Gamers will be able to catch Pokémon on the streets of their city on their smartphones, possibly as soon as next month.
During Nintendo's second-day E3 Treehouse Live Q&A panel on Wednesday, legendary video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto released some more details about the augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go and even hinted at its release date — well, sort of.
The announcement was actually for the Pokémon Go Plus hardware accessory, with Miyamoto revealing that it has a target release date of "end of July." He also said the optional device for the game will retail for $34.99.
Miyamoto demoed the wrist-worn wearable device, which uses Bluetooth to allow players to find Pokémon without needing their smartphone in hand. The Pokémon Go Plus works by flashing green and vibrating when Pokémon are close by. The device will then display a rainbow light pattern if the character is caught, or red if it is not.
However, by giving away this piece of information of when Pokémon Go Plus may be released, Miyamoto might have also accidentally provided a ballpark estimate of when the mobile game, which is being made with Niantic Labs, will be released. If the device for the game can be expected sometime next month, there is a really good chance that Pokémon Go will launch in the app stores before that.
"Mr. Miyamoto, I think you just announced the release date of the Go Plus device ... and, obviously that means we've gotta have the application out there ahead of time," said president and CEO of the Pokémon Company Tsunekazu Ishihara via a translator. "So, we're going to have to work hard to get it ready for everyone."
To be clear, no official release date for Pokémon Go was announced or confirmed.
While an approximate release date was the biggest news that came out of the live stream, the panel — which included Nintendo, the Pokémon Company and Niantic developers — gave up some additional details about the AR mobile game.
Fans of the franchise will be pleased to know that many aspects of the game will be familiar, such as rare Pokémon like Abra being harder to catch than others.
Although this feature will be added in the future, trading won't be available upon the game's launch. That means there will be a different way that Pokémon evolve, such as Squirtle evolving into Wartortle after collecting 25 Squirtle. Catching multiple Pokémon will result in "candy" rewards for trainers, which help them evolve. This change will allow players to focus more on exploring the real world to capture Pokémon rather than on battling and riding.
Nintendo showcased some of the Pokémon available in the game, which includes all from the Red and Blue versions. However, it has plans to add more so that all Pokémon that exist can be caught.
The more Pokémon are caught and trained, the stronger a trainer will be. This will allow the player to catch more powerful and rare Pokémon.
Nintendo also announced that Pokémon Go will have some tie-in to the upcoming game for 3DS, Pokémon Sun and Moon.
Pokémon Go will be free to download when it launches for iOS and Android.
Source: Nintendo
