By Tharique Azeez

Gotta catch ‘em all.

So what is Pokémon Go? Unlike previous Pokémon games, it’s not for Nintendo’s handheld
consoles; it’s a free download for Android and iOS devices. It also doesn’t play at all like
previous Pokémon games: Although the goal is still to catch ’em all, Pokémon Go is an
augmented reality game — it mixes real­world elements with the game.

Augmented Reality

"Pokémon GO," the smartphone game that puts the adorable, animal­like Pokémon
creatures into the world around you, is a pretty big deal.

At the time of this writing, Pokémon GO isn’t available in Sri Lanka. (There are few
workarounds that you can try to install Pokémon Go to your mobile, but which we don’t
recommend to do so.) Pokémon Go originally launched in Australia and New Zealand last
week before eventually arriving in the US. While the game has generated a massive
following worldwide, it hasn't been officially available in Europe until today.

Game developer Niantic Labs has experienced a variety of server issues, and has been
actively limiting accounts and the worldwide availability of the game as a result. That's
starting to change, albeit slowly, and Pokémon Go is launching in Germany today on both
Android and iOS.

Pokémania!

Already millions of people in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand are wandering
around at all hours of the day, finding Pokémon in ridiculous places, and capturing them.
This week, the Pokémon Go app has broken all records, with 10 million+ downloads in the
first week, exceeding Twitter in daily active users, and with higher average user time than
Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram & WhatsApp.

The big thing is Pokémon Go uses your phone’s GPS and clock to decide which Pokémon
appear in the game. If you’re at the park, more bug and grass types appear. If you’re by a
lake, more water types appear. If it’s night, more nocturnal ghost and fairy types do. So
Pokémon won’t just come to you; players have to traverse the real world to catch ’em all.
 

Fitness Craze

It turns out that there's an amazing side effect to joining the ranks of the millions now
addicted to Pokémon Go: better health.

Fitness tracker Jawbone UP claims that users of its fitness band who also mentioned that
they used Pokémon Go logged a whopping 62.5 percent more steps this weekend compared
to their steps taken during a normal weekend.

It’s becoming clear that Pokémon Go is getting more people to move around and, as a
byproduct, improve their health. However, despite the buzz around the game's exercise
benefits, no plans for a Nintendo tracker associated with the game have been announced.

Pokémon Accidents

Cultural phenomenon from Nintendo has brought people together. We’re not just talking
about people encouraged to get out and exercise while chasing Pokémon; people literally
collide because they’re distracted by the augmented reality.

But some players are getting a little too close to their neighbors. Virginia’s Goochland
Sheriff’s Office had to issue a warning to remind people that trespassing is still illegal, even if
their are Pokemon hiding in someone else’s home. Some people have seen their homes
overtaken by Pokémon “gyms.” Players seek out these gyms to compete, turning private
residences into popular hangouts and giving tenants a fan club they never wanted.
 

Security Worries

A day after it was discovered the hit game Pokémon Go was requesting full access
permission to a user's Google account data, developer Niantic has released a software
update that resolves the security scare.

Although Niantic confirmed that was not accessing the all­ranging data tied to a user's
Google account and that no user data had been compromised — the app only accesses
your Google User ID and email address — many players decided to uninstall the app or use
an alternate dummy account to prevent any possible data breach.

Despite the security worries, Pokémon Go has already garnered millions of downloads and
caused Nintendo’s stock price to soar. People are spending nearly 45 minutes a day on the
app.

Overnight Success?

Once Eddie Cantor said, “It takes 20 years to make an overnight success.” This saying is
very apt for the creator of Pokémon GO. How did John Hanke, the creator of Pokémon GO
create such a massive overnight craze?

The overnight success of Pokémon Go has taken John Hanke 20 years to create.
Throughout these 20 years, while he had a big vision of a game layer over the world, he
didn’t know what form it would take. At every step, he just focused at his next level up. At
each new level, he had new powers, new team members, and new items in his inventory. At
the end, he made the success in his endeavours.
 

PokéGone

Let’s face it: Pokémon Go is probably the greatest game to have ever hit our phones. If you
don’t feel that way, well, then finally there’s something for you.Software developer Jamie
Farrelly has created PokeGone ― a Chrome browser extension that will block all of the
Pokémon­related content that’s been driving you crazy lately.

“Sick and tired of hearing about Pokémon? PokeGone will take care of that! This extension
will stop your eyes from seeing grown adults raving on about Pokémon. Remove all traces of
Pokémon from the internet with one simple extension!”, described on extension’s page.

PokeGone’s tagline is: “Gotta block ‘em all.”

Now it’s your choice, whether to catch ‘em all or block ‘em all. Good luck.