Pokémon GO Success Causes Nintendo Share Price To Surge, But Teething Troubles Frustrate

I don't like pokemon GO at all..

Happy I bought stocks after Brexit.

As for Pokemon Go, I just want to log in

I'm still waiting for the Europe release

This one's for you @XCWarrior

Let the whale be your guide.

I don't know if it's as bad as they say - hard to say really when you can't get past the log in screen - Google or Pokemon Trainer, no NNID option, yeah, that makes sense - but I wish it had mor einstrcutions. Camera view is nice but I'v enever seen any Pokemon on it even when when the cartoon map says they are right in front of me.

Still looking forward to playing this alot w/ the kids this summer - probably why they rushed it out in such a state - but I'm waiting for the NL follow-up article telling me problems have been corrected and the servers are working fine.

The impact of Pokemon GO and Miitomo won't even be comparable. Nobody wanted Miitomo, and was likely only downloaded by Club Nintendo members. Pokemon GO is something that many, many millions of lapsed Nintendo fans will download and play.

The reason why the servers are being overloaded is because the game is only supposed to be out in the US, Australia and Japan however lots of people from other territories are downloading the APK as well. They really should have initially made this a global launch and invested in a lot more server space.

Personally I'm having a super fun time with Pokemon GO
...when I can log in. It's pretty addictive actually. Trying to get my Trainer level up so I can encounter things besides Rattata, Pidgey, and the early game bugs.

I'm pleasantly surprised that the app has pulled me in so much; their demonstration made the game look...well, pretty terrible.

It's a shame that both Nintendo related games are built on hype rather than longevity.

They both have an initial spike of interest but after a week then answering pointless questions and physically walking around to capture Pokémon gets tedious and boring.

Hoping that Pokemon Go does indeed attract people back to Nintendo.

Not sure what to make of it yet for myself. Not out in Europe, did try the apk, but there were rumours of bans (probably unfounded) so I deleted. Not much point until the servers are sorted anyway.

I find it very addictive and fun, but it does have some performance issues.

Also blue heathens who speak heresy to our Lord Zapdos are everywhere and keep kicking my Raticate out.

Not having server issues today so far, but the game did crash on me again this morning while trying to capture a Nidorino. I've never really played a Pokemon game, but I'm enjoying this game so far. It's hard to resist an addictive free game.

@KittyKatta you do realize that people physically walk around everyday with their smart phones on them, right? And do you also know what they are typically doing while walking around with their smart phones on them? They are typically looking at something on their smart phones. Pokemon GO fits right into people's everyday lives, adults everyday lives. Something a 3DS will never achieve to the level of success that a smart phone does.

This kind of stuff needs to stop:

"and the fact that it has risen to the top of the iOS App Store bodes well for its future and its ability to generate revenue."

Same exact thing was said around here about Miitomo.

No, the reason the future bodes well for Pokemon GO is because it's flippin POKEMON. On a smartphone.

Still waiting a UK/European launch. At least in time for the weekend but that ain't going to happen now. Sigh...

OK. I downloaded it and I think it's pretty neat!!! However, I have two broken ribs at the moment and so I'm not as active as I normally would be. Hoping to get out soon and catch dem pooogeymons~

Pokemon Go is definitely a better game concept for smartphones than Miitomo, but I'll never download it. Why? Don't want to activate the geolocation metadata tracking permissions that the game uses. The satellites/telecommunications companies track and record every exact step on the planet of where one goes with this feature turned on. Even just taking pictures (or actions like capturing a Pokemon in Pokemon Go) tags exactly where, when, and what your location and direction are with every snap. Even new malware these days are able to exploit this.

I just don't feel comfortable with giving away my 100% exact movements every day to private companies for marketing purposes... Including Nintendo. And that's just one reason why I would prefer a 3DS or other portable console any day for gaming over a smartphone.

@Zoriam but if it were on a 3DS instead of a smartphone....

@BensonUii I did! I got lucky and found a fully evolved Beedrill out in the wild. But that kind of thing happens more often when your trainer level is higher.

@PlywoodStick Do you think Nintendo or the Pokemon Company is gonna send an assassin to your location? Lol

Still waiting to sign up for a pokemon trainer club account in order to play....

@PlywoodStick If you think a little button that turns off your "location tracking" prevents anyone from recording your location, then you need to wake up and get out from under your rock.

@Rensch And we will continue to do so until every last Yellow vermin have been eradicated!

@BensonUii Thanks. This game on a smart phone is a no brainer. I expect going forward for many more Nintendo games to move to mobile. It's a device that literally millions of people have on them at all times already, and they're only using them more and more each day.

I actually expect the successor to 3DS to be Nintendo's last dedicated portable. The market dictates what it wants.

