Step aside, Pokémon GO Plus - there's a new must-have Pokémon GO accessory in town.
The Go-tcha - created by UK company Code Junkies - is a wearable accessory which allows you to capture Pokémon and pillage Pokéstops without having to do anything at all. Unlike the Pokémon GO Plus - which requires you to push a button to capture 'mon and grab items - the Go-tcha is entirely automatic.
It connects to your phone just like a Pokémon GO Plus - in fact, the app thinks it's the official device, despite this being totally unauthorised - and as long as it is active it will attempt to catch monsters and spin Pokéstops without you having to lift a finger. Results are displayed on the Go-tcha's screen, and the device - which looks a lot like a Xiaomi Mi Band 2 fitness tracker - also vibrates to let you know how you're doing. The unit can run for around 8 hours when in constant use, and has a rechargeable battery.
When you consider that some critics felt that the GO Plus removed some of the fun from playing Pokémon GO, it's fair to say that the Go-tcha will be seen as a step in the wrong direction. If you don't have to interact with the device at all, are you really playing the game? On the flip-side, you could argue that this is a safer way to play Pokémon GO, as you can wear it while driving and not have to constantly push a flashing button. Whichever side of the fence you're on, it's an interesting device nonetheless and we'll try and post a review as soon as possible.
What are your initial thoughts on the Go-tcha so far? Is this something you'd invest in yourself, or do you see it as a device which potentially ruins the game? Chuck a Pokéball into the comments section below to tell us.
[source uk.codejunkies.com]
Comments 39
Pixar-quality animation right there.
Well, you COULD wear it while driving - but is there a point as you need to go under 5mph to see/catch anything?
Actually, until battling/trading are introduced into Go a lot of people will actually find this tempting. Pokémon Go has become nothing but a boring grind as of late & making it effortless will save a few uninstalls.
wut
@DanteSolablood "nothing but a boring grind as of late".
Wasn't it always one and there was just an initial novelty to it that quickly wore off?
@CrazedCavalier Not for me personally as I enjoyed the aspect of travelling to different towns to catch Pokémon that don't spawn locally & occasionally meeting new people. Unfortunately, any game will grow stale without some sort of in-game player interaction and Niantic has consistently teased it in trailers and then done nothing.
I'm starting to feel less interested in Pokémon Go than the narrator of that video is in what she's saying.
Well this looks god-awful.
Wouldn't be surprised if Niantic took action against it as well... not necessarily legal action... more likely they'd just add a line or two of code to block it from connecting to the app.
Reading this as I wear my Mi band!
I dabble with GO here and there now. I've almost completed the 1st Gen Pokédex, and have made some great leaps within 2nd Gen, but I definitely do not have the motivation or time to go out of my way to play it anymore. It's more of a "let's see what's up" kind of experience for me, so I'll open the app now and again depending on my location and general convenience.
I wonder if they'll be able to patch compatibility of this out?
This....this could not have come any later. these guys are far too late for the party. all that's left are the people who are either passed out drunk all over the house, the people too hung over to drive, or the geeks that passed out from 3 minutes of sex. So ya I don't see this selling well. Since not that many people play it anymore.
There's no way Niantic or TPCI will allow this device to keep connecting to Pokémon Go. If it automates playing the game, it'll fall under their terms of botting/cheating.
As for the Go Plus accessory, I feel it enables you to play the game in more ways rather than merely taking the fun out of it.
It's not realistic to keep your phone out at all times. Busy streets, rainy days, rushing to catch a bus, or just any time you need to put your phone away, that's when it's useful for me.
This would have been great last year before Niantic screwed this game up. Pokémon GO is dead to me and I will never be going back.
@ROBLOGNICK I think that's doubtful, as the device mimics the Go Plus. The app even thinks it's connected to a Go Plus.
Unless Nintendo / Niantic can somehow upgrade the Go Plus to make it different from this device on a software level (which I'm not sure is possible as there doesn't seem to be any way of updating the firmware on the Go Plus) then they can't block this, or even know that you're using it.
