All Articles: Pokemon Go

Niantic is launching another seasonal event for Pokemon Go and it’s going to take fans all the way into 2017. The Year-End Event kicks off tomorrow and the developer discussed what players can expect to find during it on their official website:

Don’t miss out on an increased chance to hatch a Togepi (and other Pokemon)! Starting the morning of December 25, 2016, and through the afternoon of January 3, 2017 (PST), PokeStops will award one single-use Incubator each day after your first Photo Disc spin. As you visit PokeStops during this time period, there will be a greater chance of finding Eggs that hatch Togepi, Pichu, and several other recently found Pokemon, originally discovered in the Johto region. Special Pikachu wearing festive hats will also be staying around a bit longer! You are more likely to find these limited-edition Pikachu during the time period of this celebration.

The Year-End Event will continue through January 8, and players will be more likely to encounter certain Pokemon, and they’ll receive bonus time when using Lures:

In addition, from the afternoon of December 30, 2016, through the afternoon of January 8, 2017 (PST), the first partner Pokemon and their Evolutions, originally discovered in the Kanto region, are more likely to be encountered. This means a greater chance to catch Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, and Venusaur, as well as Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard, plus Squirtle, Wartortle, and Blastoise! As a way to increase your chance to encounter one of these Pokemon, Lure Modules will also last for 60 minutes instead of 30 minutes.

Finally, Niantic revealed that Pokemon Go players have walked an astounding 8.7 billion kilometers (about 4.5 billion miles) and caught 88 billion Pokemon since the game’s launch this Summer.

It’s no secret that Niantic has been teasing their plan to add new Pokemon to Pokemon Go for some time. Well, the wait is over, because the developer confirmed that Trainers can capture new Pokemon from Pokemon Gold and Silver starting today.

After obtaining Eggs from a PokeStop, players will be able to hatch a handful of new Pokemon including Togepi, Pichu, and others from the franchise’s Johto region. Niantic also wants to celebrate the holiday season in Pokemon Go and players will also be able to capture a special “Pikachu in a Festive Hat” from now until December 29.

“As we race toward 2017, we can’t help but feel grateful for the support and reaction the Pokemon Go community has given us, and we’re delighted to start rolling out select Pokemon for them to hatch,” said Kei Kawai, Niantic’s Director of Product “We’re also looking forward to celebrating the season with our community by introducing a Pikachu wearing a festive hat, providing Trainers the opportunity to get out and explore their neighborhoods with friends and family as they gather for the holidays.”

If you’re looking for a new PokeStop or Gym, Niantic has partnered with Sprint to turn 10,500 Boost Mobile and Sprint at Radio Shack locations into PokeStops or Gyms.

With Halloween right around the corner, Niantic has launched the first in-game event for Pokemon Go. From now until November 1, players will have a better chance of finding a scary-looking Pokemon with “increased global encounters” for Drowzee, Gastly, Gengar, Golbat, Haunter, Hypno, and Zubat.

And it wouldn’t be Halloween without candy, so there’ll be plenty of opportunities to receive more Pokemon Candy during the event. All Trainers will earn twice the normal amount of Pokemon Candy, six pieces, for every Pokemon caught during the event. The Professor will also give Trainers two Candies (instead of one) for every Pokemon transferred to him. Players will also receive increased Buddy Pokemon Candy rewards over the next seven days as well.

“It’s been incredible watching people explore their neighborhoods and catch wild Pokemon all summer,” said Tatsuo Nomura, the Senior Product Manager at Niantic. “We would like to Trick-Or-Treat in our own special way by giving Trainers the chance to catch more Pokemon and earn extra Candy this Halloween.”

Niantic also released a new trailer for the Halloween Event, which has been embedded above.

Are you still Pokemon Go-ing like a maniac? As of today, the mobile app has dropped to #27 on the iOS App Store Chart, so it’s not quite as popular as it once was. But plenty of people are still obsessed with catching ’em all. So yesterday’s flurry of Pokemon Go announcements should definitely please fans of the game.

First, Niantic has announced that Pokemon Go has exceeded 500 million downloads worldwide since launching in July. The developer followed up this milestone by confirming that the Pokemon Go Plus will be available beginning next week, on September 16. The Plus is a wristwatch-shaped companion device that pairs with your smartphone and vibrates and and lights up when you approach a PokeStop or a Pokemon hiding nearby. And speaking of watches, Niantic’s final announcement was that Pokemon Go will receive Apple Watch support later this year.

“The globally loved Pokemon brand paired with Niantic’s platform and game design that encourages exploration, exercise and making real world social connections has inspired millions of people of all ages to go outdoors together,” said John Hanke, Niantic’s CEO. “We are encouraged by the fast adoption of the game and are pleased to see so many people walk and play every day. Pokemon Go for Apple Watch will be another way people can incorporate the game into their daily lives, even more seamlessly.”

Those 500 million Pokemon Go players have done a lot of walking since the game’s launch. Niantic’s last announcement revealed that players have collectively walked 4.6 billion kilometers, “which is the distance from Earth to Pluto.”

Local governments and police departments are very concerned with Pokemon Go. After police departments in several neighboring states issued guidelines to help ensure players catch ’em all safely, Governor Andrew Cuomo directed the New York State Department of Corrections to ban all registered sex offenders from playing Pokemon Go and similar games.

“Protecting New York’s children is priority number one and, as technology evolves, we must ensure these advances don’t become new avenues for dangerous predators to prey on new victims,” Governor Cuomo said. “These actions will provide safeguards for the players of these augmented reality games and help take one more tool away from those seeking to do harm to our children.”

Cuomo, and other state legislators, were most concerned about Pokemon Go’s unfortunately-named “Lure” module:

Additionally, a feature of the game, where, for a small fee, a “lure” can be purchased to intentionally encourage traffic to a particular location, also appears to have the potential to be abused by predators.

This recommendation by Governor Cuomo most likely will lead to similar announcements by other local and state governments, and more information about the specifics of New York State’s plan can be found at NY.gov.

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard more than a few stories about people succumbing to disaster while playing Pokemon Go. The engrossing mobile app demands constant attention when trying to capture a Pokemon, and this has lead to some players walking right into traffic… or right off a cliff.

Possibly foreseeing these problems, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have been hard at work on the Pokemon Go Plus, a companion peripheral that is supposed to enhance your Pokemon Go experience. Connecting to your smartphone via Bluetooth, the Pokemon Go Plus is supposed to alert players when they’re near a PokeStop or Pokemon. The peripheral was expected to launch shortly after the app, but Nintendo has been rather silent about its release date… until now.

Writing on Twitter, Nintendo has confirmed the Pokemon Go Plus will be available in September:

The #PokemonGO Plus accessory will now be released Sept 2016 instead of the originally expected end of July launch. https://t.co/QgjZf1aAV6

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 27, 2016

The Pokemon Go Plus will retail for $34.99 when it’s released.

Hey, have you heard about this Pokemon Go thing? I think it’s pretty popular.

Groan all you want at that intro, but Pokemon Go is actually so popular that Apple recently told Polygon it’s been downloaded from the iOS App Store more times in its first week of availability than any other app in history.

Specific download numbers weren’t revealed, but after today’s Japanese launch, Pokemon Go’s record-setting ways should continue during its second week and its third and its…