June2016
E3 2016 Pokémon Go Heads For July Release, With the Plus Add-On Costing $34.99 in the US
Adding up the cost
There's little doubt that Pokémon Go is an important release for Nintendo, The Pokémon Company and developer Niantic. Though there's a little ambivalence about it in the Nintendo Life community (at least among those in the E3 live stream chat) it's clearly a big deal to members of the broader public; it was, after all, one of...
News Third Party Developer Releases "Chat for Pokemon Go" App
Let's talk about it
A decent number of smartphone owners in the US have and are currently trying out the beta of Pokémon Go. With the app all set for a Q & A with the Nintendo Treehouse team on day two of E3, there's a growing sense of momentum as it heads closer to its full release. One feature that it doesn't currently have is the ability to...
News Second Wave Of US Pokémon GO Beta Invites Hitting Inboxes As We Speak
Keep an eye on your email
Pokémon GO isn't publically available yet, but a series of beta tests have been taking place all over the globe - and we're getting numerous reports that more beta invites are being sent out to US players right now. If you've already signed up to register your interest then you'll want to keep a firm eye on your email, as...
Pokémon Go Q & A also announced
E3 just got a bit more exciting for Nintendo fans. The Pokémon Company's Japanese Twitter account has announced that Pokémon Sun and Moon will feature in the Nintendo Treehouse broadcast with new content, and there'll be a 'Pokémon Special' broadcast. Finally, there'll also be a Pokémon Go Q & A, which also...
May2016
News New Pokémon Go Screens and Details Are Revealed
Battle Details! Trainer Customisation! PokéCoins...
In March The Pokémon Company unveiled details on Pokémon Go, the upcoming app in development for smart devices, which will use real-world locations and AR (augmented reality) for its gameplay. That same official web page (which we summarised in the link above) has now been updated with more...
News The Pokémon GO Field Test is Now Heading to the US
You can register your interest right now
Pokémon GO has been undergoing plenty of Beta testing this year, with developer Niantic running field tests in Japan and Australia. The global tour of this early version is going to now hit another vital market - it's coming to the US. As Pokémon GO is a game heavily reliant on augmented reality and...
April2016
Video Pokémon GO Footage Leaks Ahead Of Official Release
Big news from down under
Almost nine minutes of footage from the Australian field test of Pokémon GO has appeared online, giving us the best look yet at this forthcoming mobile release. The clip shows the player selecting their avatar and taking to the streets to track down wild Pokémon. As you can see, encounters make use of Augmented Reality to...
News Pokémon GO Beta Field Test Reveals Real Time Gym Battles
"It's crazy. And colorful. And gloriously not like Ingress"
A massive helping of Pokémon GO information has arrived on the web thanks to first-hand reports from players involved in the Beta field test. The most interesting piece of info is that battles occur in real time and are not turn-based like they are in the main
News Pokémon GO Field Testing is Heading to Australia and New Zealand
Catching 'em all Down Under
Pokémon GO is one of the year's highest profile upcoming smart device games, and one that is carrying significant hopes for Nintendo, The Pokémon Company and developer Niantic. Though a release date is yet to be given the app has already had a 'field test' with limited users in Japan, and the in-progress title is now...
March2016
News Pokémon Go Field Test is Underway in Japan, Though Leakers Are Getting Removed
Secret field ops
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...
News More Official Pokémon Go Gameplay Details Emerge
Teams! PokéStops! Evolutions! Battles! Great Balls!
Just recently some stealthy off-screen footage emerged of Pokémon Go, the hotly anticipated AR (augmented reality) smartphone app being developed by Niantic and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo. It looked pretty much as expected, with the demonstration showing a stylised Google Maps...
Video Early Pokémon Go Footage Shows Off AR Pocket Monster Catching
Time to look slightly silly in public!
Pokémon Go is coming this year, though The Pokémon Company, Nintendo and developer Niantic have largely stuck with fancy concept CG commercials to date. The realities of the reveal trailer's pitch and the app itself will, naturally, be different, but the core idea of augmented reality (AR) gaming to catch...
News Pokémon Go is All Set for a March 'Field Test' in Japan
The adventure begins, sort of...
Though Pokémon Go recently saw its GDC presentation get cancelled, there's no real suggestion as yet that the project is in trouble; to the contrary developer Niantic is gearing up to send its app into the real world. In a short but sweet blog update the developer has stated that it's planning a field test of the...
News Niantic Cancels Pokémon GO Presentation At Game Developers Conference
No GO?
This year's Game Developers Conference takes place later this month, and Pokémon GO developer Niantic was due to hold a talk on March 14th about its latest game. Studio CEO John Hanke was supposed to give attendees "a first-hand, in-depth look at how players are interacting and exploring the world with one another through Pokemon GO," with...
February2016
News Were It Not For Google's Love Of April Fools' Day, Pokémon Go Might Not Have Happened
"I think that kind of culture is one of Google’s assets"
Nintendo's smartphone drive doesn't just include the titles it is developing with DeNA - the company has already dipped a toe into mobile gaming waters with the Pokémon franchise, and with the forthcoming release of Pokémon Go, could make quite a large splash in the smart device arena. In...
December2015
News Niantic Developers Elaborate More on the Design of Pokémon Go
Many lessons have been learned from Ingress
As many of you likely remember, a location based multiplayer game called Pokémon Go was announced earlier this year for smart devices. The game will aim to place virtual Pokémon in the world around you, and place you in the shoes of an aspiring Pokémon Trainer. You'll be able to catch, trade, and battle...
News Pokémon Go Grabs Sixth Place in Google's Top US Video Game Searches for 2015
Agar.io is number one
Well, the end of 2015 approaches, and one of a handful of intriguing year-end summaries has now been issued by Google. It's produced charts and data for the most searched terms around the world during 2015, with some interesting results. The US section has a Video Games top 10 among the available data, and a quick look reveals...