Pokémon Go is an smartphone game carrying a lot of expectation. Developed by the highly-regarded Niantic and funded by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, the real-world AR experience has been attracting plenty of attention.
Details are starting to solidify, too, with an official information dump last week telling us much more about what the game will have to offer. The app is progressing well through development too, at least so far as to allow the launching of a 'field test' in Japan.
This early access look at the game is underway as Niantic will aim to track and test the real-world interactions and features of the app. It's only in Japan (those trying to sneak into the test outside of the country will get nowhere) and is underway, with players being given 20 PokéBalls to get them started.
Nevertheless, Serebii is reporting that Niantic is keen for the field test to remain a closed shop, removing users that it discovers are sharing information - presumably those taking part agreed to a user agreement prohibiting communications about the app. Nevertheless a handful of impressions have made their way out.
Of course, this field test isn't the final product, and it'll be interesting to see if the app evolves much following this initial trial.
Are you still excited about Pokémon Go coming this year?
[source serebii.net]
Comments 33
Yup, knew this would be a huge disappointment.
Joe's comments concern me a bit, but I'll still be keeping an eye on things.
Um, don't tell me people were actually expecting a full on Pokemon game out of this... I thought this game was just about catching Pokemon in the real world.
Crap. I was EXTREMELY excited.
I still have yet to hear confirmation; is the battle system the same as in the main series games? That's the make or break for me. Battling pokemon is what's fun to me more than just collecting them.
I'm not surprised. I think people are expecting more than just a "catch it" game, what we were expecting? Not sure, but I guess that was their job to come up with the idea. I suppose at least battling of sorts. So if there's no training, then anything and everything is wild? Even evolved forms. Unless they're limiting us to a Pokken style roster lol.
An impression of a closed and strict field (likely beta) testing. Ya I'll wait until the final stage of development to get a better idea of the game. For all I know they don't have access to most of the contents.
Yeah... I thought this would be Pokemon Ingress, not Ingress Pokemon. What a shame.
Shouldn't expect something so similar to 3DS Pokémon, as to cannibalise sales.
Not hearing anything surprising here. Of course it's not gonna come close to the actual Pokemon experience. That'd take away from the actual Pokemon games. I set my expectations to Ingress with a coat of Pokemon paint, so anything more than that will be above my expectations. I'm still looking forward to getting into this just as much as I was getting into Ingress.
Well its to be expected otherwise it would effect the number of people buying the next entries on 3DS.
People are letting some vague tweets completely influence their opinion on something none of us have seen in action yet. I haven't been overly optimistic on this either, but lets not all decide we hate it before we have actually seen much if it. Plus, they are probably doing this type of test to incorporate feedback and improve the experience. People need to stop taking random opinions being tweeted as 100% fact.
This kinda reminds me of those plastic electronic toys like the Pokewalker and Battle Network's P.E.T. I'm sure the app will contain most of the core elements from the main series, but they seemed so pared down that they won't sustain a lasting experience.
Yet the mobile Digimon games like the LinkZ that just released has more in-depth stuff on em than what I saw about this Pokemon game who is just some GPS style game where you need to catch the same pokemon over and over to level it up.
I wonder how long until an APK leaks out.
It's not surprising. I highly doubt Pokemon Company would willingly sabotage their own handheld games by having a full version on mobile. This was always gonna be something different and when Niantic came on board, it should have been even more evident that this was going to be more Ingress than Pokemon
With that being said, I had a lot of interest in Ingress. Just that at the time I found out about it, I only had a ipod and no way to play it without being hooked up to wifi. Plus, at least with Pokemon, I automatically have a few friends that wouldn't mind taking a trip or two for some events. As long as we aren't expecting a full Pokemon game (which I'm not), then it should not be a big deal
@Tsurii Well from the looks so far, there's no PVP battles. Pokémon just feel like commodities. You evolve them by getting more of the same species. It's quite worrying.
I do hope I'm all wrong with this, and that it is a compelling experience, but it doesn't seem to be Pokémon to me. I'll see for sure when I get my hands on it.
Needs some sort of traditional battle mode.
IDC if the moves are randomized on the pokemon or whatever.
I feel like "Catching them all" hasn't been something that has interested most Pokemon fans since Gen 2, or Gen 3 the latest. Simply put, the process of catching Pokemon isn't fun, it's a means to an end of getting the Pokemon you want. If this is all the game is, than yes, it might become little more than a novelty.
Pokemon Go is the only thing I'm interested in when it comes to Ninty and smartphones. I'll wait and see how it pans out, but given how boring Miitomo looks this does have me a little concerned.
Ah well, I'll wait and see.
I like Pokemon for the hunting/collecting which I think this is going to do very well. Plus this is only the launch of the app. Who knows what it will build towards.
I find it odd that people keep suggesting others were expecting a full Pokemon mainline style experience but honestly, I don't see anyone saying that. I wouldn't even interpret this fella's 'raising' comment as that either.
No, I get the impression most were expecting something with substance even if it wasn't the usual Pokemon affair. I'm still eager to see more and get a full picture of what this game's about but the early signs aren't promising.
We shouldn't expect a full experience out of Pokemon GO, it is just a way to introduce people with smartphone to Pokemon, and if they like it, the app will most likely push ads for people to be interested in the handheld releases.
Nintendo, Game Freak, Niantic y The Pokemon Company will have much work to check people that try to share information about of this game, XD
Good Luck!, XD
Well, For my part, I will wait when they decide show more info about.
I'm still excited for this.
The latest data mined info has made this sound much more appealing actually. Man, I'm fickle today...
Guys, go play Ingress, and you will get a feel for how the Pokemon game probably will be like. As one of the Tweets said, its more Ingress with Pokemon than it is is Pokemon with Ingress. Shame really.
I like Ingress so I'm still cautiously optimistic 🤔
There's a lot I don't like about it, but if they make finding Pokemon in real life interesting I'm down for it.
Nintendo won't fund a smartphone game that can eat main series sales. It's simple as that.
So some random guy is a bit salty because if his expectations and we all jump on the salt train? What happened to our ''own'' opinions?
Assuming it's going to be a free app, the worst case scenario is that it's not especially great. It's not taking away development resources from Nintendo as it's developed by an outside company, so at worst, it's wasted potential. Not ideal, but it has no net negative effect on Pokemon or me personally, so I'm good with it, and hope they make improvements in line with the beta's feedback.
@Drache_Kaiser It's not the gamers' fault. It's whoever made the trailer's fault for misleading people.
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