What is sweeping the nation?

“Catching Pokémon is at the heart of nearly every Pokémon game, and Pokémon GO is no different! This time, you'll explore real-world locations to find Pokémon that you can catch.” — Nintendo

By now, everyone all over social media can see the phenomenon that is Pokémon GO.

Only select countries have it available in the app store of Android and iOS. The global launch was just a couple of days ago, and it has been gaining so much attention that people who don’t even like Pokémon downloaded the free app to see what the hype was about.

It’s the new app that has been all over your news feed. You’ve seen screenshots of it, and you’ve seen many Facebook statuses about it, although you may not know what it actually is, besides making all the dreams of every 18+ year old come true. It is an augmented-reality game, which basically means that you see a computer graphic of a character or an object in real live time through your device's camera. It has been in speculation and rumored for a few years now. Recently it was only available in select locations for the beta testing. It was being tested in Australia and New Zealand only but just through the beta stages. We did get some screenshots and some video game play but it wasn’t really living up to the hype. Until just recently, when they officially released the game.

In partner with the AR-game company, Niantic, Nintendo has been making great strides to provide an excellent game: simple but fun that appeals to everyone, regardless of age, gender and color. Anyone who wants to become a Pokémon master can do so, just as long as they have a compatible device. Some older phones or smart devices won’t be able to play the game, because they need to be updated to a certain firmware. This is a revolutionary idea, and it just won’t stop there. I’m sure that Niantic and Nintendo are working hard to update the game and give their players the best experience.

There have been reports and personal experiences about some of the bugs that are still around. It is to be expected though because of how high the turnout became. Servers were down a lot, which caused a bunch of people to be sad or disappointed. Although that could be easily fixed, just by closing and re-opening the app a few times. It does take a few times to reopen the app for you to get back into the game.

This is still a revolutionary game that will change how mobile games will be created in the future. This type of gaming was only on other platforms, such as the Nintendo 3DS, a handheld console. It had an application where you can use the camera and special AR cards that had codes on them, so you can see the Pokémon in real live time. Very similar to how Pokémon Go is right now.

It’s only been a few days but Pokémon GO has accomplished a lot. People are starting to be more active, walking to places they never usually would walk to, meeting strangers with the same common interest—a sense of camaraderie and family that you wouldn’t get with any other game. Growing up with Pokémon, it only seems natural for everyone who plays the game to be around the same age. It’s a great thing to do together, because it is a physical activity, it makes for a great alternative to playing games indoors.

Try it! It’s a free fun app that you may enjoy, it doesn’t hurt to try.