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The wildly popular mobile phenomenon Pokemon GO has set a new record for Nintendo, and it's a game it (technically speaking) didn't even make!

According to Bloomberg, Nintendo traded 476 billion yen ($4.5 billion) worth of shares on Friday, the biggest daily turnover for any company in the Topix index this century, effectively making history in the Tokyo stock market. The video game company giant surged 71 percent last week after the game became an instant hit, its largest weekly gain ever.

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It seems like the hype for the game is reaping its fruits and it still has to get an official international release!

SOURCE

 

[Jiehfeng]

Another difference is that Pokémon is a stronger and well-known franchise, since it's been there since the late ninties, while Farmville... Idk..

I wouldn't be surprised if people stop after a month of school. It was clever to release it in the summer holidays since most people have time to "play" it.

And there is something about pokemon, something different from farm animals and crops; it gets people hooked in easily whilst it's seemingly monotonous. Hype is easy to build on this one, they just have to do it right, and they will have people playing Pokemon Go for quite some time.

They also have yet to implement all the Generations of Pokemon, which I sure they will do at the right time, patiently, one by one.

 

[Zense]

They also have yet to implement all the Generations of Pokemon, which I sure they will do at the right time, patiently, one by one.

I don't know what total number of different pokemans we're at right now, but surely adding them one by one would take some time?

It's clear that their timing of updates will be crucial to how long it'll last. I'm guessing that for the moment they've released a dumbed-down version to keep the learning curve as flat as possible. Everyone (99% which is except my mom) who owns a smartphone knows how to:
- Use google maps
- Use the touch screen to swipe

That's basically all you need to know to get started, for now.

 

[Dr.Hacknik]

I personally think that Pokemon GO is a waste of time, and my Physical Endurance. It's poorly coded, and designed. It's also dangerous, dumb concept, and why the FU** is there no PokeBattles!?

 

[leonmagnus99]

eff pokemon go.

(just my opinion , no offense meant.)

 

[Bimmel]

And people are still saying that "mobile gaming will never take over handheld consoles" - it will, and you'll love it. Handheld consoles are going to die, just like MP3 players and PDA's have - get comfortable with that thought. Pokemon Go is possibly Nintendo's most popular product in terms of social involvement since the NES and it's barely a video game. Mobile devices introduce 4G, BT and GPS technology into your games and that's great, this is the best incentive for Nintendo to release a branded "phonesole" and proper video games for mobile.

And exactly that is the reason why the thing is such a "best seller". You don't need any form of competence to use it. It's just a brainless activity that everyone can do.

But what I want to say is: That's not the way I want future games to be.

 

[Pluupy]

Smartphones these days are pretty damn powerful. My LG G3 is only from 2014 but it has more processing power than my laptop from 2012 (to be fair, it's an HP) Gaming consoles barely compete with smartphones and desktops these days.

I don't see a reason to bother with Xbox, PS4, or Wii U (especially). Soon enough, all you will need is a cellphone and PC for all of the best gaming once game developers realize what they can do with them. At the moment, i'd say the best would be owning a PS4, 3DS, PC, and cellphone due to exclusives.

I don't even want to see this silly arguement that "I can't play on the couch wif muh compooter", it's not 2001 anymore. PCs have bluetooth wireless devices, wifi (faster than game consoles), small form factor cases, liquid cooling, and even tv tuner/windows media center capabilities. They can emulate all consoles. They can do video chat, streaming, teamspeak, third-party software, whatever man. And no i'm not preaching that PC master race BS, it's time to face the facts that computers are extremely flexible now.

To be fair, consoles offer exclusive games and convinience. It used to be that all that was needed for the common man to play video games was a cartridge/cd, power the console, power a tv, and push the power button. Gaming consoles aren't that simple anymore though because of accounts and settings setups and it's getting more complex. Ever see the power brick of an Xbox? Might as well get a PC at this point.

The only thing that cellphones, androids especially, need now is a standard for running software. Too many devices in the market which have 512mb of RAM and run on Android 0.5 Potato. Looking at you, cheapy chinese tablets from local general store. Once a standard is set, RIP handhelds (and by extension consoles).

The need of a standard applies to PCs as well. Seriously people, stop playing games on craptops with Intel HDs.

 

[Foxi4]

Smartphones these days are pretty damn powerful. My LG G3 is only from 2014 but it has more processing power than my laptop from 2012 (to be fair, it's an HP) Gaming consoles barely compete with smartphones and desktops these days.

I don't see a reason to bother with Xbox, PS4, or Wii U (especially). Soon enough, all you will need is a cellphone and PC for all of the best gaming once game developers realize what they can do with them. At the moment, i'd say the best would be owning a PS4, 3DS, PC, and cellphone due to exclusives.

