After Niantic’s Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago turned into something of a disaster – with many attendees unable to use the game at all, and others unable to login or suffering crashes – the company has laid most of the blame at the feet of carriers …
As the second year of Pokémon Go arrives, Niantic has detailed major changes to the gameplay centered around how gyms and gym battles work. Gyms will soon work like PokéStops and include exclusive items, badges, and more while battling is getting more advanced with new social features coming.
Niantic, developer of popular augmented reality games Pokémon Go and Ingress, plans to host community events for players in public spaces around the U.S. through a partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The company announced the project today, with the first event set to kick off this weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina.
If there’s a holiday on the calendar, you can almost guarantee Pokémon Go will have an in-app event to promote the game. With Valentine’s Day less than a week away, Niantic announced today a special Valentine’s Day-themed event for trainers kicking off today through next week.
[UPDATE 12/8: Starbucks is now official.]
Pokémon Go is teaming up with Sprint to turn businesses into PokéStops and Gyms as part of Niantic’s latest move to keep players in the game. The news comes just one day before Starbucks is expected to do the same while introducing a Pokémon Go-themed drink for trainers. Niantic has also teased out when we might start seeing new monsters appear in the game.
From 9to5Toys.com:
Today, the Pokémon Company has announced that it is partnering with Nintendo and Alphabet-owned Niantic to produce a new upcoming mobile game called Pokémon Go. This title will be available on both iOS and Android devices for free. The main focus of the game is collecting, training and battling Pokémon characters against other users based on their GPS location.
However, this new adventure will be supplemented by an optional wearable. Imagine a Pokémon smart watch of sorts.
This new wearable is called Pokémon Go Plus. It connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth and flashes its built-in LED light to notify you of nearby players as well as virtual Pokémon you can catch. For example, say you’re on your morning commute on the subway. Pokémon Go Plus will ping your wrist to let you know that a virtual Charizard is closely located. After capturing, you’ll be able to train and battle with that new character.
The wearable isn’t required to play the game but it is an unique add-on that bring another level to the experience. Be sure to check out the video above for a visual representation of how game play works. Pokémon Go will be released on iOS and Android in 2016 as a free download with in-app purchases. Pricing has yet to be released for the Pokémon Go Plus Wearable. The entire press conference and announcement has been uploaded to YouTube for viewing, as well.
Source: The Pokémon Company
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