smartphones and filming something:
* * *
Pokémon Go can be treated differently. Someone got an extra reason to walk around the city, someone felt like a trainer from their favorite franchise, and someone can no longer see these Pokemon (an add-on for the Google Chrome browser has been released that allows you to block mentions of Pokemon). However, we must admit that Pokémon Go has become a cultural phenomenon and one of the main events of 2016. The main merit of this game is that it made the smartphone screen a window into another world - and our own reality became a little more fantastic.