I don't even want to see this silly arguement that "I can't play on the couch wif muh compooter", it's not 2001 anymore. PCs have bluetooth wireless devices, wifi (faster than game consoles), small form factor cases, liquid cooling, and even tv tuner/windows media center capabilities. They can emulate all consoles. They can do video chat, streaming, teamspeak, third-party software, whatever man. Consoles offer exclusive games and convinience, and that is all. And no i'm not preaching that PC master race BS, it's time to face the facts that computers are extremely flexible now.

The only thing that cellphones, androids especially, need now is a standard for running software. Too many devices in the market which have 512mb of RAM and run on Android 0.5 Potato. Looking at you, cheapy chinese tablets from local general store. Once a standard is set, RIP handhelds (and by extension consoles).

The need of a standard applies to PCs as well. Seriously people, stop playing games on craptops with Intel HDs.

PC's have always been flexible, that is not the issue. In fact, connecting a PC to a TV was the de facto method of connecting a display as high resolution non-monochrome displays were prohibitively expensive in the early 89'ies. The problem was, is, and always will be standardization - the modular design of PC's is problematic when it comes to optimization, thus they do not provide a plug & play troubleshooting-free experience like consoles do. PC's are like fine dining, consoles are spaghetti factory - you don't always want to bother with eating at an expensive restaurant, sometimes you just want a microwave meal.

 

[Pluupy]

PC's have always been flexible, that is not the issue. In fact, connecting a PC to a TV was the de facto method of connecting a display as high resolution non-monochrome displays were prohibitively expensive in the early 89'ies. The problem was, is, and always will be standardization - the modular design of PC's is problematic when it comes to optimization, thus they do not provide a plug & play troubleshooting-free experience like consoles do. PC's are like fine dining, consoles are spaghetti factory - you don't always want to bother with eating at an expensive restaurant, sometimes you just want a microwave meal.

That, and they allow precise experiences like with Nintendo, who want to control what people can and cannot do with their devices and software. Not sure if region locking on PCs work either. They also won't have the same silly gimmicks Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo are so fond of.

The biggest obstacles for PC and cellphone gaming are setting a standard, creating a swift experience for users (fast access to games).

 

[Foxi4]

That, and they allow precise experiences like with Nintendo, who want to control what people can and cannot do with their devices and software. Not sure if region locking on PCs work either. They also won't have the same silly gimmicks Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo are so fond of.

The biggest obstacles for PC and cellphone gaming are setting a standard, creating a swift experience for users (fast access to games).

That's where VM's and interpreted languages like JAVA and C# help - with those the physical machine you're running code on becomes irrelevant, it's just raw processing brawn while the actual "machine" that runs code is virtual, so the experience can be made platform-independent and uniform across all devices. I *hate* that concept, but that's where we're heading since device manufacturers can't decide what standard they want to stick to.

 

[Xzi]

Pokemon Go barely, if at all, classifies as a video game - it's more akin to a part-time job. There's no objective, no stakes and the only semblance of gameplay takes place in gym battles. To call something a "game" it needs to have three things - winning conditions, losing conditions and a rules set. Pokemon Go has none of those, thus it doesn't fit the definition, which is worrisome. I don't like the trend of extending the definition of the word "game" to things that are not games - if you can't win or lose, it's not a video game - it's something else that we need a name for. I guess "geocaching app" is suitable. It's a "game" in the same sense that stamp collecting is - not at all. It is entertaining though, however glitchy.

The same thing applies to MMORPGs, so I'd put it in that category. No true win or lose state, just grind. Some people still enjoy those, but when it comes right down to it, they're basically Pokemon Go without going anywhere.

 

[Foxi4]

The same thing applies to MMORPGs, so I'd put it in that category. No true win or lose state, just grind. Some people still enjoy those, but when it comes right down to it, they're basically Pokemon Go without going anywhere.

"Losing" does exist in MMO's - there are penalties for dying or failing quests. You can lose equipment or XP, and at high level play those can be high stakes as gaining good equipment or earning a high level can take months. A Failure State doesn't necessarily mean the game ends, it can also be a severe setback.

 

[Kinqdra]

"hey millions of people with actually useful and advanced devices who don't give a shit about enthusiastic core videogames, how about you buy these dedicated, overpriced machines with specs from 2002 and all they can do it play 50 core videogames?"
I'm not sure it'll work out man.

To everyone who thinks Pokemon Go success means a better future for the mainline handheld titles, there's a high chance the opposite will happen, considering how massive the numbers disparity is right now, and most of all, the massive difference in installbase between 3DS and phones.

Then again, Pokemon Go is a fad secondaries latched onto because their twitter feed told them to. It's entirely possible that the masses will just abandon it completely whenever the new shiny thing pops up. The next few months will be interesting.

Me, I still hope for a partnership between Nintendo and, say, Google, to develop a nintendo phone replacing their handheld line.

