Pokémon fans, rejoice! The wait is almost over, as the highly anticipated Pokémon Go augmented reality mobile game is now being rolled out for both iOS and Android.
While the game is now being distributed to both mobile operating systems, users in various countries will have to wait for Pokémon Go to arrive in the respective app stores for their countries.
It appears that the title first appeared for download in the App Store and Play Store for users in Australia and New Zealand.
Pokémon Go is now propagating through these stores, and it should not take long before Pokémon fans worldwide will be able to download their copies of the game. Fans in the United States and Japan have been asked to wait for a while, signaling that the launch of the title in these countries will happen very soon.
For U.S. and Japanese customers, Pokémon Co. says "please wait for a while" for formal launch of its AR game Pokémon GO.
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) July 6, 2016
For those not in the know, Pokémon Go uses augmented reality and the camera of a smartphone, where gamers go out into the real world to look for Pokémon to capture. Once a Pokémon is captured, it can be traded or trained to be used in battle with other players, and can be assigned to defend Gyms, so it won't be taken by other Pokémon Go players.
Pokémon Go will send players notifications whenever a Pokémon that can be captured is nearby. Some types of Pokémon and items will only be available in certain locations, such as water Pokémon only found and caught near bodies of water, while special PokéBalls located in places of interest such as museums.
Pokémon Go is free to play, but will offer gamers in-app purchases of items such as better equipment.
Field testing for Pokémon Go ended on June 30, which was when developer Niantic Labs disabled access to the beta version of the game to prepare it for the ongoing official launch.
Reviews from beta testers have mostly been mixed. While the game comes through with its promise of blending the Pokémon universe with real life, the level of technology of augmented reality is currently holding back Pokémon Go, according to The Verge's Nick Statt. Polygon's Allegra Frank and Nick Robinson were also critical of the game's simplified mechanics, which are a far cry from the strategic battles offered by the original Pokémon games.
Pokémon Go, however, still provides an addictive collecting experience, said IGN's Jose Otero, and Mike Fahey of Kotaku added that the game allowed them to explore previously unvisited parts of their town, despite living in the area for the past decade.
The game may still change between the beta version and the final version being rolled out, so Niantic could still have addressed some of the issues that bothered beta testers.
