Pokemon

No Pokemon sightings at GRM HQ so far, but if you stop by while looking for one you'll get a special treat.

Why you so far away!?

My kids and I had a fun weekend with it. Top catches were a Dratini and a Jynx.

Catch me up.

I have a young kid that is a little into pokemon, but has no idea what this latest thing is.

Is it like geocaching for pokemon?

Do geocaching instead. It actually works your brain.

DrBoost wrote: Do geocaching instead. It actually works your brain.

And it will avoid you running into people. Some guy almost ran into me when he never looked up from his phone.

Good thing I know how to check.

We do geocaching and all sorts of stuff. Moderation being the key to all things parenting. Just wondering what the new craze is so I can be an informed parent.

It's pretty simple. Install the app, do the minimal set up stuff like pick a name and an avatar, pick an outdoor setting (or whatever you prefer) in the real world and start walking. You'll find water types near water, etc.

We've been going to parks and it's been fun. Basically a Pokemon will pop onto your screen along with a pokeball at the bottom. You flick the ball at the Pokemon and see if you catch it.

There is more to the game, but that depends how far into it you want to get- like gym battles and such.

Go is very similar to the Nintendo games. The more steps you take the more Pokemon you see.

We had a Charmander turn up in our warehouse right next to the wire cutting machine. And right before we had a fire marshal inspection, too. Luckily Sebastian caught it before the fire marshal showed up. I'm sure those things are against code.

No.

Just no.

I caught a pikachu while enjoying a beverage in the yard last night.

It is kind of off putting to see 10 people standing around in a park, like drones without orders, faces glowing from the light of their phones at 230 in the morning... Like children of the corn off putting.

In reply to Grtechguy:

I should close my blinds.

DrBoost wrote: Do geocaching instead. It actually works your brain.

How is it any different if you're using a GPS? If all you have is paper maps and a compass and you need to plot an overland route (ie, orienteering), I can see it.

paranoid_android74 wrote: We've been going to parks and it's been fun. Basically a Pokemon will pop onto your screen along with a pokeball at the bottom. You flick the ball at the Pokemon and see if you catch it.

In the old days, you had to fight it to weaken it first or you'd be virtually guaranteed to be wasting a pokeball

I gave up on Diamond because the game forced you to play once a week to prevent a mass extinction of trees. That was too much grinding for me, so do you think I'll play a game that forces me to walk around outside? Plus, being a modern game, it's probably loaded with DLC/in-app purchases...I'll pass.

In reply to GameboyRMH:

While you can buy E36 M3, it's unnecessary to do so.

Honestly, this is a good idea since it does actually make kids get up and move around. Much better IMHO than the push towards VR.

As I grew up in this era, and logged far more time on the original games Red & Blue....I downloaded the app. I definitely won't be doing a lot, it's just something to do to distract myself from how boring walks are.

GameboyRMH wrote:

paranoid_android74 wrote: We've been going to parks and it's been fun. Basically a Pokemon will pop onto your screen along with a pokeball at the bottom. You flick the ball at the Pokemon and see if you catch it.

In the old days, you had to fight it to weaken it first or you'd be virtually guaranteed to be wasting a pokeball I gave up on Diamond because the game forced you to play once a week to prevent a mass extinction of trees. That was too much grinding for me, so do you think I'll play a game that forces me to walk around outside? Plus, being a modern game, it's probably loaded with DLC/in-app purchases...I'll pass.

Very true. In this version the lower level Pokemon can mostly be caught with just a pokeball (or seven). As you level up, the Pokemon do too, and there are ways to "soften" them up before trying to catch them. Different poke balls, berries and such.

And yes, IAPs are there. I am not a fan of them at all and have yet to make any. It all depends on how fast you want to progress.

I still prefer the console games, but this is a neat break from the norm.

If you are into it to begin with, that is.

So there's no battling in this game, just collecting? That's like making a new Gran Turismo game that lets you customize the cars but not drive them...or a Final Fantasy game with just cutscenes and cheesy dialogue

There is battling but only at Gyms, AFAIK. No battling to walk around catch them. The mini game to catch them has some finer points like holding down on the pokeball before you throw it and wait until the green ring is at it's smallest before you throw, and you can get a curve ball bonus if you wiggle the ball around in a circle before you throw, too.

I downloaded it to see what the fuss is all about, and it's both hilarious and unsettling.

So basically, it takes Google Maps and overlays it's "world" on top of it. You create a character and go around trying to find these imaginary creatures. But instead of pressing a controller and moving a character, you get off your butt and go outside to find them. As you are aimlessly walking around (or sometimes driving, more on that in a few), they show up on the map. You click on one, and that brings up your phone's camera. You throw balls at it until you hit it, and eventually you "catch" it. Object is to find as many as you can and catch them all, and some are more rare than others and have better stats. Simple, right?

Then there's the "Poke-stops" and "Poke-gyms". The stops are places where you can store or find more of the pokemon (I think), and the gyms are where you do battle with other players. Eventually, you will be able to trade and battle other players head to head too, from what I gather.

The hilarious part is where they show up and what happens when you turn the camera on.

Today, I went with my coworker Pseudosport to Burger King. Naturally, the place was swarming with imaginary creatures. This one was giving the stink eye to his chicken sandwich:

There's a Poke-stop near my house that is a cemetary in real life, and I can guarantee there's a bunch of idiots aimlessly wandering around there at all hours now. I heard that there was even a strip club that was a Poke-Gym. Some guy on the radio this morning was saying that his wing restaurant was apparently a Poke-Gym, and he got a ton of business out of it over the weekend. Not sure how these places turn into these areas, but that is probably both hilarious and annoying.

The unnerving part is that I bet someone dies this week from playing the game and not paying attention to whatever they are doing. It's a huge distraction, especially when people are driving all around trying to catch some imaginary creature and not paying attention to the real world.

Also, it's basically this:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/pokemon-go-injuries-1.3672615

SilverFleet wrote: I heard that there was even a strip club that was a Poke-Gym. Some guy on the radio this morning was saying that his wing restaurant was apparently a Poke-Gym, and he got a ton of business out of it over the weekend. Not sure how these places turn into these areas, but that is probably both hilarious and annoying.

And interesting to consider the power Nintendo now wields to direct foot traffic around...the selection seems to be random right now (with a police station in Australia getting selected for example), but what if it wasn't?

I can see something like the Facebook trending stories scandal being re-enacted a few years from now if this game stays popular after the novelty value is gone.

All of the stops and gyms are imported wholesale from the developer's previous game and were all user-generated.

if this takes off I hope they can adapt GTA to this type of game. My commute would be much more fun.

Someone on reddit:

"PokemonGo has done more to fight childhood obesity in a week than Michele Obama has done in 8 years."

I'm not sure a bunch of kids and/or adults walking around lazily to get a Pokemon is a big step forward in youth activity, unless some of the Pokemon are quite remote, which I'm sure brings up safety issues.

There's a hells angels club house in aus that is a poke stop.