Gotta Catch ‘em All: Pokemon Go in the Philippines
It’s already taken over people’s lives in the US, Australia, and New Zealand. It’s the latest craze that’s sweeping the globe: Niantic’s Pokémon GO.
IT’S ALMOST READY TO take over the world of mobile gaming. Pokémon GO, an augmented reality (AR) game lets users feel like they are capturing live Pokémon. Image courtesy of Pokémon Go Philippines.
But what exactly is Pokémon GO, and why have Filipinos been posting or sharing memes and videos about it?
What is Pokémon GO?
First things first: what is Pokémon GO? In this blog post on their website, creator Niantic Labs described the game in the best possible way. It’s an app that lets Pokémon fans and gamers explore their neighborhoods and cities to capture Pokémon.
It utilizes your smartphone’s camera, GPS, and internet connection (WiFi or data) to create a world within your smartphone where these cute Pokémon exist. To date, it is only available in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand on iOS and Android devices.
So why is it a big deal in the Philippines?
A lot of Filipinos are big on games like Pokémon. With Pokémon GO not being released at the same time as the US, Australia, and New Zealand, people were understandably anxious and frustrated.
Players eventually found a way of being able to use Pokémon GO in the Philippines even if it has not been officially released. People downloaded an APK from the internet, installed it on their smartphones, and changed their location to New Zealand (the closest of the three countries to the Philippines) in order to play.
This, however, has overloaded the game servers in New Zealand. It made Niantic, the developer, pause their rollout of the game globally to make sure everyone gets a chance to play the game.
To date, John Hanke, CEO of Niantic, has said that the international rollout will be put on hold until they fix their server issues. However, a report on The Wall Street Journal said that the game might roll out in Europe and Asia soon enough.
Right now, all we can do is wait and hope. In the meantime, here’s a trailer from the creators of Pokémon GO:
Source: Rappler, Business Insider, Pokémon GO official website, nianticlabs.com, Polygon
