Tag: Pokémon

The Pokemon Company Announces Three New Apps For Android & iOS

The Pokemon Company which is the organisation responsible for licensing and managing the Pokemon franchise has announced three new applications for mobile devices. In a press conference held on the 28th of May, the company announced the future projects for the world famous franchise. These applications include the Pokemon Sleep, Pokemon Masters game and the Pokemon Home app.

Pokemon Home

The Pokemon games are known for their diverse nature. From the multitude of titles on the Nintendo consoles to games like Pokemon Go on mobile devices. With the upcoming Home app, trainers will be able to bring their Pokemon together. It is a cloud-based software that will let users manage their collected monsters across a variety of games. Additionally, the option of trading with friends or anyone around the world will also be provided. The Pokemon Home App is expected to launch early next year on Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch.

Pokemon Sleep

With Pokemon Sleep, users will be able to wake up with Pokemon every morning. With an accessory called Pokemon Go Plus, users will be able to track their sleep and be rewarded for good sleeping habits. For tracking the sleeping patterns, the device will use an embedded accelerometer to track the sleep times and then sends this information to a smartphone via Bluetooth. It will also be capable of being used to play Pokemon Go during the day. Pokemon Sleep is scheduled to launch for mobile devices in the year 2020.

Pokemon Masters

Also read: New MediaTek SoC Is All Set To Bring 5G Network On Budget Devices

One of the most exciting titles in the list, Pokemon Masters has also been announced for Android and iOS devices. It is made in a collaboration between the Pokemon Company and DeNA. In the upcoming game, players will able to fight alongside and with many famous trainers from the famous video games of the past. The company claims the gameplay will be optimised for mobile and touchscreen devices. The game will also seamlessly work with Pokemon Home, so the monsters caught will be transferrable. Pokémon Masters is scheduled to launch in 2019 with more details about this new mobile game expected next month.

May 29, 2019
Playing Pokémon May Have Hardwired Your Brain As A Kid

If you are one of those people who loved playing Pokémon as a kid, chances are that your brain is wired in a certain way that enables you to respond more intuitively to cartoon characters than other pictures. As per the latest investigation performed by researchers at Stanford reveals that people who played Pokémon in their childhood exhibit preferential activation to Pokémon characters. The game may have affected the human brain after all.

Scientists found out that a certain area of the brain behind the ears responded more in case of avid Pokémon fans than those who did not play the game at all. It is already known that humans have specific areas of the brain dedicated to recognizing numbers, words, images and faces. For instance, the human brain responds differently to celebrities like Morgan Freeman, Tom Cruise than it does to other people. Scientists at Stanford decided that to confirm the same study at a younger age, Pokémon fans are the most suited options, as they were already exposed to the game when they were quite young.

The existing theory was confirmed in terms that childhood exposure is in fact necessary in order to develop the regions of brain dedicated to recognition and experiential learning. The fold behind the ear, which is called the occipitotemporal responds to images of Pokémon in the same way as it responds to images of animals. Furthermore, researchers believe that the brain acts in a certain way that enables it to decide how to respond to a specific image.

Also Read: Latest OnePlus 7 Pro Renders Show Off Almond Colour Variant

Researchers state that the reason they chose Pokémon was not only because they are loved by kids, instead, owing to a multitude of characters associated with the universe, the Pokémon family was more suited to the same. Since the game rewards its players with in-game items, it creates a memory associated with the same that is tough to eradicate. Additionally, the researchers said that all the test subjects grew up to be very successful people. They all had PhDs, indicating that the game had no adverse effect of any kind on young brains during childhood.

May 7, 2019
Pokemon Go-Style The Walking Dead Game Is Coming To iOS And Android

The Walking Dead is a widely popular TV series, created by AMC network, which is currently in its 8th season. If you are a ‘The Walking Dead’ fan and have a thing for AR based games, then, here is a good news. The show makers are getting ready to launch The Walking Dead: Our World game for Android and iOS. Pokemon Go was one of the first few AR-based games that became hugely popular, and continue to be. Companies are Apple and Google have invested a lot of resources to develop and deploy AR based features to smartphones.

Next Games CEO Teemu Huuhtanen said:

With Google Maps, we can count on providing the most up-to-date location data, meaning that when new buildings or roads are built, we’ll have them in our game. This enables us to create an immersive experience, tied to the players’ location. Google Maps’ unrivaled amount of location data, covering world-famous landmarks, businesses and buildings, such as the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, the London Eye, Burj Khalifa and India Gate, makes exploring your surroundings a breathtaking experience.

