Pokémon Go brings Pikachu and co into the real world with AR game on iOS and Android

The Pokémon Company, Nintendo and Niantic Labs are bringing Pokémon into the real world with a GPS enabled game coming in 2016 for Android and iOS devices. The game's impressive reveal trailer (below) promises an experience that drops Pokémon into real-world locations for players to battle and catch.

Pokemon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara was inspired to make the game a reality after seeing Niantic Labs' Ingress, an augmented reality game released in 2012. He may also have been inspired by the Google Maps Pokémon gag in 2014.

"Players will be able to catch, trade and battle in the real world by utilising location information," reads a press release. "Pokémon Go's gameplay experience goes beyond what appears on screen as players explore their neighbourhoods, communities and the world they live in to discover Pokémon alongside friends and other players."

In addition to the free app, a wrist-mounted physical device called Pokémon Go Plus will be released at a price that will light up when a Pokémon is nearby. It will connect to the mobile device or tablet with the game on via Bluetooth.

The trailer may be a little misleading, and we don't yet know how micro-transactions will be utilised, if at all. It is also interesting that the trailer uses only Pokémon from the original 151, which probably says something about the target audience. All that said, Pokémon Go sounds like a promising continuation for the hit series, which celebrates its 20<sup>th anniversary in 2016.

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