Tag: Pokémon GO »

Niantic Labs' CEO John Hanke took to the stage at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to talk about how plans have shifted from the game's inception to the present, giving us a few hints at what's to come in the process.

Generation 2 finally launched in Pokémon GO, unleashing a brand new batch of Pokémon into the wild. Even before the update went live people were speculating on how to catch elusive Pokémon like the legendary "dogs", Unknown, and whether or not there would be new regional exclusive Pokémon. The answer to that last question is a resounding yes, it turns out, thanks to the astute researchers over on The Silph Road subreddit.

At long last, Niantic Labs finally unleashed the Generation 2 Pokémon into the wild. Pokémon GO trainers are scrambling to grab up this new set of 80 Pokémon. There are some special new tricks required to catch all of these new beasties, though. Some of the original 151 Pokémon have new evolved forms that require special items. Meanwhile, there are two brand new Eeveelutions for you to acquire. Let's go over the finer details. Onward, young trainer!

Well, after some, frankly, disappointing updates to Pokémon GO, fans are finally getting what they've always wanted - 80 brand new Pokémon, likely from Generation II. We'll be able to catch the Johto region starters--Totodile, Chicorita, and Cyndaquil--along with Pokémon like Bellossom and the new Eeveelutions, Espeon and Umbreon.

Pokémon GO is kicking off its Valentine's Day festivities today, washing the app in waves of pink, hearts, and cutesy Pokémon. Niantic has a bunch of sweet treats for Pokémon GO addicts this time around. And yes, we're talking lots and lots of candy.

From today until February 15, you'll earn double candy every time you catch, hatch, or transfer a Pokémon. Keep your buddy close at hand, too -- they'll be scooping up candy twice as fast for the duration of the event.

Perhaps most importantly, though, this Valentine's Day event is the perfect chance to finally hatch some of the elusive baby Pokémon that were added to the game a few weeks ago. These new, second generation Pokémon are tough to catch, as they can only be hatched from eggs and those eggs are mixed with all of the older Pokémon you probably already have. Now, though, Cleffa, Igglybuff, and Smoochum will all hatch more frequently from eggs.

If that's not enough for you, lures will now last for six hours, too. Chansey, Clefairy, and other pink Pokémon can also be caught at a higher rate.

How do you think the Valentine's Day event holds up to past Pokémon GO celebrations? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Pokémon GO is certainly not without its problems, but there's no denying the incredible impact it left on the past year. Upon release, the game stirred up a phenomenon few had seen before in mobile gaming. Pokémon GO smashed records in a dozen ways. Trainers walked a combined 8.7 billion kilometers -- enough to reach Pluto. Just think of the amazing advances we'd make in space travel if we could somehow harness that dedication! Pokémon GO shook things up in a big way this year, but it now faces an uncertain future. In this time of reflection before the new year, let's take a look back at the ways Pokémon GO left its mark.

Pokémon GO got a big update today, adding a sprinkling of new Pokémon and special festive Pikachus donning Santa hats. It might not be as exciting as we imagined, but it very well could be the start of a gradual roll-out of new Generation II Pokémon. Here are the new Pokémon that we can confirm have made an appearance so far.

Leaked images from a hub for Starbucks employees suggests that a big Pokémon GO event with the coffee giant could begin this very week. The images appeared on Reddit and hint at some exciting new things to come for Niantic's smash hit game.

The event coincides with a potential Pokémon GO update on Thursday. Many suspect that this latest change to the game will finally introduce Generation II Pokémon -- the beasts that were originally catchable in Pokémon Gold and Silver. The leaked image states, "The world of Pokémon GO is about to expand with new Pokémon and a new Starbucks beverage!"

Many Starbucks locations are expected to transform into Pokécenters and gyms, and an exclusive Pokémon GO Frappucino will be available for purchase for thirsty trainers. Starbucks is prepping for an increase in traffic to many of their stores. The employee memo notes that Starbucks baristas should familiarize themselves with the beverage, practice making it, and try it themselves before the event goes live on December 8.

While we can't say for sure if new Pokémon will be roaming around Starbucks locations this Thursday, it does look like Niantic and Starbucks have something exciting up their sleeves, and it could be as good a time as any to take a walk to your local store.

