In 2014, Google unveiled “Pokemon Challenge” for Google Maps complete with a promotional video, inviting users to find and capture the cutesy fictional monsters within the application. I’ve seen families walking around hunting Pokemon, groups of people of all ages huddled around an in-game “Pokemon” Lure, and a bunch of friends running down Mead Street yelling, “There’s a Bulbasaur over here!” Meanwhile, there are dozens of clones of the game circulating already. Within two days of its release, the game had been installed on more than 5 percent of Android phones in the United States. “And Nintendo has proven that it can still come out with hits that have broad appeal and can earn money”.
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But now that “Pokemon Go” has taken off, there’s little doubt that gamers understand – and adore – augmented features that let them interact with the real world. A team of developers from Nintendo, Pokemon Co.
The project had the full support of Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s president who died previous year.
“History hasn’t always been kind to games that generate tremendous hype”.
Unlike conventional computer and console games that demand a player’s full attention, “Pokemon Go” can be consumed in bite-size increments throughout the day – a pattern that already matches most people’s phone usage habits. Surely there will be more people interested in pizza than in Pikachu.
“This works with you using your device as a viewer to “see” the creature near you by looking at an image from the camera with the creature superimposed on it. You then “capture” the creature for points by throwing Poke Balls at it on the device’s screen”, Trend Micro stated.
Experiences like his suggest “Pokemon Go” could be the “Angry Birds” of augmented gaming.
Hanke said Niantic, which was spun off from Google past year, is working on the mapping issue. Keyhole later become Google Earth, and its core technology was used for Google Maps and other location-based products from the web company. That’s strikingly similar to Iwata’s vision.
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The reason is a new game called Pokemon Go, where players try to catch virtual Pokemon characters through an app that uses their smartphone’s Global Positioning System, compass, accelerometer and gyroscope to combine the online game with the real environment where the player is standing.
