It鈥檚 the 90s all over again. Pok茅mon fever is sweeping the globe thanks to a new augmented-reality version of the monster-collecting game, which sees players hunt through real-world locations for digital critters.
Pok茅mon Go officially launched on and last week in the US, Australia and New Zealand, but people worldwide have been unofficially downloading the app and heading out to build their collection.
To play, you walk around the real-world, following a Google Maps-like interface, until signs of a nearby Pok茅mon appear on screen. When you hold up your smartphone camera, the Pok茅mon is overlaid on the screen using augmented-reality, allowing you to capture it.
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Playing in the real world is a bit different to the carefree days of Pok茅mon on the GameBoy. Already police have laying in wait at known Pok茅mon locations, and one player discovered a dead body while hunting for monsters near a river.
The game is made by Niantic, a former Google subsidiary, and is based on a similar game called Ingress that sees players competing to hold听territory by visiting it in the real world 鈥� players capture 鈥渆xotic matter鈥� rather than Pok茅mon. The game has its origins in a 2014 April Fool鈥檚 prank, which saw .
When still part of Google, Ingress听was seen as a data gold mine, helping the firm improve its location services by gathering data as players visited landmarks. It鈥檚 not clear if Niantic has plans to use听Pok茅mon Go data for similar purposes, but popular locations in听Ingress also appear as key zones in听Pok茅mon Go.
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