Ahead of the highly-anticipated launch, the Japanese government had launched a campaign promoting safe play of this smartphone game after multiple incidents of injury or trespassing by people playing the game have been reported in several countries. But with all the renewed interest in a 20-plus-year-old series, many are wondering if Nintendo is considering something groundbreaking: could it bring the old Pokemon game to the iPhone and perhaps, like “Pokemon Go”, to Android device?
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The two companies behind the Pokémon Go augmented reality mobile game released a video addressed to the Japanese public to coincide with the long-awaited release of the game in its ancestral homeland.
China – the world’s biggest smartphone gaming market – is still waiting for Pokemon GO to launch there.
The “Pokemon Go” craze has yet to hit Japan, but reports of robberies, traffic accidents and other mishaps overseas already have the government anxious.
Please Wait while comments are loading. All gone. I ran to my PC and create an account in PTC [Pokemon Trainer’s Club] and use the Pokemon locator that has been around since yesterday.
Since its global launch, Pokemon Go has sparked a worldwide frenzy among users who have taken to the streets with their smartphones.
Fast food restaurants were expected to be advertised as places where people were guaranteed to find Pokemon, or as “gyms” where players can train up their captured monsters for virtual fights.
Pokemon Go continues to dominate the App Store and Play Store charts in Canada, sitting at the top of the free section in both digital marketplaces.
But that finally ended on Friday as the game was made available online in Japan.
“This game is just as I imagined it to be, it’s really fun”, said Toshinori Ishibashi, 18, who was seen playing the game near a Pokemon goods store in Tokyo Station.
“‘Pokemon Go’ can now be played in Japan”.
But the game has also prompted warnings, as players glued to their phones become prone to tripping over, crashing cars, getting mugged or wandering into risky places.
“We don’t want players to enter risky places or go where entry is prohibited”, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference on Friday when the smartphone game became available in Japan.
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As anticipation built toward the Japan release, the government issued nine safety-related rules on Wednesday for Pokemon Go players to follow.