The company has released a new teaser, which explains the gameplay. In fact, the gameplay is almost similar to the Pokemon Go. The Walking Dead uses location-based data and Google Maps to create virtual zombies and other articles in the gameplay. This is one of a kind game, which offers real-time FPS experience. Users have to get out of their comfort zone to spot the Zombies in the real world to kill them.

The game will be developed by Next games, which has developed the Walking Dead: No man’s land. In fact, the company is also known for the widely popular compass point west. The game offers a completely different user experience compared to the most of the first person shooter games. A demo of the game will be showcased at Game Developers Conference (GDC) expo area (booth 823) from March 21 to March 23, 2018.

Watch The Teaser

March 15, 2018
Niantic Sued By Attendees Over Pokémon Go Fest Fiasco

The Pokémon Go Fest, which marked the game’s first anniversary turned out to be an absolute disaster. The fest was supposed to be a huge celebration. Players were promised rare Pokémons, rewards, training tips but were served with nothing but disappointment.

The event seemed to be a magnet for screw-ups. The attendees waited for hours to play, only to be told that the games are not working. The game servers quit working (due to the congested network) and the company had no backup plan. Maybe Niantic wasn’t prepared for neither the server load nor the network congestion.

The fest fiasco obviously didn’t go down well with the event attendees. Few of the visitors decided to file a class action lawsuit against the company. According to reports, the attendees want to be reimbursed for the travel and other expenses as Niantic failed to deliver on its promises of an unmatched gaming experience.

Soon after the disaster, Niantic issued an apology to mitigate the situation and offered to reimburse the event tickets of all gamers present. The CEO also stated that all visitors will further receive $100 of in-game credit, along with the promised legendary Pokémon Lugia for free.

But the reimbursement and the $100 of in-game credit weren’t enough to pacify the case. Some angry visitors threw water bottles onto the stage, chanting, “We want refunds!”. Though the company’s apology was acknowledged but it wasn’t enough for the people who travelled from far and incurred huge expenses just to attend the event.

Jonathan Norton, a California local who flew to Chicago for the Pokémon Go Fest, has filed a lawsuit against Niantic for false advertisement. According to his lawyer, Thomas Zimmerman, 20 to 30 others have joined the suit. and that they will be asking for monetary compensations for their travel expenses:

[My client] paid to fly out for the festival, and had to wait for several hours in line, just like most everybody else in order to get in… We’re not seeking any relief with respect to the failure to get legendary Pokémon, because Niantic is offering that. But Niantic is not offering to refund people’s travel expenses for coming to Chicago. Most of the people came from out of state, many people from other countries — I talked to someone who flew in from Japan. – Zimmerman

Though Niantic has made several attempts to compensate the fest attendees, nothing seems to be working in company’s favour. Along with facing the embarrassing fest fiasco, Nianco will now be facing angry gamers and a lawsuit.

July 31, 2017
Pokémon Go: Nintendo’s First Augmented Reality Game for Android and iPhone

’90s kids rejoice. If you thought you had grown out of the Pokémon craze then think again. Nintendo has announced Pokémon GO, an augmented reality app for Android and iOS users that allows users to become Pokémon trainers in the real world where they can hunt for and battle Pokémon.

The app will use real-time location information that will encourage players to explore their neighbourhood, communities, find friends and rivals to play, trade, duel, and discover Pokémons together.

Let’s be honest, as kids we’ve always wanted a Pokémon game that was more than what the Game Boy offered (though they were pretty cool as well). Now, as slightly older kids we can finally live the dream.

We’ll just leave this video here for you.

Nintendo will also bring out the Pokémon Go Plus. This is a wearable Nintendo-built Bluetooth device for the wrist so that you can play the game without having to open the app on your phone. Basically this device will beep and buzz when a virtual Pokémon is detected near your area. So if a virtual Pikachu is hanging around in your backyard, the device will buzz and flash notifying you that a Pokémon is nearby and ready to be captured. All you need now is an Ash Ketchum cap and you’re ready to ‘Go’.

Nintendo has teamed up with Google Spin-off company Niantic and The Pokémon Company to develop this AR game. Nintendo has released 3D augmented realtiy games on the Nintendo 3DS. This, however, will be the first time Nintendo enters the smartphone gaming area.

The game is expected to come out next year. It is still too early to know whether Pokémon fans are ready to walk out on to the street and wave their hands and phones in the air, trying to catch Pokémon. But for now, the video sure blows us away and the excitement is real.

September 11, 2015