I'm not saying it'll attract a majority of Pokemon Go players but I think it'd encourage the most dedicated ones to purchase their handheld + the games as a way of expanding their experience with the Pokemon franchise in case they haven't yet done so. I mean today my friends and I went asking for Pokemon cards at our local hobby shop and they were all sold out.. The employee explained that it surely was due to the craze going one at the moment so I'm sure it would be a smart move from Nintendo to do so. Plus, how hard could it be to integrate some sort of connectivity between mobile phones and 3DSs. With everything being "online" at the moment, a mere trading option between the two would be enough to achieve the mentioned result.

 

[DeadlyFoez]

I feel that the initial hype of PG will settle down. I think the game is quite fun. My family and I have had a great time going to different pokestops and such while we are running our errands. Strangely, it is the most fun that we have had as a family all summer. Usually it is just my wife and I doing everything we can to make the kids happy, but we are finally enjoying something too. I know it sounds stupid and rather small, but it works. We do a lot for our kids like bringing them to museums, parks, hiking, dinner, etc, but all of that is just for the kids. It is usually a chore for us to do these things for the kids.

 

[Steena]

I'm not saying it'll attract a majority of Pokemon Go players but I think it'd encourage the most dedicated ones to purchase their handheld + the games as a way of expanding their experience with the Pokemon franchise in case they haven't yet done so. I mean today my friends and I went asking for Pokemon cards at our local hobby shop and they were all sold out.. The employee explained that it surely was due to the craze going one at the moment so I'm sure it would be a smart move from Nintendo to do so. Plus, how hard could it be to integrate some sort of connectivity between mobile phones and 3DSs. With everything being "online" at the moment, a mere trading option between the two would be enough to achieve the mentioned result.

Why have weird connectivity features requiring you to use 2 different handheld devices when you can just port the main games on phones so it's all in one place?

 

[Steena]

Most of these "millions of people with actually useful and advanced devices" play 2D games only

It doesn't matter, they aren't waiting for 'better' games the way we think of games, they play games in 30 seconds bursts consisting of 0 complexity and instant gratification. Their 'better' is more waiting walls and more currencies to unlock random stuff with, and even less player input.

while we play MH4U on our "machines with specs from 2002".

Fun fact, I had to stop playing MH4U and MHX because the the muddy and messy pixelated images that also happen to run at 20fps on multiplayer made the experience so frustrating I didn't have fun anymore. For the record, MH is by far my favourite and most played serie, with minimum 300 hours on each title ever since the first one, so it takes a lot for me to quit that.

I haven't seen a game have such low image quality overall, not even in 1996 when the home consoles rendered at the same resolution, since the games looked less busy with less details so it was relatively better overall. Most of 3DS MH's finer details get lost in massive pixelization so it only creates noise, being detrimental to the overall quality. And yes I do realize that it's capcom's fault for not scaling the game down when moving to a lower resolution than the serie was conceived with, but my point is that hardware always matters, it can and WILL impact the quality of games themselves so that's not the only thing you should consider.

I'm counting the days for the 3DS to get dropped into the garbage and/or the nintendo+capcom partnership to end so I can finally play Monster Hunter again.

 

[Hayleia]

It doesn't matter, they aren't waiting for 'better' games the way we think of games, they play games in 30 seconds bursts consisting of 0 complexity and instant gratification. Their 'better' is more waiting walls and more currencies to unlock random stuff with, and even less player input.

Yes yes, I only meant that their up to date hardware was meaningless compared to our outdated specs if they don't exploit it. There are games that exploit it like the Ravensword series (not even so new) but most of them don't play that...

It doesn't matter, they aren't waiting for 'better' games the way we think of games, they play games in 30 seconds bursts consisting of 0 complexity and instant gratification. Their 'better' is more waiting walls and more currencies to unlock random stuff with, and even less player input.

Fun fact, I had to stop playing MH4U and MHX because the the muddy and messy pixelated images that also happen to run at 20fps on multiplayer made the experience so frustrating I didn't have fun anymore. For the record, MH is by far my favourite and most played serie, with minimum 300 hours on each title ever since the first one, so it takes a lot for me to quit that.

I haven't seen a game have such low image quality overall, not even in 1996 when the home consoles rendered at the same resolution, since the games looked less busy with less details so it was relatively better overall. Most of 3DS MH's finer details get lost in massive pixelization so it only creates noise, being detrimental to the overall quality. And yes I do realize that it's capcom's fault for not scaling the game down when moving to a lower resolution than the serie was conceived with, but my point is that hardware always matters, it can and WILL impact the quality of games themselves so that's not the only thing you should consider.

I'm counting the days for the 3DS to get dropped into the garbage and/or the nintendo+capcom partnership to end so I can finally play Monster Hunter again.

Waiting for MH Online for the west too?

