Women play “Pokemon Go” in front of a McDonald’s restaurant in Tokyo, Friday, July 22, 2016.
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Eager Japanese gamers rushed to their phones as the Pokemon Go mobile game finally launched in Japan, bringing the record-setting global hit to the home of the pocket characters. An AP reporter was able to capture a Pokemon character on a colleague’s chair. Now available in more than 30 countries, the hugely popular smartphone app has become the subject of numerous complaints involving traffic violations and crimes in many cities.
Now that Pokemon Go has finally launched in Japan, trainers are finally getting their first look at sponsored locations.
The final piece in the “Pokemon Go” puzzle fell into place last August, when Google reorganized itself as a holding company called Alphabet that would in turn own a collection of independent subsidiaries – from large ones like Google itself to tiny ones like Niantic.
The release of “Pokemon Go” has been at least a temporary reprieve for Nintendo, which had struggled as the shift in gaming to mobile devices ate into its highly successful handheld game machine business. The Pokemon Go server status page at jooas shows the server unstable for the past 9 minutes. Niantic Chief Executive John Hanke has said it would be technically possible to launch there, but noted a host of complex rules and restrictions. It’s rather odd how long it took for the country that birthed the first Pokemon franchise games almost two decades ago. These issues could get heightened as the game gets more corporate sponsors like McDonald’s, who could be looking for information for advertising. “Please pass this on to people around you, especially to children, so everyone can enjoy the game, and play it safely”, tweeted the country’s National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC). A driver who crashed into another vehicle in Fall City, Washington, in the USA, reportedly told authorities he was distracted by the game.
The release in Japan comes two weeks after the game made its chart-topping debut overseas, triggering a worldwide phenomenon that has added more than $20 billion to Nintendo’s market value.
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In a one-page flier, the government-run agency has released nine tips advising players of the augmented reality game to be cautious of scams and their personal safety as well as to carry extra batteries and be mindful of heatstroke.
