Gaming
Head to the gym and catch them all!
“Sorry guys, I definitely
shouldn’t have eaten that curry
last night!”
Game On!
A gaming column by Mike Barham
We were just minding our own business at The Ocelot
during July and were happyily writing a gaming column
for this month on virtual reality headsets and what they
will mean for gamers in the future (we will ‘look into’ that
next month). But then all of a sudden, A WILD MOBILE
GAME APPEARED!
So what is Pokèmon Go? And why has everyone gone
crazy for it? And just how many times can we get away
with using the word Pokèmon without you going Pokèblind?
(Or without getting sued by Nintendo).
It’s been billed as an augmented reality journey through
the Pokèmon world, but anyone who grew up with the
colourful world of Pikachu, Ash, Misty and Brock will tell
you that this is the game that they always wanted as a
child. Pokèmon Go allows you to become a trainer, roam
the real world in search of your own Pokèmon and battle
at gyms placed on landmarks in your own town and
beyond. If you remember wandering round in the grass
outside Pallet Town on your GameBoy looking for your first
battle, now imagine you can do that in the undergrowth
outside your own home, and watch your neighbours worry
about your sanity!
Whilst still in its early stages, the game is still finding its
feet and comprises only the core elements like nurturing
your new crew of fire breathing, water blasting, vine
whipping creatures, but I expect updates will bring the
ability to battle your friends or competitors from rival
groups and will inevitably start to include more than the
original 151 Pokèmon. Or 152 if you’re one of those
people who include the glitch in the matrix. You know who
you are!
Naturally with a brand new game of this scale, teething
issues were inevitable. The servers crashed repeatedly on
release in the UK and again the following weekend with
the warmest days of the year so far beckoning Pokèmon
hunters out into the sunshine to hunt their prey. Of course
you get commentators saying this is a ridiculous concept,
strengthening the almost unbreakable bond between
young people and their smartphone screens, but then
these would be the same commentators that bemoan the
younger generations apparently “always sitting inside
watching TV and doing nothing with their lives.” Well now
they are quite literally all outside, roaming the countryside
and exercising, all thanks to Pokèmon. It’s a brilliant
compromise as far as I’m