Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 5 Comments

Pokemon GO will be receiving a dedicated session at the Game Developer’s Conference next month. John Hanke, CEO of Niantic, will host “Catch ‘Em All: Pokemon GO and Real World Gaming”.

Here’s a description of the event:

“Over the last three years, Niantic, Inc. has been defining the genre of Real World gaming, using smartphones and tablets to connect the digital world to the physical world. Niantic’s newest game, Pokemon GO, ups the challenge of real world gaming design, taking a beloved franchise and setting its hundreds of brightly-colored monsters loose across the globe, adding a new Bluetooth wearable device created by Nintendo to the mix. Join Niantic founder and CEO John Hanke as he discusses how the company has developed a unique vision for delivering a mobile Pokemon experience that gets would-be trainers into the outdoors.”

GDC’s website also states that those who attend the session “will get a first-hand, in-depth look at how players are interacting and exploring the world with one another through Pokemon GO, the collaborative approach to design and development for the game and the next evolution of augmented reality and real-world mobile gameplay experiences.”

A specific date for the Catch ‘Em All: Pokemon GO and Real World Gaming session has not yet been announced. GDC 2016 takes place between March 14 and March 18.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Mobile, News | 3 Comments

Earlier today, GamesBeat went live with a new Niantic interview. The site spoke with chief executive John Hanke as well as chief marketing officer Mike Quigley.

Pokemon Go was, as one would expect, a pretty big part of the interview. Between Hanke and Quigley, they discussed its origins and having Nintendo on board, how the game could reach a massive audience, and the Pokemon Go Plus device the Big N is making. There are also comments about things like how Niantic wants players to be able to participate no matter how small their area is in terms of population.

Head past the break for a roundup of Hanke and Quigley’s remarks. For the original interview, visit this page.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 7 Comments

YouTube issued some information today about gaming videos on its website for 2015. In terms of trending videos, Pokemon Go’s debut trailer was included in the list.

Here’s the full lineup of trending videos this year:

Clash of Clans: Revenge (Official Super Bowl TV Commercial)
Real GTA
Star Wars Battlefront Reveal Trailer
Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 Teaser Trailer
WARNING: YOU WILL DIE | Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 – Part 1
Discover Pokémon in the Real World with Pokémon GO!
Fallout 4 – Official Trailer
Elders Play Grand Theft Auto V (Elders React: Gaming)
Halo VS Call of Duty
Final Fantasy VII – E3 2015 Trailer | PS4

According to YouTube, top trending gaming videos are “based on views, shares, comments, likes and more.”

Source: YouTube PR

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Mobile, News | 4 Comments

Niantic, developer of the mobile game Pokemon Go, has opened up an office in Japan. This will be the company’s first subsidiary overall.

The office was created on December 3 in Tokyo’s Minato ward. It’ll be used to develop top-level real-world games as well as a platform using AR and mapping. Industry insider Dr. Serkan Toto also offers up the following speculation:

“Generally speaking, Japanese gaming companies (I mean Nintendo in this specific case) love going vertical by becoming platforms if any opportunity to do so opens up: so it might very well be that Pokemon is not the only Nintendo mobile game that will make use of AR and GPS going forward.”

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Mobile, News | 0 comments

Niantic is the main developer behind Pokemon Go. Additionally, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are heavily involved with the project.

Niantic CEO John Hanke recently spoke with TechCrunch and talked about what it’s like working with the Big N. He said:

“Terrific. It’s an honor to have the support and insights of a company that has brought decades of joy to people through their IP, game design, technology innovation. They share our same values of using innovation and play to bring people together. We have so much respect for Nintendo, as well as The Pokémon Company and of course Google. We couldn’t ask for a better group of companies.”

A couple of days ago, it was announced that Nintendo, The Pokemon Company, and Google are investing $20 million in Niantic. This will allow the developer to continue work on Pokemon Go and expand the company overall.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Mobile, News | 3 Comments

Pokemon Go developer Niatic announced today that it has raised its Series A financing round from The Pokemon Company Group, Google and Nintendo. As mentioned in today’s announcement, “The companies are investing up to $30 million in Niantic, Inc., which includes an initial $20 million upfront and an additional $10 million conditioned upon achieving certain milestones.” Through the funding, Niatic intends to continue developing Pokemon Go, support the global Ingress community, scale its platform, and release new games.

Niantic CEO John Hank said of today’s news:

“The Pokémon Company, Google and Nintendo are incredible investors and strategic partners to help build the next chapter for Niantic. We will be using this capital to continue the development of Pokémon GO, to evolve and grow Ingress and its thriving global community, and to build out our real-world gaming platform.”

Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company, also stated:

“Pokémon’s strategic investment in Niantic paves the way for a social mobile experience the world has never seen before. The Pokémon Company is committed to partnering with companies like Niantic that share the same spirit of community and innovation.”

Finally, some words from Google’s VP of corporate development, Don Harrison:

“Niantic has shown the great potential of mixing geolocation technology, dynamic storytelling and innovative game design, and we’re excited to continue supporting the team on their journey.”

Source: Pokemon PR

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 4 Comments

Pokemon Go was announced last month. We saw a trailer and received some information, but we don’t really know how the game will play. That should be changing very soon though. Niantic representative Evan Dexter told Slate a couple of weeks ago that more information would be shared in “mid-October”. It’s October 10 today, so an update shouldn’t be too far off.

Dexter said:

“We’re not quite ready to talk in more depth about Pokémon GO than what was revealed in the announcement press release and assets. Come mid-October we’ll be able to start going into more depth about our plans for the game, and about our plans for real world gaming overall.”

Pokemon Go is a new smartphone game coming from The Pokemon Company, Niantic, and Nintendo. It makes use of “real location information to encourage players to search far and wide in the real world to discover Pokemon.” The title is arriving sometime in 2016.

Thanks to Jake for the tip.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 17 Comments

During a press conference last night, Pokemon Go was announced for smartphones. We heard that it was on track for a release next year, but now we have slightly more information.

The latest Ingress report reveals that Pokemon Go will be receiving a beta in winter 2015. Additionally, the title now has a more specific “early 2016” launch window. We’ll be receiving more information within the next few weeks supposedly.

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