@PlywoodStick You're always being tracked. There's no anonymity on the internet. You can only mask and obfuscate where you are at any given time. They still know. Even if its not them. http://www.geek.com/apps/chinese-appliances-are-shipping-with-malware-distributing-wifi-chips-1575315/ http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/04/15/302990800/apple-upgrade-tracks-customers-even-when-marketing-apps-are-off

I should give this game a GO. Sorry, I had to say it. I will try out this game though.

@shonenjump86
If you have internet credit on the phone, a lot of battery, like walking around (while being aware of your surroundings), and Pokemon, the you at least should give a GO.

@TeeJay lol no, that's silly. I just don't feel like giving them all of my information.

I would agree in calling the launch a disaster. Currently, people logging in through the Trainer Club account have been unable to access the game for 22 hours with no word from TPC/Niantic bar a little note on the "Contact Us" page on support.pokemon.com.

When it does work, it has many glitches that cause the game to freeze or crash out.

Basically, The Pokémon Company and Niantic's silence on these issues (aside one tweet a few hours after launch) is shockingly bad. People don't know what the hell is going on. It's poor form and is damaging to the game and the companies.

I have been told that you can choose your strayer when you first start this game, but that didn't happen to me... a wild bulbasaur just kind of appeared

@MrGuinea It's true that phones still seek out cell towers to communicate with even when geolocation settings are turned off, but at least in combination with using airplane mode sometimes, it's not a nearly perfect 1 to 1 recording of one's steps and actions. Turning off geolocation does prevent certain metadata from being recorded, just about the only ones it doesn't stop are top law enforcement organizations like the FBI/CIA in the USA. But at least it stops social engineering attempts and malware that can use geolocation history to infiltrate a device.

So far it's ok. I really haven't spent enough time with it yet to make a solid opinion, but I have encountered plenty of server problems, freezing, etc. I had to make my character 4 times because when I clicked "Accept" it would just lock up.

Once the bugs are sorted out, all that I can say is that this will be worlds better than miitomo...

A low bar to cross obviously.

What exactly is Pokémon GO? Do you just walk down the streets with your mobile, and see zigzagoon strolling by? And catch them? And then what?

@ziffy That's why I use an Android for one thing. It also matters what apps one uses. For example, I use F-Droid instead of the Google Play Store, and Fennec Fox instead of the default Google Internet Browser. Not all apps use geolocation metadata. (And of course, there's no way anyone in my family would be interested in smart appliances...) Masking and obfuscating data, as well as limiting use of programs to ones that specifically don't track users, does make it more difficult for data collection companies and malware to track users, especially when it's done en masse. There's no 100% surefire way to maintain privacy in the digital age, but making spying more difficult does slow it down significantly when a lot of people take care. The FBI even tried to force the creator of Tor to reveal how it works, prompting them to flee the USA. Apparently, if the data collectors have a vested interest in compromising the relative privacy of programs like Tor, then privacy/anonymity isn't absolutely dead yet.

@BensonUii lol fair enough.

Knowing Nintendo they would be so bold (stubborn) to continue to push a product where the demand isn't there (Wii U) so yeah, they may just keep pumping out portables even if the sales continue the slide that they're on.

Yeah the launch is pretty bad. But the game doesn't get real until there are 300+ kinds of Pokemon to catch, anyway.

@rjejr Yeah, for every positive tweet I see about Pokemon Go, I see a negative one regarding its glitches and what not. I will say I wish Nintendo would have had closer to a finished product on release. Maybe they are saving money by letting all of us do the beta testing?

The other thing I don't like is how this is now 2 for 2 with Nintendo mobile games being battery hogs. Nintendo consoles and handhelds are usually known for being great power saving devices. And their games are usually not massive, involving next to no loading.

However, both of these mobile games are there reverse of that. And the other thing they really aren't are games. People say there isn't much to Pokemon Go, it isn't very deep. Same could be said for Miitomo.

So the real honest question is.... is NIntendo even making these games? Or is DeNA making them, and Nintendo is simply giving them the IP and saying, "do what you want." Cause the quality of these titles is not up to par for Nintendo's standards. And that's worrysome.

@PlywoodStick Just so you know, if you own a smart phone, your location (or at least your phone's), is known to everyone all the time already. Assuming they know how to hack into that stuff. But yeah dude, if someone is out to find you, and you own a smart phone.... they're going to find you.

So if this really worries you, don't own a smart phone.

@XCWarrior Niantic developed Pokemon Go and Nintendo developed Miitomo.

