The dream of traveling the world and becoming a Pokemon Trainer is so much closer to becoming a reality. Niantic, the company behind Ingress, and The Pokemon Company have teamed up to produce Pokemon Go – an AR game where people literally travel the world collecting Pokemon.
Coming to Android and iOS next year, Pokemon Go will take many cues from Ingress. Players will be able to encounter Pokemon as they go about their daily lives, with the app keeping them updated when they are close to a wild pokemon.
There will also be a smartband style accessory to keep people from being glued to their phones. The Pokemon Go Plus is shaped somewhere between a Pokeball and a map location marker, and only has one use: alerting people to the presence of wild Pokemon. A tool that would have been extremely useful in the video games instead of having to wander around aimlessly in long grass for hours.
Not many details were released with the official announcement, although we know that the game is free to play with the usual in-app purchases. From what we are able to gather, there will also be Pokemon battles and massive multiplayer events. At the moment, the game sounds great; but there is a worry that the Pokeballs necessary to capture Pokemon will require real world money to buy.
