Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will have heard the latest crazy sweeping the connected world is Pokemon Go. It’s the mobile game that gets people out and about as it leverages augmented reality to allow users to find virtual characters in the real world.
So popular is game that Australia seen a number of Pokemon get together’s around the country. So successful is the game, that Business Insider are reporting a 23% rise in Nintendo’s share price, certainly their biggest rise since the success of the Wii.
@jamescroft posted this from Brisbane.
https://twitter.com/jamescroft/status/752014907999002624
@Vook64 posted this from Perth.
Massive turnout in Perth too for #PokeGOwalk #PokemonGo pic.twitter.com/4z8synCRAJ
— Daniel Vuckovic (@VOOK64) July 10, 2016
And @JM77 posted this from Sydney.
Great turnout at Sydney's first #PokemonGO event! (Pic stolen from shinya2910@Instagram) https://t.co/KPpYncWL1O pic.twitter.com/onemHvc86C
— Jason Murray (@JM77) July 10, 2016
With so many players walking while looking at their phones, it does create somewhat of a risk to gamers as they go about the world to find Pokemon. Facebook’s primary page, liked by more than 171 Million people around the globe, shared a post by the Northern Territory Police which warned of these risks.
This morning @developerjack spotted a job application which promoted an employee benefit as ‘our office is a Pokestop’.
That moment when a #PokemonGo #Pokestop is listed as an employee benefit! pic.twitter.com/ARtt0yulsh
— boosted af (@developerjack) July 11, 2016
Given we had pretty average weather over the weekend, I started thinking about ways to virtually travel rather than physically visit locations. It seems I’m not the only one. Here’s a GitHub project where the ‘Pokemon Go Controller’ allows you to change the lat/long co-ordinates that are reported to the device, fooling this game, or any other GPS-enabled app of your location. It’s promoted under safety, but is most definitely cheating, so use it with caution.
Anyone thought of simulating GPS location to avoid running around in the rain ? #Pokemon pic.twitter.com/C82XUCXl5v
— techAU (@techAU) July 10, 2016
In terms of creativity, this drone solution is a bit more creative, remember Aussie regulations to keep your drone sighted at all times. It does make you wonder what a Pokemon Go and Augmented Reality headset like Microsoft’s Hololens would work together. However long this hype lasts, it has certainly done wonders for delivering a AR experience to the mainstream.
https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/752060192041340928
