Pokemon Go is on the horizon, rumored to be released in the next few months. Beta testing is upon the United States. I signed up and can only hope I get picked to participate.
What is Pokemon Go? It's a mobile app for IOS and Android, currently in development. Pokemon Go is a Pokemon game for your "real life." Steps and coordinates in your world will correspond to steps and coordinates in the Pokemon world. You'll catch, raise, train, and fight wild Pokemon in an environment that corresponds to your own—probably. It's hard to say exactly what the features will be, but my hopes are high.
Pokemon Go is going to change our lives, presumably for the better. Think about it.
1. Pokemon Go dating.
"When it comes out, do you want to go on Pokemon Go dates?"
Uh, yes. My significant other and I will be running around town hitting every nook, cranny, public building, and park together hunting for Pokemon. We will be huge dorks when we find a new one. We will encourage each other and cuddle up with our new catches. Talk about an incredible date idea. Places to explore, conversations to have, and Pokemon to gush over. Dating will never be the same.
2. Battling to make decisions.
The next time a friend and I can't make a choice about where to go, what to eat, or what to do about an assignment, we'll whip out our phones so our two favorite Pokemon can throw down. If we're fighting, the winner chooses. If we're both being indecisive and don't want to choose, the loser has to pick. All issues, solved with Pokemon. Boom. Now that's utility.
3. Pocket monsters literally being in your pocket.
Finally. My little Pokemon will fit in my pocket. As if the phone were their all inclusive Pokeball. I can become a real life Pokemon trainer. Pokemon master. Pokemon cult leader even. Need I say more?
4. You'll visit new places.
Never go to the beach? Well, you might have to for the water type you're after. I am told there will be Pokemon you can only find in churches. As someone who never goes to church, I may have to start. Especially if my ghost types are hiding in there. This may be Nintendo's way of telling us we're dirty sinners who need to work on our purity, but dang, either way. Gotta get me a Gengar.
5. Pokemon will enter our everyday conversations.
So, how is your Lapras doing? How about that Caterpie? Have you been able to find a female Eevee yet? No? Well, hang in there, man.
6. Accessible to folks with or without consoles.
As someone who hasn't kept up with Nintendo's changing consoles ever but who still loves Pokemon, I have been left out of much of Pokemon's evolution (no pun intended). Consoles are too expensive to update constantly. Games are too pricey to buy every year or so. I've had to learn about the new generations from the sidelines. Not anymore. This new game will fit seamlessly into a device I already use and will continue to use for years.
7. You can make your personal dream team.
I will be laughing about that gif forever. I've always said, "If I were a Pokemon trainer, my dream team would be..." And yes, there is an answer. Lapras, Whimsicott, Scyther, Gengar, Absol, and Gallade. Soon I will be able to put that team on my phone and hold them in my pocket.
