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Pokémon expands further into mobile world

Photo courtesy of Nintendo
Jeffrey Cullen

Connector Contributor

For anyone wanting to catch Pokémon in real life, your dream may have just come true. About two weeks ago, Nintendo and Gamefreak, the creators of the Pokémon franchise, announced their new project partnering with Niantic Inc. titled “Pokémon GO.” Slated for a 2016 release, the main idea behind “GO” is that it is a location-based, free-to-play, augmented reality game for mobile devices, already confirmed to be on both Android and iOS. Essentially, the world around the player is the game. As users travel through the real world they will be able to encounter various species of Pokémon depending on where they happen to be at the time. In addition, players can purchase the “Pokémon GO Plus,” a wearable Bluetooth accessory that notifies players when a Pokémon or fellow trainer is nearby.

Niantic Inc. is no stranger to this augmented reality format of game. The Google startup released its game “Ingress” in December 2013 on Android, which also utilized player-specific location, but focused on landmarks. “Pokémon GO” will go much further, using the entire world as the game’s stage, so it will be interesting to see how Niantic Inc. approaches this.

The idea of being able make every day a true Pokémon adventure is thrilling, but what was seen in the trailer leaves a slew of questions before that excitement can really sink in. Firstly, no actual gameplay has been seen yet. The trailer featured everyday people catching and interacting with computer generated Pokémon in their everyday lives, but it did not feature any look at how the app actually works. Whether the game will have any plot or any of the games’ traditional features is shrouded in mystery as of now, so it is unknown if the franchise’s signature turn-based battling system will carry through.

Next comes the question of in-app purchases. It has already been confirmed that the game will support them but no one knows how important they could be to the game’s quality. Earlier this year Nintendo released “Pokémon Shuffle,” a free to play mobile game, where the in-app purchases were minor to say the least, with the player never necessarily needing them. It is safe to assume that most fans would love to see this sort of attitude return so that Pokémon obsession won’t break the bank.

“Pokémon GO Plus” is a huge factor as well. In its description, the device is made out to be a small addition to the game that is mainly used to send notifications. The device itself is slightly reminiscent of the Pokéwalker, the mostly useless accessory packaged with “Pokémon HeartGold” and “SoulSilver.” That being said, as long as the Plus device does not try to accomplish as much as its predecessor, then it will hopefully perform much better.

Finally there is the prospect of location based events. The trailer points to these being in the future of “GO,” showing a possible event to catch series character Mewtwo in Time Square. Pokémon is no stranger to this type of marketing, with events being held at specific stores and locations since the franchise’s early years. The big difference here is that the trailer hints that these events will have multiple players working together in order to accomplish one goal. Whoever shows up to the designated place at the designated time will be able to participate. Whether or not this will go well ties into the main factor determining the fate of this whole project: participation. If a huge number of fans can get behind this new concept and take part in it fully, “Pokémon GO” could quite possibly be the future of the Pokémon brand itself. But if the fans do not put their support behind this then it could flop very quickly. If not enough people show up to location based events, then those events will become fewer and far between, and if fans are not pleased with the distribution of species, then they may be less likely to play consistently.

Success or fail, “Pokémon” is about to jump in a radically different direction than many of its fans are used to. Should it succeed, a huge new branch of games could be created that could really change the way the gaming community views mobile games.

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