Attention Pokemon GO haters – these tricks aren’t just for kids.
Catching monsters or a pikachu has never been so rewarding, even for some of the toughest athletes – CFL football players.
Their days of spending all their cellphone data reviewing game footage, texting, instagraming or facetiming with a long distance girlfriend are on hold for now, at least until level 10.
It’s the closest thing to virtual reality for some, who walk the neighbourhood trying to ‘catch ’em all’ as they say in the Pokemon world.
“It brings me back to my childhood. I grew-up collecting the cards, playing the games, all that stuff. As soon as the app came out for my phone, I thought why not?” Juwan Brescasin, a Stamps wide receiver, said. “Trying to get away from adult life a little bit.”
Nintendo’s new virtual reality smartphone game Pokemon GO has taken over the Internet. It’s based off the first Pokemon games that came to the Nintendo Game Boy system back in 1996.
The game uses augmented reality and GPS tracking to locate and superimpose Pokemon characters into real world scenarios, forcing players outdoors in search of the pocket monsters.
The app uses your smartphone camera, with the creature overlaid on top of the camera’s view so it looks like it appears in the real world.
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“You can play against people in Calgary. Anywhere I go I might open up the app and try to find it. Down by the water, try to catch some water Pokemon. Go through the forest, try to catch some leaf Pokemon. Just anywhere basically,” Brescasin said.
A leaf Pokemon is a species in the Pokemon family. One of them is named Chikorita. Its weaknesses are poison, flying, bug, ice and fire.
Players can hold up to 250 Pokemon, along with 9 eggs. When you capture a character, you not only gain trainer experience, netting more rewards with every level you reach, but you also get stardust and candy.
“You see a lot of people bump into each other down the street. I almost bumped into this old lady right outside McDonalds when I got my Charmander,” DaVaris Daniels, a Stampeders wide receiver, said.
A Charmander is a lizard. The flame that burns at the tip of its tail is an indication of its emotions. ‘The flame wavers when Charmander is enjoying itself. If the Pokemon becomes enraged, the flame burns fiercely.’
Its abilities are to ‘blaze’. Yep.
“You can cross paths with other trainers too. If he’s walking this way and I’m walking that way, we can battle,” Daniels said. “I’m just on level five so I’m just getting started.”
When you battle, players move into the ‘arena’ to fight. Players can also spend money on Pokecoins to buy items like Egg Incubators.
“The cool feature about it is that it shows you landmarks in the city you’re in. It brings you to certain areas in the city you might not go to,” Brescasin said. “But really I’m just in it to catch Pokemon. I have about 12 Pokemon right now but my stock will rise.”
“It encourages you to exercise and run and walk. That’s a plus of it, getting people out of the house and actually move around a bit and be active,” Daniels said. “I like it because it’s just something to do. Your GPS is on here so it’s easy to find buildings.”
The app definitely drains your phone battery and data for most users have accommodated that.
‘I got a T0-GO charger now, so I’m good,” Brescasin said. “I hear Bo (Levi Mitchell) was on level 35.”
https://twitter.com/BoLeviMitchell/status/753737165641699328
The app’s overnight success caused Nintendo shares to soar 25 per cent Monday and has added about US$9 billion in market value in just a few days, according to the Wall Street Journal.
READ MORE: Pokemon Go users find everything from dates to dead bodies
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