Pokemon Comes to Real Life with Augmented Reality

I remember when I was young, I would tune in to my favorite channel at 7pm every Saturday to watch Pikachu and Ash working together to fight against Team Rocket. I remember I was so hyped about the Pokemon trading card game that I broke my piggy bank just to get one of the decks as a collection. And when video game for Nintendo Gameboy is out, it was satisfying to just watch my classmates play it in the back of the class. 

But the hype went away as I grew up. Even when newer versions of Pokemon games and movies came out, I no longer seem to be interested. Not anymore. Not until now.

Niantic Labs present to you, Pokemon GO. 

Sure it is the same game as usual, you catch Pokemons, you train your Pokemons, battle with other Pokemons, earn badges from trainers and be the best trainer ever. Pokemon GO does all of that but now with an extra flavor of the latest technology.

How? By fusing the game with two great technologies, Augmented Reality (AR) and Global Positioning System (GPS). This time, instead of sitting in your couch lazying with your Gameboy or your smartphone, you need to actually get out of your personal bomb shelter to play the game.

Pokemon GO allows you to see Pokemons in real life through your smartphone display. Using this system, Niantic Labs has brought the Pokemon Universe into the our world and you can be your own trainer and make your own story in your city. Battle against wild Pokemons or your friends will never be the same.

So far, no gameplay has surfaced yet but according to Niantic Labs, Pokemon GO will be revealed at GDC (Game Developer Conference) on 14-18 March 2016 at Moscone Conference Centre, San Francisco. The game will be available for both iOS and Android platform as a free to download game with in-app purchases.  

While waiting, checkout Ingress (released) and Endgame: Proving Ground (just passed beta, coming this year). These AR video games were also made by Niantic Labs.

Ingress gameplay

Endgame: Proving Ground beta gameplay