Introduction to the Pokémon Go Phenomenon
In a bit under every week, Pokémon has taken over the world — again. Pokémon Go, a brand new mobile app for iOS and Android phones, is the newest craze from Nintendo, featuring creatures that you simply catch within the wild and train to spar along with your rivals. Over the past 20 years, Pokémon has been a mainstay of popular culture in the shape of video games, animated movies, motion figures, and a collectible card game.
What Makes Pokémon Go Unique
Pokémon Go scratches a really specific itch — change into a Pokémon trainer yourself! — and places fan-favourites like Pikachu and Bulbasaur within the wild via augmented reality (AR) technology. Pokefans young and old are gathering into parties and venturing forth within the tens of millions within the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. It’s not even officially out in Canada yet, but already one can find groups of amateur trainers across the country who’ve downloaded the app via unofficial workarounds.
The Impact of Pokémon Go
The app has change into so popular so quickly that over the weekend, reports emerged of individuals injuring themselves while walking outside, their eyes glued to their phones. More sensational stories include a woman finding a dead body while looking for Pokémon, and someone placing a Clefairy on the doorstep of the Westboro Baptist Church. (The church later responded, calling the Pokémon a "sodomite.") It’s being hailed by some critics and analysts as the primary big augmented reality experience.
A Watershed Moment for AR
"I feel Pokémon Go has definitely put augmented reality on the map," says Stephanie Lee, a contract author for tech blog Lifehacker. "It’s such a widely recognizable brand and franchise that is been around for 20 years." This comes despite the proven fact that the technology utilized in the sport — location tracking with GPS, and digital images overlaid on what your phone’s camera sees — is not terribly latest. The game’s had its share of troubles at launch, as well. Gaming and tech writers described being commonly disconnected from developer Niantic’s servers because it struggled to deal with the amount of recent players.
How Pokémon Go Works
Mobile Syrup’s Patrick O’Rourke explains the way to play Pokémon Go, a brand new mobile app by Nintendo that is exploded in popularity over the weekend. But it was the wedding of the technology with an immediately recognizable brand and concept that brought people outside in droves looking for their favourite monsters. "I’ve had people messaging me saying they have not played video games since they were 10 or 11 years old playing the unique Pokémon on the Game Boy trying out Pokémon Go," Patrick O’Rourke, a columnist for Canadian tech site MobileSyrup, told CBC News. "It’s a watershed moment for AR, I’d say."
The Future of AR
Richard Lachman, an associate professor who teaches digital media and storytelling at Ryerson University, says Pokémon Go got here at just the suitable time to spark wider interest in AR. "Even when you don’t exactly know what augmented reality is, you have heard the word before," he says. "Only three or 4 years ago, only early adopters or super-tech people would know what that’s or engage with it directly. The time was right." You might already be using it, even when you have not heard the term before: Snapchat’s wildly popular face swap feature and other filters add digital overlays to your real-life face in much the identical way that Pokémon Go plants monsters onto your smartphone’s screen.
The Accessibility of AR
That accessibility might make augmented reality widely popular more quickly than virtual reality, the darling of the enthusiast technology press. The difference between the 2? Many people have already got a smartphone with AR capabilities, while VR needs an expensive headset and powerful PC. "A whole lot of tech firms have had a super-difficult time conveying what VR or AR means on the user’s side," says Jeff Bakalar, a tech and games columnist for CNET. "[Pokémon Go] is that form of gateway experience where the everyman will be like, ‘Oh, I get it now.’"
The Inevitable Copycats
The greater query for developers seeking to money in on the Pokémon wave is whether or not more people will check out other AR experiences that do not involve catching Pokémon. "Pokémon is a pervasive popular culture thing. Everyone sort of knows what it’s, when you’re under 40," Bakalar told CBC News. "But I also think there may be a certain quality, a certain novelty this game has that transcends the notion of whether or not you are a strict Pokémon fan." Its early success guarantees that some developers will attempt to follow the trend, whether their results are good or not, he says. "It could be shocking if there wasn’t a barrage of AR copycat games that come out right after this," he says.
Conclusion
Pokémon Go has taken the world by storm, and its impact on the gaming industry and popular culture will probably be felt for a very long time. The game’s use of augmented reality technology has made it a watershed moment for AR, and its accessibility has made it a gateway experience for many individuals. While it stays to be seen whether Pokémon Go will probably be a long-term success for Nintendo, its early success has already inspired a brand new generation of gamers and developers to explore the world of AR. As the gaming industry continues to evolve, it should be exciting to see how Pokémon Go and other AR experiences shape the longer term of gaming and entertainment.
