After months of silence from the Pokémon Company, Pokémon GO has some exciting updates!

Pokémon GO, the massively anticipated mobile game coming to Android and iPhone devices, will allow players’ phones to vibrate when a virtual Pokémon is near. When you check your phone, you will be prompted to aim a Poké Ball at the creature in hopes of capturing it. Players will also be encouraged to find PokéStops, interesting locations like museums and historical locations, to stock up on more Poké Balls and other useful items.

Pokémon GO will also allow the players to build up their level. The higher your level, the more powerful Pokémon you will be able to catch and the more powerful items you can obtain (like a Great Ball for better chances of capturing Pokémon)

In addition to capturing Pokémon, you’re also able to obtain them in other ways. After capturing the same species of Pokémon enough times, you’ll be able to evolve one of them. Additionally, you can find several Pokémon Eggs at PokéStops, which can hatch after you’ve walked a certain distance.

It is also worth noting that you can only capture certain Pokémon in certain locations. Water-type Pokémon, for example, can only be found near lakes or oceans.

During gameplay, you will also be asked to join one of three teams (the names have not been announced yet). Once you join one of the teams, you’ll be able to place Pokémon into empty Gym locations. Similarly to PokéStops, Gym locations in Pokémon GO will be found at real locations in the world. Each player can only place one Pokémon in each Gym, so the team as a whole must work together to ensure a strong defense. If a Gym is controlled by a different team other than the one you joined, you have the opportunity to challenge it with your Pokémon in hopes of gaining control of the Gym.

There also seems to be a rewards system with various challenges that encourages you to explore the world. When you complete these challenges, you will earn medals that you can place in your player profile.

The portable device, the Pokémon GO Plus (which was announced previously) will connect to the user’s smartphone and notify them of Pokemon nearby as well as performing other simple acts.

According to the news announcement, Pokémon GO Plus will be available “soon”. There has been no announcement of the release date for Pokémon GO.

My Opinion:
YES! Finally some official announcement and information. I’m really liking all this information and it seems clear that the Pokémon Company wants to make this into a finely tuned game and experience for everyone. The eggs, Gyms, and PokéStops were nice surprises for announcements. When you strip down the Pokémon lingo, this sounds just like the mobile game Ingress developed by Niantic, which has been highly successful. Since Niantic is co-developing Pokémon GO, I have the utmost confidence that this will be a huge success as well!

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Follow Harry Loizides, an Executive Editor, through his life of video games, obstacle races, and other adventures with Instagram, Twitter, and IGN.