Items tagged with niantic
Three strikes and you’re Meowth! Niantic has just released a new three-strike discipline policy for their poplar game Pokémon Go. The policy is intended to crack down on the many creative ways of cheating in the game. Niantic defines cheating as downloading and using “modified or unofficial software”, playing with multiple accounts, sharing accounts, selling or trading accounts, and/or using tools that lie about your current location. The developer recognizes that its definition will likely need to change since “methods of cheating, unfortunately, are limited only by cheaters’ imaginations.” Players can also receive disciplinary action for harassing...
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Back in July of 2017 Pokémon Go developer Niantic tried to host a festival that would allow tens of thousands of players to gather in Chicago's Grant Park to play the game and collect some rare Pokémon while doing it. The problem was that the entire festival was a disaster with limited cellular connectivity and angry people from around the world in attendance who spent money and got nothing but headaches in return. At the time Niantic gave players a refund on the ticket costs and $100 of in-game currency, but that didn’t stop a class action suit from being filed. In-game currency and a ticket refund didn’t begin to cover the costs for fans who traveled to the event....
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To say that the hype surrounding Pokémon Go has subsided since last summer would be an understatement, as it's rare nowadays to hear something all that buzz-worthy about the game. But despite that, the game still has an enormous amount of fans, proven by the fact that 20,000 people in Chicago took part in the inaugural Pokémon GO Fest to catch the rarest and newest Pokémon with fellow gamers. The idea is ambitious, especially for a game that requires robust access to internet data connection. Unfortunately, it was that overwhelming requirement that ultimately left Niantic's festival efforts in shambles for this first Pokémon GO Fest. The venue and activities effectively collapsed due to...
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Are you yearning for a Gyrados? Are you dying to catch a Lapras? Water pokémon will abound over the next few days thanks to Pokémon GO’s worldwide Water Festival. Pokémon trainers will be able to find more water type pokémon over the next few days. The official announcement hints that in particular Magikarp, Squirtle, Totodile and their evolutions, Gyarados, Wartortle, Blastoise, Croconaw and Feraligatr will appear more frequently. It also seems like there will be more opportunities to catch a Lapras, an Ice/Water pokémon. Trainers will also be more likely to find Generation II Johto region water pokémon in “areas where Water-type pokémon more commonly appear” (i.e. real-life lakes, rivers, streams,...
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Just when you thought you were close to catching them all, Niantic announces plans to add dozens of more Pokemon characters to Pokemon Go, the mobile game that became an overnight sensation by tapping into augmented reality to allow people of all ages to go out in search of popular creatures from the Pokemon universe. If anyone was looking for an excuse to get hooked again, this could be it. Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile are among the more than 80 new Pokemon characters that are getting added to Pokemon Go later this week. The update will introduce Pokemon that were originally discovered in the Johto region in the Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver games. There will also be Pokemon with gender-specific...
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It’s about to get pink all up in Pallet Town. Niantic just released some love-themed updates for Pokémon GO in honor of Valentine’s Day. The limited-time celebration starts today and ends on Wednesday, February 15th at 2pm EST. Don’t worry about getting your sweetheart a heart-shaped box of chocolates. For a limited time, Buddy Pokémon will find twice as much candy. Trainers will also receive double the amount of candy when catching, hatching, or transferring Pokémon. Are you hoping to catch more Pokémon, as well as the eye of that special someone? Lures will now last six hours instead of thirty minutes. Lures can only be dropped at designated Pokéstops and will help all nearby trainers catch...
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Are you tired of wrenching your phone from the deep recesses of your purse or pocket and waiting 20 seconds to a minute for Pokémon GO to load? Do you hate having your phone app open just to hatch a silly Pidgey? Apple has your back, because Pokémon GO is now available on Apple Watch. According to Niantic, “Apple Watch is particularly well suited to Pokémon GO as it seamlessly combines game play and imagination with getting exercise and exploring the real world...And hey, what great timing—you can get a head start on that New Year’s fitness resolution by having some fun now!” Apple Watch Pokémon trainers can receive notifications about nearby Pokémon and PokéStops, be pinged when their eggs...