@XCWarrior I think DeNA made Miitomo and Ninatinc made Pokemon Go so Nintneod didn't really have anything to do w/ either of these. I think Miitomo eats up the battery b/c for whatever reason they decided to make your character walk around an empty 3D room as a 3D character. I have no idea why they just didn't make it 2D or 2.5D, probably would have had much better battery life then. I think Go eats up the battery b/c you have both the GPS and camera running at the same time. I think even w/o Go running, if you were to walk around w/ just Google Maps following you w/ GPS while using your camera it would still eat up your battery. For me the real problem isn't w/ Miitomo. that is really meant as a 15 minutes at a time sort of thing, read a few answers to questions, change your clothes, done. Go is meant to played while walking around searching for stuff. Next thing you know a couple of hours go by and you are out in the middle of nowhere w/ a dead phone, not good. Not sure how to get around that though w/ the camera and GPS and map all running at the same time.

And I expect bugs. How many different Android phones and tablets are there? We have 6 in our home, all different. So yeah, we are all beta testers, I just hope it gets updated regularly, at least every few days to start.

Isn't this what The Denpa Men was all about?

The music sounds so bland... Plus, where's the classic fanfare when you capture a Pokemon?! And couldn't Nintendo partner with a couple of companies to make a GLOBAL launch of this? I understand the whole "beta" concept, but seriously...

@rjejr I love your optimism and justification for bad programming.

Will it get better? Yes
Will it get better fast before the whales go find something else to play? Unknown.
Does this make Nintendo look like every other publisher who lazily rushes out games and just patches them later? Yes

And that final thing is the problem, and my main point. We rightfully hold Nintendo to a higher standard of quality, because we generally get 5 good games for every Wii Music, Nintendo Land, etc. But the good to bad game ratio is not going well as of late. They need to do better.

@Peach64 I believe Miitomo was #1 on the American Apple Store and Android App market for a week or two after launch. I feel like that wouldn't have happened if it were just My Nintendo users.

Miitomo could still be great. It's the loading times people have a problem with. Mobile apps need to basically start within 10 seconds of opening them and need to be snappy.

I think the servers for Pokémon Go are only overwhelmed so much because... well, it's an online-dependent Pokémon experience. The launch of Pokémon Bank had many issues, including overwhelmed servers. The eShop was down completely at its launch, leading to Bank's temporary removal from the eShop and a significant delay in North America. I don't attribute the server problems to the game, Niantic, or Nintendo, but the simple appeal of the Pokémon brand.

@XCWarrior The only ones who that would absolutely apply to is law enforcement and telecommunications companies... The only way for everyone to know "everything" is to use geolocation services frequently without a care. Not particularly worried about being tracked in my case, but I'd still rather limit what I put out there.

@the101 By that notion, a Pokemon MMO would crash during the whole first week if there ever was one...

Ive been playing it and i think what everyone missed is at download it says "POKEMON GO -BETA-" as in not finished!
Wondering what all the butt hurt was all about when the game isn't in final form.

Still waiting for it to log me in... Any day now.

Pokemon GO is the new Splatoon Global Testfire!

Hm, I'd say we give 'em a break. Pokémon GO is a really huge game after all, so being able to do further bug-fixing is probably why they didn't release it worldwide simultanously. Performance issues can likely be attributed to too many downloading it illegally, forcing the servers to deal with way more users than intended.

@rjejr I'm pretty sure Nintendo had a pretty huge hand in both. Atleast if they've learned anything from the 90's when they let other companies develop games based on their franchises for the CD-i and PC, all of whom are incredibly bad even in their own right.

Why does everyone act surprised when a new app or game comes out and overwhelms its servers?

And this is the very problem I have with "games" like this: They make all the shareholders believe this is the stuff Nintendo should be making rather than actual high quality videogames, and you know what that will likely mean.

Since when does vulgar language pass muster on this site?

I honestly think this is the first article without some kind of disclaimer. When you enforce a "G" rating in the comments section, the editors should display the same level of courtesy.

Day 1 I got to play and managed to get to level 4. Day 2, can't connect. Still can't connect. I was stupid and already spent $4.99 in the game so I don't want to restart with a Google sign-in, but it's the only way I can get into the game.

What pisses me off is how I need to buy Poke Coins. That's bull. The game should give me a daily bonus.
I love GO so far. I'm just waiting for the Johto update so my dreams of running with my Feraligatr come true... Kinda.

A friend of mine is totally addicted to the game. No problems on her side at all.

Server space seems to be an issue with a lot of popular launches these days. Too, some of it could be due to how many have downloaded the APK.

Also, software very rarely ships without some type of bug these days. Since I'm in software development, it's very difficult to test for "every" situation as each user of an app or product is different and may "break" the system in some way. Even after extensive testing, bugs are still likely to exist.

@XCWarrior "But the good to bad game ratio is not going well as of late. They need to do better."

I'm hoping they are putting all the bad games out now - AC:aF, Mario Tennis, Mario & Sonic Olympics, MP:FF - and saving the good games for NX. Mobile games are free to start, and I believe in the old adage, you get what you pay for. I just tried to open Pokemon Go twice and it crashed both times and closed. What am I supposed to do, demand my money back?