@RupeeClock How would they know you're using it, though? From what I can see, it imitates the Go Plus perfectly. I'm not expert but I'm not sure they would even be able to tell you're using it, and not a normal Go Plus.
@DragonEleven Legal action is actually quite likely as Niantic haven't been shy with legal action in the past - my only question is whether there is anything Niantic could do.
As for adding a line or two of code to stop it working... that depends on how the device connects. It may connect in an identical fashion to the Go Plus making a simple code fix impossible.
People are still playing Pokémon go?
Just been looking into it a bit more... when it says it automatically catches Pokemon, that's not entirely accurate... it will automatically attempt to catch the Pokemon, but it is not guaranteed... and like the PGO+ it will only have one attempt at each Pokemon, and will only use Pokeballs.
Aside from not having to press the button and being able to turn off the vibrations (neither of which are actually that big of a deal), it doesn't offer any real benefit beyond what the PGO+ already offers.
@Damo
This does do other stuff as well. it says it'll only let you pick up items you don't already have. How would it do that? So it has to talk to the phone differently than the Pokemon Go Plus and that could be the thing which allows them to block either the device altogether, or certain features at the very least.
@DanteSolablood Yeah... looks like it does just imitate a PGO+ connection wise, so it probably would be difficult to block... but legal action would still be a possibility... they could stop the sale of them and sue code junkies.
@Folderoll Yup, it's still as popular as many of the top mobile games. The issue was that Pokémon Go was likely 10x as big as the next most popular game shortly after launch... all those reports of "75% of players leave Pokémon Go" sounded like doom, but the game was still in the top 10 games.
Just checked the Play Store and Pokémon Go is the #8 top grossing game at the moment. Not bad.
@DanteSolablood "than the narrator of that video is in what she's saying."
Made me wonder how bad the people were who failed their auditions. Unless she's an AI software program they wrote, if it's AI then it's not too bad. Though they should have programmed her to give the price. "Go-tcha is available now." is the last thing she said, surely it has a price if it's available now. Can't be cheap otherwise she would have said what it cost. It's L30 (forgot the pound key combo)
@Damo - since you're here - "the Go-tcha is entirely automatic." "and as long as it is active it will attempt to catch monsters and spin Pokéstops without you having to lift a finger."
According to the vid and the website you can play like Go and touch it to do things. It seems as if you have to select "auto-mode" for it to do things automatically, it doesn't appear to be auto by default. I know you never said it's auto by default, but you never mention touching it option either.
Auto-catch mode On/Off
I never like to fault companies for giving people choices, it's up to people who buy it how lazy they want to be.
@ROBLOGNICK That's actually a bit mis-leading... it can only attempt to catch Pokemon you don't have... not items.
New Pokemon, old Pokemon and PokeStops all send different signals to the PGO+ (with different light and vibration patterns), so it's likely set up to just respond to them differently.
@DragonEleven They might be able to sue Code Junkies but it might be difficult, there is precedence for intermediary hardware being allowed to connect to existing games. Nintendo lost a case to stop Action Replay devices to be used on their consoles - this might fall into a similar area.
Niantic would likely have to look into the code on the device & see if there are any actual patents breached. Worst comes to worst Niantic could ask Nintendo to file for breach of trademark for using a Pokéball on the screen.
@Damo
Niantic uses an API to authenticate your Pokémon Go Plus connection, it's actually a separate session running alongside your primary Pokémon Go session.
What Code Junkies would've had to have done is reverse-engineer or spoof this API so their unauthorised device can connect to it, and pretend to be an official Go Plus accessory.
All Niantic needs to do is rewrite the API, which they've done a few times to counteract botting and scanners, and the Gotcha device no longer works, I think.
It's not like the Go Plus has some sort of updateable firmware that I know of, but I imagine the Gotcha potentially does for this probable countermeasure.
@DanteSolablood Thinking about it, it would probably be Nintendo that would sue them, seeing as they make the PGO+, which would be copyrighted, and the Go-tcha must use some of the code from the PGO+ in order to connect in the way it does, so they could easily prove that they are breaching copyright.