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Does anyone remember Pokemon Go, the wildly popular mobile app that took the world by storm and turned every man, woman, and child into inattentive pedestrians? Well, there are still people who play the game. What's more, Niantic continues to actively update the app as well as forge new partnerships, like the one it just did with Starbucks. That's right, coffee joint that always manages to find its way into headlines one way or another is now an official partner of Pokemon Go. As such, it is planning to transform 7,800 company-operated Starbucks stores in the United States into Pokestops and Poke Gyms. This will go into effect starting at 11:00 AM Pacific (2:00 PM Eastern) today, December 8....
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Nobody like cheaters, well, except for cheaters. Whether we’re talking about cheaters at the Olympics (doping), cheating at the academic level, or cheating in gaming; those looking to get a leg up on the competition by taking the easy way are usually frowned upon. Such is the case with the smash hit Pokémon GO. The game has taken the world by storm, and cheaters have rushed in to stake their claim in the augmented reality world. Luckily, developer Niantic is having none of this, and is taking extreme measures by permanently banning the most ruthless cheaters. When it comes to Pokémon GO, “cheating” pertains to GPS spoofing, using bots, modifying the software itself and/or leveraging the use of...
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There's a new update available for Pokemon Go and because Niantic seems to have learned its lesson about not communicating with gamers, the release notes reveal a list of feature updates that go way above and beyond "minor text fixes," the sole description in one of Pokemon Go's earlier updates. Among the various changes is a new "Sightings" feature to help locate Pokemon characters in the vicinity.Niantic caught a lot of flak over its broken tracking system. In the early going, nearby Pokemon characters would appear in the tracking menu with up to three footprints underneath them. The more footprints that appeared, the farther away the character in question would be. Niantic intentionally broke...
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Pikachu's have been prohibited; Bulbasaurs have been banned; Charmanders are nowhere to be found in Iran. All poetry aside, authorities in Iran have banned Pokémon GO due to unspecified “security concerns”. The ban has been issued by the High Council of Virtual Spaces which oversees all online activity. However, Iranians had been playing the game, despite restrictions on Internet usage. As of last week, authorities in Iran said they were waiting to see to what extent Niantic would cooperate with them. It appears that whatever negotiations were being conducted fell through, and Iran has become the first country to officially ban the game. Sixteen years ago a fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling,...
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Many Pokémon GO trainers were incredibly frustrated last week when Niantic disabled popular trackers. Some reddit users even commented that they had demanded refunds from Apple and Google Play since the game no longer functioned like it originally did. Niantic recently responded to angry trainers with an explanation behind the recent controversial update. Why was the update so controversial? When the game was released, one to three footprints were underneath nearby Pokémon. One footprint meant that the Pokémon was very close while three footprints indicated that the Pokémon was farther away. shortly after the game's release, the tracking system stopped working correctly, and three footprints...
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Many people in the last few weeks have grumbled about Pokémon GO players trespassing on private property. One of these grumblers is now taking Niantic to court. Plaintiff Jeffrey Marder of West Orange, New Jersey is filing a $5 million USD class action lawsuit against Niantic. Marder noted that within the first week of Pokémon GO’s release, at least five players knocked on his door asking to catch Pokémon that were in his backyard. These Pokémon were generated in his backyard without his permission. Marder’s situation is far from unique and he has therefore filed the lawsuit on behalf of those in a similar predicament. The class action complaint document noted a number of similar instances. Boon...
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Good effort Niantic, good try. That's the appropriate response to Niantic's newest and biggest update yet for Pokemon Go, the crazy popular mobile game that has hordes of smartphone owners on scavenger hunts for cartoon characters appearing in real life locations. As part of the update, Niantic addressed the broken tracking system by removing the footprints that appeared underneath characters that let players know which ones were close by.When Pokemon Go was in beta, the tracking system would tell players how many meters away nearby Pokemon were. This was later changed to footprints—one to three would appear underneath a Pokemon character based on their proximity to the player, with one footprint...
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