 

[SonicCloud]

if only my goddman phone wouldn't be shit i could play this

 

[zekepliskin]

"hey millions of people with actually useful and advanced devices who don't give a shit about enthusiastic core videogames, how about you buy these dedicated, overpriced machines with specs from 2002 and all they can do it play 50 core videogames?

Lol pretty standard spec wars style comment. You know, part of the reason 3DS gets not just excellent first-party support but decent third-party as well is because it's not overly complex to program for. Simple hardware isn't bad hardware.

If specs are primary concern for gaming it's time to go PC Master Race. After all, the current PS4 and Xbone hardware was, what, equivalent to a mid-range PC from about 2010? By the line of reasoning used in the original post they're not useful and advanced devices and you're better off buying a machine you have to consistently upgrade to play new games if you want maximum graphical fidelity. Lot of people can't be bothered with that...

 

[zekepliskin]

I don't see a reason to bother with Xbox, PS4, or Wii U (especially). Soon enough, all you will need is a cellphone and PC for all of the best gaming once game developers realize what they can do with them. At the moment, i'd say the best would be owning a PS4, 3DS, PC, and cellphone due to exclusives.

Yeah I thought that too, which is why the first eight gen console I bought was the PS4. For about 12 of the 14 months I've owned it it has sit under the TV gathering dust. My GF has used it to play her RPGs more than I have. This might change with the release of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided for a bit, but since I bought it for a few titles and was disappointed (case in point - Batman: Arkham Knight which for me was dire, Bloodborne was alright for a bit but not something I'd want to play for more than 20 hours, too grindy) it's basically sitting there wasting my PS Plus membership.

It's easy to write off the Wii U. I did. I sneered at the low sales figures and the retreads of the same first party titles. Actually though, it's gotten more use in two weeks than the two months I initially owned the PS4 when I did actually bother with it. Because Nintendo realise having the most powerful console isn't always the driving factor. I prefer games that are fun and a bit of quirkiness and innovation, which the Wii U has a lot of. Also has pretty decent versions of Human Revolution and Arkham City so that's a nice bonus.

I don't even want to see this silly arguement that "I can't play on the couch wif muh compooter", it's not 2001 anymore. PCs have bluetooth wireless devices, wifi (faster than game consoles), small form factor cases, liquid cooling, and even tv tuner/windows media center capabilities. They can emulate all consoles. They can do video chat, streaming, teamspeak, third-party software, whatever man. And no i'm not preaching that PC master race BS, it's time to face the facts that computers are extremely flexible now.

Yeah that's great, they can do all the bells and whistles, everybody knows. It's barrier to entry issues though, lot of folks have no interest in building their own PC, or even having one built and putting in the hours to set it up with all the stuff you've listed. A cheap, easily solution like Chromecast or Fire TV or Apple TV work just as well for the media centre side, for example. The fact that computers are "extremely flexible now" is precisely the reason there are made-to-measure solutions like this.

Incidentally yes, PCs can emulate a lot of stuff well. But not perfectly, and the closer you get to modern hardware the more difficult emu that is both fast AND accurate becomes. I'll take Wii U proper hardware support for Wii/GameCube where I can't tell the difference between that and the original consoles over something like Dolphin, which although very good isn't quite there yet even on a decent spec PC.

To be fair, consoles offer exclusive games and convinience. It used to be that all that was needed for the common man to play video games was a cartridge/cd, power the console, power a tv, and push the power button. Gaming consoles aren't that simple anymore though because of accounts and settings setups and it's getting more complex. Ever see the power brick of an Xbox? Might as well get a PC at this point.

Still way easier to deal with the extra complexity of a modern console than a PC though, by far.

The only thing that cellphones, androids especially, need now is a standard for running software. Too many devices in the market which have 512mb of RAM and run on Android 0.5 Potato. Looking at you, cheapy chinese tablets from local general store. Once a standard is set, RIP handhelds (and by extension consoles).

People have been saying this sort of thing for years. It was even speculated that PS4/Xbone/Wii U would be the last of their kind because of various reasons like tighter regulation on consumer electronic energy draw. Yet here Sony and Micro$oft are, releasing buffed up versions of those in the form of the poorly-monikered Neo and Morpheus... I mean Scorpio. Hank Scorpio.

The need of a standard applies to PCs as well. Seriously people, stop playing games on craptops with Intel HDs.

Again some people don't need or care about max quality for all settings on their games as long as they're playable. The convenience of playing on a laptop that can be taken anywhere can easily outweigh being chained to a desk with a high spec tower PC (cos let's be honest, the small form factor ones you mentioned aren't always up to the task).

 

[osirisjem]

And brace for the slide back to reality.
Hard to say how well this could be monetized.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

All the kiddies want a data plan now.
LOL.
Sorry, it's just Wifi for you poor kiddiez.