At one point in time, we all wished that Pokemon was real; catching them in different places on Earth, battling against them, and having them as part of your daily life. The Pokemon Company, by collaborating with Nintendo, has recently announced Pokemon GO, the Pokemon game that just might grant you the fantasy of a real-life Pokemon experience.
Pokemon GO is an Augmented Reality game that has been in the works for almost two years, and is very similar in concept to that of Ingress [Free], an Augmented Reality game with a Sci-Fi driven story that works with GPS technology. In fact, the developers behind Ingress, Niantic, is the main developer that is working on Pokemon GO. They are a wonderful development company that, with Ingress, has managed to create global experience where two opposing teams, The Resistance & The Enlightened, try to fight for humanity’s future through an Augmented Reality experience.
From the trailer, you will see virtual reality at its best where you can catch virtual Pokemon in the environments that surround you. Imagine, what if every type of Pokemon can only be found in specific environments? That would drive us to travel across the globe to find them, much like Ash Ketchum. In addition, you get to battle against real players and meet new friends in the process. To improve upon the social experience, teaming up for major Pokemon events will become the rule rather than the exception.
Furthermore, a complementary smartwatch device called Pokemon GO Plus is in the works as well and is being built to aid you in the new world of Pokemon that will come to life. For example, one of its functions is to inform you that you are coming near a Pokemon as you walk in the real world. The Pokemon GO Plus Smartwatch is designed to look like a Pokeball and some of the ways in which it alerts you is by vibrating and lighting up. This is truly a novel experience coming to life and we are all excited to be a part of this new world.
Finally, this game is expected to be available in 2016 for both, iOS & Android. The Pokemon franchise was born before 20 years, who would have thought it would take 20 years to bring it to life? The app itself will be a freemium game with in-app purchases but we have no information on the price of the Pokemon GO Plus Smartwatch yet. However, the smartwatch is only a companion device and is not a necessity to play the game itself. Without further ado, you can watch the trailer for this game below.