Iran bans ‘Pokémon Go’ over security jitters
A number of governments are already nervous about the security implications of Pokémon Go, but Iran is taking that fear one step further: it just became the first country to ban the critter catching game entirely. The nation’s High Council of Virtual Spaces wouldn’t say what prompted the decision besides “security concerns.” However, it comes after reports that Iran wanted to see what cooperation it could get from Niantic before taking action.
The move isn’t shocking. On top of concerns about players wandering near military bases and other sensitive areas, it wouldn’t be surprising if Iran was worried that Pokémon Go would encourage large-scale gatherings and thus protests against the powers that be. Whatever the motivations, the ban shows just how much the game has done to draw attention to location-based gaming — much to the chagrin of Iranian residents who just wanted to join in the fun.
Source: BBC
‘Pokémon Go’ dev says it needed to block scrapers to expand
Niantic Labs is still facing backlash from some players over blocking many third-party Pokémon Go services, but insists that the moves are necessary. In a blog post it provided a graph (without any numbers) that it says shows how much traffic dropped off after it blocked many scraper services. It says that “freeing up those resources” is what enabled it to launch in Central and South America earlier this week, and blamed scrapers for delaying the rollout in the first place.
There’s no indication of whether this strategy will change in the future, but it’s still insisting it will continue work on new features once the game is “on stable footing.” Finally, in something that will probably affect all players, it confirmed that a bug is causing an increase in the odds of escape and omitting the XP bonus, so you’re not imagining it — those Pidgeys and Rattatas really are harder to catch than they should be. It’s working on a fix, but there’s no word yet on when it will roll out, so you may want to save your Pokéballs when and where you can.
Trainers, a new bug affecting throw accuracy increases the odds of escape and omits the XP bonus. We are working on a fix, stay tuned…
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) August 4, 2016
Source: Pokemon Go
Read the first 13 years of ‘Nintendo Power’ on Archive.org
Before the yawning information-spouting chasm of the Internet, there were two ways you could get information on video games: your dubiously-trustful buddies and trade magazines. Despite being a company rag that only covered things coming out on its own consoles, Nintendo Power was one of the best of these publications for its wonderful artwork and community culture. But don’t take my word for it: Now you can parse through the first 13 years of the magazine at Archive.org.
The collection spans from the first issue, published in July of 1988 with its now-iconic claymation Mario cover, to number 145 in June 2001. For some of you, these doubtless offer a trip down memory lane to a time when cartridges ruled and console affiliation split friendships. But don’t assume the nostalgia train won’t stop for those who never cracked open an issue. The dated advertisements alone are worth the price of admission for wacky fashions and the outrageous exuberance they hoped would appeal to kids zonked on high-sugar cereal.
Times change, and we don’t need video game magazines like we used to. Now you can post on social media or find any title’s subreddit community to talk shop with other enthusiasts. But these publications offered a light in the wilderness for certain kinds of nerds to share experiences on the letters page, writing in to editors and seeing their heroes respond publicly. So load up a few old issues and see how things like the first 3D console games had blown people’s minds. You’ll get a new appreciation for the miracles we play today.
‘Pokémon Go’ makers explain why they blocked third-party apps
Gotta catch ’em all. It’s the itch you just can’t stop scratching — and one where a wave of unofficial Pokémon Go apps and web-based maps helped clue you in on exactly where those Jynx were hiding. Unfortunately, alongside an app update last weekend, the team behind the app shut down data access to third-party services like PokeVision. It released a statement to users on its Facebook page, saying these services were “interfering with our ability to maintain quality of service for our users and to bring Pokémon Go to users around the world.” It added that the huge number of users has had an effect on its roll-out plans.
The company says it’s removed its “3-step” Pokémon detection legend “in order to improve upon the underlying design”. The team is working to improve the feature, which means it should find its way back into the app at some point. Niantic also apologized for not tweeting so much during the roll-out of the app, saying that it’ll try to do better in communicating what’s going down in the future.
Source: Pokemon Go (Facebook)
Introducing Engadget’s 2016 back-to-school guide!
Oh yes, it’s already that time of year. Temperature are still sitting in the triple digits in some places, but many of you are just four weeks away from a new school year, heralding the end of summer. Once again, Engadget has put together a back-to-school gear guide, but this time, we did something a little different.
This year’s guide was curated with college students in mind (sorry, high schoolers), with sections for five broad archetypes: party kids, academics, jocks, freshmen and study abroad students. (What’s that you say? You’re a scholar-athlete and you’re spending the semester in Madrid? Have we got picks for you!) As always too, we endeavored to recommend things across different price points, with a few free options, some more aspirational objects and lots of stuff in between. Check out the whole guide here, and stay tuned throughout the month as we spotlight different picks for different students.
