Pokemon GO has been breaking records left and right, but unofficially so. Today, however, Apple has come forward confirming an official milestone for the popular game. Polygon reports that it has more downloads in its first week than any other app in history through iTunes.
It’s not entirely clear how many times Pokemon GO has been downloaded, at least officially. The last number reported from Sensor Tower earlier in the week was 30 million across iOS and Android.
Polygon is the latest outlet with footage from Paper Mario: Color Splash. Here’s one last look at the game from Comic-Con:
Pokemon GO has launched in Japan, and so has the collaboration with McDonald’s. The fast food restaurant announced its exclusive partnership that has all 2,900 restaurants showing up in the game’s app. About 400 of the restaurants are Gyms, while the other 2,500 are PokeStops.
Pokemon GO just released in Japan, and has already managed to skyrocket to the top of the charts. The game is already at the top grossing position on iOS. In Japan, the mobile market can be lucrative, so this is great news for all parties involved.
Update: VD-Dev added the following on Twitter:
@VdDevGames a cardiac failure, with complications.😢
— VdDev (@VdDevGames) July 22, 2016
VD-Dev co-founder Fernando Velez has passed away. The studio passed along today’s sad news through Twitter.
The tweet reads:
We are deeply saddened to announce that Fernando Velez passed away. This is a tremendous loss for all of us and for the video game community
— VdDev (@VdDevGames) July 22, 2016
VD-Dev is behind the 3DS eShop game IronFall Invasion. The studio announced its next game RISE: Race The Future at the end of May.
We are very sad to hear of Velez and wish his family the best during this tough time.
GameSpot has posted a few more minutes of Paper Mario: Color Splash footage from Comic-Con showing the Bloo Inn. Here’s the latest video:
A new article from Polygon focuses on online abuse of employees from various game companies. The site reached out to 25 of them in total, asking each one the following:
“Please can you share with us how [your company] plans to deal with any situation in which an employee comes under abuse, doxxing or threatening messages. Alternatively, please let us know what steps you are currently taking to tackle this issue.”
Only six companies responded to Polygon’s inquiry, including Nintendo. Here’s what the big N shared:
“Nintendo firmly rejects the harassment of any individual in any form, including through social media or online game play. We take steps to support and protect our employees through policies based on best practices in this area and consistently evolve that approach as online harassment grows more complex and challenging.
“We also seek to maximize consumers’ enjoyment of our games and experiences by limiting their exposure to negative communications and online interactions.
“But it takes more than the best efforts of any one company to protect an individual being harassed online. Nintendo is committed to continuing its work within the industry and the broader community to ensure that people can both work and play without the fear of hate-fueled attacks.”
CCP, Electronic Arts, Gearbox, Microsoft, and the IGDA also responded. You can read their statements on Polygon here.
GameSpot has posted a few more minutes of Dragon Quest VII from its appearance at San Diego Comic-Con 2016. Watch the video below.
Pokemon GO is now available in Japan. To celebrate, Niantic’s John Hanke and Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda shared a few words. Most of the message is from Hanke, though Masuda’s comments are unfortunately available in Japanese only.
In any case, here’s the video:
Aside from the video, Nintendo issued a notice on its investor’s website about its forecast in response to Pokemon GO. Essentially, things are staying the same from now. You can read the full message below.
Update (7/22): Here’s part two, showing the repair:
Original (7/15): We’ve heard a lot about the SNES PlayStation prototype over the past year. Now thanks to The Ben Heck Show, we have a closer look at the item through a teardown. Check it out below.