@RupeeClock Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the Gotcha mimics the Go Plus then changing the API won't make any difference - unless Niantic is able to somehow change the Go Plus at the same time?
@Damo
That's the dilemma I mean, the Go Plus's connection method is pretty static.
The least they can probably do is notice patterns in how the Gotcha device automates actions. Even if it can't spoof location, it's still a form of botting which they prohibit.
@DragonEleven You might well be correct about the Got-cha needing to use Nintendo's code to connect to Pokémon Go - though again it might not be that straight forward as there is coverage for reverse engineering in copyright law as well.
Again, to use a Nintendo example, when Atari released their own games that could circumvent the NES lock-out coding, it was found that it would be legal for a company to reverse engineer a game and use that to access the lock-out... the only reason Atari lost is because they literally stole the copyrighted code (from Government property) & used it verbatim.
The Got-cha may use a method that alters the code enough to be used legally. We'll just have to wait and see... in either case, it could be that Nintendo/Niantic couldn't stop you using one that you'd already purchased lawsuit or not.
@RupeeClock I think trying to predict patterns could lead to people who aren't using the Gotcha getting banned, so I'm not sure they'd risk that. In all honestly, unless they can spot something in the way in which Code Junkies have spoofed the Go Plus, there's no realistic way of them telling who is using one of these things. And while it could be seen as "cheating", you still have to actually leave the house to do it - it's not like it allows you to do all this stuff from your computer.
We could see them taking action against Code Junkies to prevent sale, I guess.
@Damo
Niantic haven't always been the best at handling these matters.
If you just have some spotty GPS for whatever reason, the game registers it as cheating and shadow bans you for a few minutes.
During that time, you can encounter Pokémon but they will escape and flee without fail, and you can't receive items from Poké Stops.
On my older phone, the GPS was really bad sometimes, so the game was punishing me for having technical difficulties.
The GO Plus is not that difficult or distracting. You just push a button. And I like seeing the lights and know whether I'm successful or not. This thing looks like it might not tell you if a catch was successful or failed. I'll stick with my Plus. Now if only Niantic would add player vs. player battles and trading.
I think if I get to the point where playing the game feels like too much effort I'll just stop playing rather than buying something to do it for me.
@Damo I might be misunderstanding this, but could one not find a pokémon hotspot & leave a Got-cha along with a bluetooth extender/old phone and catch large quantities of that pokémon throughout the day?
@DanteSolablood You could, but the device will disconnect after an hour. Niantic has previously said that the Go Plus is designed to disconnect to save battery when you're not using it, but I've had it cut off even when it's active.
Can someone please invent a device to play all my games so i can go on with my life
@pAq They did, it's called "children". Not ordered mine yet.
Why would you have this? Would you buy a robot to play Breath of the Wild while you're not looking? No.
I stopped using my Pokemon Go Plus because I kept running out of pokeballs. Even though I was walking at a 1 mile walking path with like 10 pokestops I got so few normal pokeballs that I never had any. This rendered the entire device rather pointless. Shortly later I stopped playing altogether as when exercising I didn't want to constantly look at my phone, and I wasn't high enough level to take any gyms.
I want to be able to stock up on candy and items and catch things rather passively while exercising, then when not exercising I could play it for real. The Pokemon Go Plus failed to work for this use since, as I said, regular pokeballs proved too uncommon (I had stupid numbers of the higher quality ones though). If this also can only use basic pokeballs then it is pointless as pressing the button when the Go Plus vibrates was not hard. Also, I liked the feedback that it was working. I was still doing something when using it.
This product seems pointless to me.
If it's cheaper than the Plus accessory, I'd consider it.
Update: It's not.
Update #2: Admittedly, seeing this gives me a glimmer of hope that someone can put together a Pebble app that mimics the Pokemon Go Plus.
As bad as some people might see it, it is perfect for disabled people like myself. I don't have the reflexes to use a Pokémon go quick enough, and I can't always be looking at my phone and to maneuver safely on my own. With this Pokémon gotcha, I am able to keep up with the game like a normal person.
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