Nintendo has launched its new augmented reality smartphone game, Pokémon GO, in territories including Japan, New Zealand and Australia, giving residents of those far-Eastern countries a chance to discover dangerous and bizarre digital animals – right along with all of the real ones.
Pokémon GO is Nintendo’s first big push into the mobile space with a brand new property. Although this game uses the Pokémon IP, it’s the first real title of its kind to come out of a major studio and especially with such an established franchise. It will let players wander the real world, finding Pokémon, Gyms to battle, teams to join and more.
Players will of course be able to battle one another too, but it’s the physical act of finding Pokémon while out and about which is the big draw for Pokémon GO.
“Certain Pokémon appear near their native environment – look for Water-type Pokémon by lakes and oceans,” the developer, Niantic Games, previously said (via Eurogamer). “Visit PokéStops, found at interesting places like museums, art installations, historical markers, and monuments, to stock up on Poké Balls and helpful items.”
There’s no mention of where other types of Pokémon might be. Will ghost monsters live in graveyards? Where will pyschic Pokémon hang out?
Regardless though, different Pokémon will be available in certain countries, meaning trading will be a must for those who want to collect them all – unless you’re quite the globe trotter.
Although Pokémon GO is available in select territories right now, it should show up in other countries on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store at some point today.
KitGuru Says: I’m looking forward to giving Pokémon GO a try, but I just hope it doesn’t have that stink of free to play mobile titles on it. Fingers crossed it’s not filled to the gills with micro-transactions.