Source: Engadget’s 2016 Back-to-School Guide
Wear a vibrating bracelet while playing ‘Pokemon Sun’ and ‘Moon’
Pokemon Go isn’t the only adorable-monster-hunting game to get a physical accessory — Pokemon Sun and Moon will connect to the Z-Ring, a peripheral that lights up, vibrates and makes noises whenever players use special Z-Moves in the games. Z-Moves are new to the series; they’re strong attacks that can only be used once per battle. A Z-Move unleashes the full combined power of the trainer and the Pokemon, and it’s activated when the trainer has a Z-Ring (in-game) and Z-Crystals. If the trainer’s crystals are the same type as the battling Pokemon’s, then together they can use a Z-Move.
Tomy International is making the real-life Z-Ring and it’s set to hit store shelves alongside Sun and Moon on November 18th. Note that despite its name, the Z-Ring is actually a bracelet.
How the Z-Ring works in-game (left) and the physical model
Pokemon Sun and Moon are set on a series of tropical islands known as the Alola region, a resort destination packed with new Pokemon and challenges. In the lore, a handful of existing Pokemon have grown up in Alola and adapted to the area with new evolutions, including Exeggutor, Vulpix, Ninetales, Sandshrew and Sandslash. Along with these fresh forms, Nintendo today also revealed a handful of new Pokemon coming to November’s games — check them all out in the gallery and video below.
From Machop to Machamp: Surviving London’s 5K Pokérun
One had escaped earlier, but not again — this time, Squirtle, you’re mine. I yanked at the peak of my cap, and began to spin the Pokéball patiently as the target area grew smaller, and smaller still. A good throw, but not a direct hit. The ball shook for what I thought was the last time, then poof… Before you could say “Mew,” it was gone. No time to dwell. “Make that Pokéball your last! It’s time to get moving,” our leader bellowed. Eyes stinging, I dragged an already soaked T-shirt sleeve across my brow. It’ll only be another 10 minutes of pounding the pavement, I thought, before respite at the next Pokébreak. I groaned quietly as my legs kicked into a light jog. This, fellow trainers, is the Pokérun.
It hasn’t taken long for a huge, devoted community to form around Pokémon Go. It’s phenomenal popularity has inspired thousands of fans to meet up and stare at their phones together all over the world; there’s even a dating app specifically targeted at companionless trainers. Not only is the game just good fun, it’s also being praised for benefitting both mental and physical health, since you actually have to get out and about to play. The latter is what gym chain Virgin Active wanted to focus on when it organised the “world’s first” Pokérun, a workout that promised to turn participants from “Machops into Machamps” while also bulking up their Pokédexes. No, seriously.
Scheduled on one of the hottest days of the year in London — because of course it was — the Pokérun sounded like it might be a fun little outing. Something different, you know? I even bought a crappy Ash hat in excitement before immediately regretting it. (Luckily, Virgin Active reps were giving out themed caps to other runners on the day, so I didn’t look like the only hyper-nerd in attendance.) The route of the 5km run covered multiple terrain types, including city streets, parks and bridges across the Thames, because how is Professor Willow expected to make Magikarp candy without food for the Pokéblender?
The run also featured six stops at Pokémon hotspots. Piece of cake… right? Closer to Pokérun day, however, it slowly dawned on me: I exercise once in a blue moon and I’ve never run 5km in my entire life. Oh, and those six breaks during the run were as much for interval training as bagging Drowzees. What on earth had I signed myself up for? As it turned out, a whole lot more running and a lot less Pokémoning than I had anticipated. But hey, I scored an Electabuzz, an Eevee and (almost) a Lickitung in one session. Totally worth four weary days of recovery.
‘Pokémon Go’ update kills battery-saving mode, footprint tracking (updated)
Pokémon Go’s first substantial update adds tweaks for overpowered Pokemon (those consistently at the top of Pokemon gyms: cough, Vaporean, cough), where the critters can be found, and a raft of bug and text fixes. Niantic has decided to drop the footprint tracking system that didn’t even work in the debut iteration of the game; you’ll have to make do with the vague list of nearby Pokémon. And pray. The update also nixed the battery-saving feature (update: on iOS only), although this editor and others found that feature often made the app unresponsive. Your mileage may have varied, but regardless, battery-saving mode is no more. So turn that screen brightness down, and definitely bring your portable battery pack on your Pokémon hunts.
Smaller changes include the ability to customize your trainer again and relocated buttons for transferring Pokémon. Each time you load the app, it’ll remind you to take care when playing, not to trespass, and other common sense nuggets. Because people can’t have nice things.
