A good treasure hunt makes for some fun, and that's what Pokémon seem to have achieved with their little game. I've tried it and captured a few of the little creatures, in an activity that is somehow reminiscent of trainspotting.
The Charmander here was my first capture and apparently it can be cultivated to turn into a dragon after some Tamagotchi style nurturing.
I'me really more interested in the underlying technology, the virtual reality engine that makes it all work and the potential for its expansion in all kinds of ways. I assume it gobbles bandwidth if used continuously and maybe lays down a track of where I've been (if I were to keep it switched on). As a quick example, here's a slice of my recent 'shopping' tracked by Strava, illustrating the same point.
With some refinement this kind of tracking could be gold dust to retailers. CLD (Continuous Location Data) finally arrives.
The screen grab left is me trying to capture a purple 30 kilo Venonat in my hotel room.
It boinged to the top of the window before I caught it with a power ball or something.
Then I noticed that the bar across the street called Red (see below) is also featured in the game as a 'Pokémon gym', and the coffee bar along the street is featured as a likely hangout for the creatures.
Brilliant idea to get people to go to the bar and then play around with their iPhones.
Oh wait. They do that anyway.
2 comments:
At least it gets people out of their chairs. I was just at Floydfest Music Festival and heard Bruce Hornsby utter "pokemon go" several times as a beat count.
colleen: I've seen it on humorous protest banners now, too 'Pokemon Go!'
And yes, you are right, the VR nature of the game means people have a reason to go out and actually socialise person-to-person!
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