@NintendoVideoGa Well I think Ninteod is more invloved in these games than it was in Zelda CDi, but I think they are more involved w/ the ideas and graphics and design and gameplay. Not the actual number crunching coding that makes games work on mobile. Or not work on mobile as the case may be w/ Pokemon Go at the moment. All the server isues is not on Nintedo, that's on Niantic.

Miitomo is just, well I don't even know what.

@rjejr Let's hope so regarding the bad games.

As for Pokemon Go, give it like a week, there will be a patch, and 80% of the people will have stopped playing it. That should fix a lot of the problems.

@OptometristLime What bit of the article are/were you referring to? It might have been edited out since, but I can't find any offensive language in the main text.

I would love this game if I could get it to work. I played it once after I downloaded it, and the next day the servers were down. Since then I haven't even gotten server errors, the darn thing doesn't even seem to want to try and connect. After about five minutes of the spinning Pokeball on the screen, I tried turning it off and on again. Nothing. I tried deleting and reinstalling. Nothing. Maybe I'll come back to it once I know it works properly, but I'm to frustrated with it at this point and I'm not even going to bother wasting any more of my time to try and make it work.

This is crazy.

Sucks ass? The performance is terrible, yes, but when working, it's been utterly fun. Will it last longevity? Depends on their servers.

@Dakt This isnt' one of the games/apps that DeNA and Nintendo have a partnership on. The main driving force is the Pokemon Company and Niantic. Nintendo is just part of the process — not the main part

@PlywoodStick Good on you. Did you read the other article? Be careful what you buy from china. Sevral Chinese smart phone manufacturers have back door systems to access any of their phones anywhere. Huwawei is one of them and have been investigated by the us government.

Hopped right in an snagged a Squirtle and two Doduos last night, without even leaving my armchair. Was surprised to find a couple Pokestops in my neighborhood, too. Tried again at lunch and the loading time was so bad I gave up. Hope to take it for a stroll soon.

@Dakt Correct. While Nintendo owns majority shares in Pokemon Co., Pokemon Co. owns the IP. It's weird. Needless to say, the 5-game announcement was strictly about Nintendo and DeNa's partnership.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong

As a beta tester, I was genuinely surprised when I found out the game was launching so soon. I'm not sure how different the finished game is (since I haven't been able to sign in), but a lot of the bugs that people are reporting now are bugs that Niantic has known about for a while. One of the main ones is that the AR mode doesn't work on phones without good gyroscopes. (I don't know why they can't use the compass, since it almost does the same thing.) Crashes on not-top-of-the-line phones and heavy battery usage were two other major issues, though Niantic swore the latter would be fixed by launch.
This game shouldn't have been launched until late August at the earliest.

I was able to log in, once. The night it was released. Haven't gotten in since and I uninstalled it. Nintendo should just stick to consoles.

App was buggy as crap, not worth it. I'll just wait for Pokemon Sun and Moon or continue playing Pokemon Y & X instead.

Can't even log in. 56 or so megabytes wasted. Deletion is now required!

@ziffy Thanks for the heads up!

I've had no problems with it at all. Wasn't a fan of Ingress but really loving Pokemon Go 😃

My work place has a Zapdos in it. This game is amazing

I have to admit I really did not think that the game would be quite this popular

@PlywoodStick a sad reality.

Anyone else have a male character but all the achievements say things like "Battle Girl?" I'm not sure what to make of it.

Had a little bit of good today and a little bit of bad.
The good: I found and caught a wild Dragonite! The bad: it's only CP 47.
The good: I found a local blue Gym to join and train at! The bad: before I could finish the first round of training, a red player took over the Gym with his CP 500-something Dragonite. >_<
The good: I found a local red Gym that was low-level enough for my Pokémon to actually defeat! The bad: the servers crashed riiight when I had the opponent's HP down to a sliver of red.

I've generally had great luck with being able to log on and play for a couple of hours uninterrupted, but I've noticed a definite pattern. My game always - always always always - freezes when I'm battling a Gym and have the opponent down to a red sliver. I've never crashed with the opponent at any other health level. It's pretty frustrating and disappointing. =(

im still somewhat curious on why they never thought of bring this to 2DS/3DS/N3DS. they have the AR thing all setup for the system, it could have work very well(despite of the 3ds and and mobile have completely different powers) . but on the other hand i can understand why they didn't.

although if android was not pricey, i get this in a heart beat. looks really cool.

@seb5049 They were still testing the servers likely. People downloading it outside of the the intended territories hampered it. Can't complain about the company not being ready when they were, just not ready for exploitation from outside certain areas.

Although this did help test them in a way they hadn't anticipated so now they know what they have in store. I think a better idea would be to extend the closed beta, and lock out anyone not from the intended regions.