'Pokemon GO' Release Date On iPhone & Android Devices In 2016, To Have Real World As Setting

By Aarati Shah, Christian Post Contributor Saturday, October 17, 2015

"Pokemon GO" is coming to iPhone and Android devices in 2016. Gamers can play the game in the real and virtual world. They can catch a Pokemon on Pokemon GO Plus even when they're in another city and a Pokemon is nearby.

This augmented reality mobile game is the result of Nintendo, The Pokémon Company and Google teaming up to invest up to $30 million in Niantic Labs for the development "Pokemon GO" for iPhones and Android devices.

On the drawing board, "Pokemon GO" will be designed as an 'augmented reality game' where players can smoothly transit from the real world and the virtual world of Pokémon. They can create their own Pokemon world by using real location information to "search far and wide in the real world to discover Pokémon," according to Hypable.

According to Venture Beat, Niantic CEO John Hanke, along with representatives of Pokemon and Nintendo, announced Pokemon GO last month. Hanke said, "Now the company is owned by Google, the new investors, and the employees. When we started thinking about what to do after Ingress, Pokémon immediately came to mind."

It all started with a prank way back in 2014 when Google and Nintendo decided to place Pokemon creatures on Google Maps for both the iOS and Android platform as an April Fool's Day joke. This became quite popular and Google users loved it. Seeing the possibilities, Hanke and his crew presented the idea to develop this into a full-fledged game.

Google and Nintendo, both Ingress fans, nodded a yes and the venture was afoot.

The Pokémon video game series is an open world, giving the players opportunities to connect with other players, to trade and battle the Pokemon. The gameplay of "Pokémon GO" is designed to go beyond the screen and travel to the real world. The players can explore their neighbourhood communities to search and discover new Pokemon. They can also team up with fellow players to hunt for and battle the Pokemon.

For this, players will have to use a wearable Pokemon GO Plus device.

The locations in the original Pokémon video game series were based on real-world places such as Paris, New York and the Hokkaido and Kanto regions of Japan. To make "Pokemon GO" different from the original video game and to give players a fresh new way to play the game, "PokemonGO" will have the neighbourhood as the setting for the players, regardless of where they are.