There's no need to panic about Pokemon GO. Though you're almost certain to have read articles in various places about how it has fallen off in terms of popularity since its stellar debut, that was inevitable. When your star burns as bright as Pokemon GO's did, literally the only place to go is down.

The numbers tell a slightly different story. Pokemon GO is still a top 20 app as we head into the holiday weekend in the U.S., even bouncing up a spot from the previous chart. That's not too shabby for a game that's been out for two months.

More importantly, it's still the top grossing iPhone game (though unlike some of its competitors for that throne, it's way further down on iPad). That should give Niantic all the resources it needs to keep plugging away on updates.

And make no mistake, those updates are definitely needed.

The Team Leaders in Pokemon GO have had it pretty easy up until now. They show up when players reach level 5, make their cases for joining their respective teams, and that's pretty much it. Light work, as Floyd Mayweather might say.

Niantic's latest update for the game changes that situation and turns every Team Leader into a consultant of sorts. Can't blame them for that, as there's money to be had in that field, or so I'm told.

They still don't have to commute or work out of an office, but here's what you need to know about the Team Leaders' new duties and the new update in general.

In the U.S., the bloom is off the Pokemon Go rose ever so slightly. It's still doing great, sitting atop the top grossing chart as it has for some time, but it's no longer among the top 10 free apps in downloads, possibly because darn near everyone who wants it already has it.

But while it may no longer be the all encompassing phenomenon it was in July and early August in the United States, it's as big as ever in some other countries -- maybe even bigger, if that's possible. Let's take a quick look at five places where Pokemon GO is still the unquestioned number one mobile game.

You may have heard people talk about a mythical "fate worse than death" before, but here's something that definitely fits that bill: getting banned from playing Pokemon GO -- forever.

We're being tongue in cheek while saying that, but it's happening more and more often. As reported by various media outlets over the last few days, Niantic has been issuing permanent bans to some Pokemon GO players for what it says are violations of the game's terms of service. To be fair, most people never read the TOS for, well, anything, but some of the issues the developers have pointed out are clear.

Things like using bots are actions that only the most passionate believers that users should be able to do whatever they want with software tend to defend. Other violations pointed out by Niantic are less obvious and have already been the subject of some debate within the Pokemon GO community.

But the rules are the rules, and all we can do is roll with them. In the interest of keeping you in the game, here are three things you shouldn't do if you want to avoid the banhammer.

It's hard to remember one aspect of a popular mobile game that's caused as much hand-wringing as the 'Nearby' tab in Pokemon GO. Just in case you're one of the (very) few people who hasn't played the game or followed its coverage, the tab was supposed to offer a way for players to have an easy reference for which Pokemon were nearby and approximately how far away they were.

The phrase "supposed to" is the key there. It never functioned as intended thanks to what gamers dubbed the "three-step glitch," causing all the Pokemon to appear as if they were an equal distance from the player. Instead of fixing it, Niantic deactivated the feature altogether in one of the game's first updates, causing a predictable overreaction from some of the more passionate Pokemon GO enthusiasts.

The thing is, they had a bit of a point, in the sense that when paired with Niantic cutting off support for third-party tracking apps, gamers were left without a way to even know which Pokemon were around, much less hunt them down. The latest Pokemon GO update doesn't offer a fix, but it does provide a roadmap for how the developers might proceed.

If it seems like there's a new Pokemon GO app to help you track and locate Pokemon every day, that's because it's pretty close to the truth. Niantic and Nintendo may have carved themselves out a big chunk of the mobile gaming industry, but the cottage industry that has developed alongside it has been even more fascinating to watch.

Go Radar is the latest of these apps to surge up the App Store charts, using crowdsourced, real time info to help gamers locate Pokemon. How does it compare to previous apps of the same type? We gave it a spin while on our nightly Pokewalk (yes, we're pretty sure that will be an official word soon if it isn't already) to find out.

There's been a lot of buzz going through the Pokemon GO community this week after the game received several small updates in the span of a few days. Most of the attention focused on the fact that Niantic removed the infamous three-step tracking feature that was supposed to tell players how close Pokemon were -- but didn't, as it never worked right.

While the debate over that change will likely continue to rage on, something else may have been slipped into the game without quite as many people noticing. Namely, it might now be harder to catch 'em all because it's harder to catch them at all.