Late last year, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company shook up their business in a big way by announcing Pokémon Go, a mobile game that lets you hunt and capture Pokémon in the real world. Since that initial announcement, we haven’t heard much about Pokémon Go, but Nintendo dropped a new Pokéball full of information at this year’s E3.
First off, a few details about the game itself. Pokémon Go uses your location data, and places certain Pokémon and important locations around a map based on your city. Getting particular Pokémon or items will require you to actually get up and walk to a location, although it looks like plenty of Pokémon will spawn in your general vicinity as well. There are even gyms scattered around the real-world map, which you can claim, and then defend to earn coins.
Actually capturing critters is a basic augmented reality game, in which you throw Pokéballs at a monster standing in front of whatever you happen to be pointing your phone’s camera at. Sadly, it doesn’t look like the Pokémon really interact with the environment in any way. You can level up your trainer by achieving certain tasks, while the Pokémon themselves are upgraded with “candies” you get along with every Pokémon you capture. I’m guessing these candies will be sold for real money in the final game.
YouTuber Rob Van Dyke recently uploaded a bunch of footage from the beta version of Pokémon Go, which should give you a better idea of how the game works…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6c3v9UZZ8k
Nintendo has announced that Pokémon Go will be available sometime in July, and that Pokémon Go Plus, the physical accessory that tells you when a Pokémon or important item is nearby, will sell for a hefty $35. Pokémon Go, itself, is a free app.
(Via Polygon)