Favoriting your strongest monsters will protect them from being accidentally sent to the glue factory professor, which is certainly useful. Since the update, some users are noticing that Pokémon have to be much closer to appear “nearby” on the map, although the refreshed app has arrived at the same time as many Pokémon map scanning services have been indefinitely terminated.
PokeVision, one of the more popular services, said it’s respecting Niantic and Nintendo’s wishes by taking its map down for the time being. Tracking just got trickier — and the wearable is still delayed.
Hey guys. We wish we had some news for you
At this moment, we are respecting Niantic and Nintendo’s wishes.
Will keep you guys posted
❤
— Pokevision (@PokeVisionGo) July 31, 2016
Source: Pokemon Go (iTunes)
Ben Heck’s Nintendo PlayStation prototype teardown, part 2
In part 1 we took a close look at the amazing SFX-100 Nintendo PlayStation console for a teardown of the hardware and an analysis of how the chips function together. After looking inside, Ben discovered a few post-production bodge jobs that were seemingly intended to fix the prototype — but do they, really? Join Ben again as we look inside this rare hardware to see if we can whip it into a functioning state and get the CD-Rom tray finally working. Finally, what better way to test out a console than a beat-em-up showdown? Join Felix and Ben as they duke it out on Super Streetfighter 2. Let us know what you think of the Sony Nintendo PlayStation over at the element14 Community, where you can also interact with The Ben Heck Show team and watch past episodes.
I’ve accidentally joined the cult of Pokémon
Pokémon passed me by when it arrived in the UK back in 1999, and I’ve never really been a fan. The way my friends were suddenly gripped by its cult-like lure made it seem like the worst thing ever. In my mind, 15-year-olds shouldn’t be hunched over their Game Boy Colors; they should be trying (and failing) to talk to girls. I also objected to the title on moral grounds, since it glorifies bloodsports like dogfighting for an audience that isn’t old enough to appreciate nuance. My stance between the ages of 15 and 30 was simple: fuck Pokémon. Which is why it’s so galling that I spent last weekend roaming the city for Pokéballs. Thanks to Pokémon Go, I’ve become everything that I hate.
I’m not much of a gamer, but I installed Pokémon Go out of a sense of obligation to the site I work for. I figured that at some point I’d have to cover the title, even if the only game I play is FIFA 13 on Xbox 360. But I decided to have some fun with it, using the Pikachu workaround to capture it first and then wind up my colleagues and friends. I sent them a screenshot of my captured Pikachu and told them that I’d won the game on my first try and therefore never needed to play it again.
I didn’t bother with it much after that thanks to the one-two punch of me not liking Pokémon and also thanks to Niantic Labs’ hilarious server issues. But, while out for a walk a few days later, my wife spotted a Pidgey close to our home and encouraged me to catch it. The further we wandered, the more times her phone began to vibrate, informing her of a nearby animal to capture. After the third or fourth capture, I started to enjoy the Paper Toss-esque mini-game in which you attempt to bounce a ball on the head of your prey.
At the end of that trip, I stumbled across a Golduck with a combat points rating of 165, far in excess of the 10-point minnows we’d been catching. Naturally, we both went for it, but I managed to rinse my supply of 45 Pokéballs attempting to capture this thing which kept escaping my clutches. That was probably the moment when I became lost to the cause, since I was determined not to let this creature get away. It meant, naturally, that I had to swing past plenty of Pokéstops on the way back to replenish my supply.
This is what a winner’s Pokédex looks like, if they suck at winning.
In the UK, it’s customary to celebrate a lunchtime Sunday roast with a long walk to balance out the Thanksgiving-level of calories you’ve just consumed. So we decided to venture out, but while we’d planned to just walk across the river, Pokémon Go had other ideas. It began suggesting that, through the older, cobbled streets that surround the cathedral, there was a litany of Pokéstops. So, we obligingly began to follow that path instead, stocking up on powerups, eggs and balls. On the way, we found a medieval defensive tower we’d never encountered before, plus a hidden riverside pathway that isn’t obvious from the road.
The walk was twice as long as planned, and I returned delighted to have found all these new spots nearby. I’d also managed to rinse my phone battery in about four hours — a new record even for me. The following morning, those same colleagues I’d ribbed the week previously were now dealing with a litany of questions. I wanted to know how best to level up, how gyms worked and what was the best way of improving my collection so that I can take over the gym across from my home.
Today, I’ve not been out on the catch, although I’ve had my phone open for much of the day picking up anything that comes within my range. When I’m done writing this, I’ll wander at least as far as my local Pokéstop to re-up on supplies, and maybe think about going a little further. I can’t believe that any game is getting me out of the house and wandering around historic sites, let alone a Pokémon game. It’ll be a while before I can get to the point where I’ll be able to fight my locals — their Pokémon all have combat points in the thousands — but I’ll get there at some point.
AIVAnet 