Have you heard about the new Pokémon Go that is going crazy on social media and everywhere else, like offices? I've been hearing about it and I was offered a few explanations but I don't see why everyone is going so crazy about them. Do you have a clue?

Really, I am just curious about this new Pokémon theme myself so...

GF was playing it. Honestly it looks pretty weird to me, but meh I was a pokemon blue/red boy back in gradeschool, so I think I'm pretty negatively biased against it.

I think it's a lot of fun. Stakes are low so anyone can play and have fun. Don't want to battle? Just collect. Don't want to evolve? Power your pidgey to a level 1000 and wreck shop. I'm sure it's possible. To me the major appeal is that this is the closest to a Pokemon MMO we're probably ever going to get, and being able to play real time with friends without worrying about spawn camping is just really awesome.

It's nostalgia.
I just wish I had a phone capable of playing it... But it requires data, and my new smartphone isn't on a plan. I'll find out tomorrow if I can activate it on Verizon or if I should just get Straight Talk or something.
But I've played on my friend's phone. It's pretty fun because it actually makes me want to get up and walk around.

It's a free app you can get for your iPhone. It's been done before on April Fools' 2014 on Google Maps known as Google Maps: Pokémon Challenge. Basically you explore in the real world and find Pokémon. Like a water Pokémon in a lake. Just don't try to capture Pokémon while driving in a freeway or enter any dangerous real life locations that could get you kidnapped or killed. Especially if you trespass. Try not to cause car accidents. Also, a woman found a dead body floating on a river while playing Pokémon GO.

People are so fucking annoying with that. Literally all that's posted on social media is pokemon. I guess I'm one of those people who hates things that get overexposed, so I definitely will not be checking this game out.

@Bloody Zombie Was going to suggest maybe look at something like Virgin if just for Pokemon you're upgrading on Verizon, because Verizon is expensive af. But then I looked at Virgin Mobile and they throttle you to fucking 2G after 4GB so screw them.

Or try T-Mobile since their rates are actually reasonable. I get unlimited text and I think data (or at least a fucking lot), and I share like 1000 minutes with my family, all for around $30/mo. Something like that with Verizon is probably like $60+/mo.

Verizon is much more than that...I prefer it because coverage in our area sucks otherwise, but for three phones sharing 6gb we pay $220. We also have three phones we're paying monthly on, so there's that too.

That's true; Verizon does have the best coverage. But unless you're on a farm or in the mountains, I don't really think that's too much of a problem. I get service everywhere I go, unless I'm underground in a basement or something. And I think T-Mobile also has something where you can use wifi to help improve your signal or something, which is nice.

Oh, I'm on my mom's plan with $25 a month... But I don't use data at all.
If I had to get another plan, I'd only need about 1GB of data a month... Unlimited texting... And probably 120 minutes. (I don't call people)
I'd use Wi-Fi for any internet things... But data for Pokemon.

I don't understand why this is even a thing. Fuck, I guess I must be getting old.

I played Pokemon Red and Pokemon Silver on the Gameboy Colour when I was a kid. You know, because I was the target demographic!! I enjoyed the time I had with it, and then grew up and moved on. Why people still play it as adults is beyond me. There are way better games out there.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jul 12 2016, 10:55 am by Oh_Man.

I think it sounds amazing and I've been thinking of trying it out, except that I have a low data limit on this plan. 100 MB lol.

It sounds like an AR game and I'm all for it.

100mb wtf. I pay $30 a month and I still get 3GB.

yeah I think the issue is with us being in Canada. There's basically an oligopoly and phone plans in general are shit here, last I checked anyway.

There have already been 17 cases of people getting jumped or otherwise lured to locations with pokestops in my city.

For their phones, wallets, bikes, even cars.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jul 12 2016, 6:45 pm by LoveLess.

I hear quite a lot of people talking about it at university. It seems to contain some serious gamification that gets kids outside (I've seen something like walk 5 miles to hatch an egg on twitter.). So, that seems to be a good thing.

Of course, as an information systems student, the game's technical aspects might be interesting, too (virtual reality, selection of landmarks, where are pokemon spawning and which ones, etc). But I don't think that too many students here are playing it.

My phone is too old to run it (because I only use my phone for whatsapp, clock and lighting), so I did not test it myself.

Because this is the first wide-spread game that does this, it has an huge impact (e.g. receives massive media attention). In future a lot of games will attempt to jump on this hype train, I guess. So, As usual, it will become less relevant in future, but it's nice to see a new genre spawn that has actually good traits with players going outside.

But something I don't know is how addictive the game is. Can it be addictive? How long may it be interesting?
Also, how stupid do you have to be to cause an accident because of the game? Is the augmented reality properly done or is it too demanding?
Does anyone have some experiences with it and can reflect on that regarding these two aspects?

Yeah, I have learned that it is an Altered Reality game and it sounds very interesting. I am not sure how you play still, but I am impressed with how much this game has exploded.

Which phone company is the phone for? Has it been paid for in full or is money still owed on it? Depending on what networks it is compatible with, there are some fairly low-cost options available that I know of. Some of the cheapest ones I know of are these:

For a phone that works with Verizon, Total Wireless has unlimited minutes and texting and you can do a $25 30-day plan with no data or a $35 30-day plan with 5 GB of data. They have a $10 3 GB data add-on for any plan, and any remaining data from that add-on doesn't expire as long as you keep your service active. I think it can only be purchased at Wal-mart or online, like Straight Talk. One of TracFone's brands.

For a phone that works with AT&T (which does includes some Verzion phones, though they may not work optimally), EasyGo has unlimited minutes and texting with 100 MB of data for $20 for 30 days and they have a 1 GB data add-on for $10. This data add-on also doesn't expire as long as you keep your service active, just like the one I mentioned above. Probably mainly available online, but there are some other places that sell EasyGo service. Owned by Locus Telecom, which isn't as big as TracFone, but they have been around for a while and run multiple brands of prepaid phone service.

Depending on how many texts you send/receive, if you want the lowest cost possible and don't mind it being more complicated to figure out how to get the best deal, TracFone might work for you. It is available for both Verizon and AT&T phones (and you can switch your service between the two if you get a different device and need the other network for it). The most complicated part to figure out is how to get the best deal for minutes and days of service that fits your needs (buying minutes will include some texts and data), beyond that they have a data add-on at the rate of $10 per 1 GB and a text add-on at the rate of $5 per 1000. Available in lots of stores, though to get the best deals you may need to buy online, and some deals are only available directly on TracFone's web site, including an option they don't advertise that they randomly offer during checkout to add 365 days for $50 (doesn't add any minutes/texts/data). I don't know how far into checkout it offers it, but I've heard that if it doesn't, you can cancel checkout and try again until it offers it.


The one I use is TracFone because I don't really use my phone service much. My usage of minutes is probably similar to yours, but I don't use my texts and data much (mostly on wifi all the time and I've configured my phone to block background data for most of my apps). My average monthly cost is probably about $10 or less. I paid for a lot of it upfront, but with the latest offerings for smartphones you don't really need to pay as much upfront anymore to get the best deal.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jul 13 2016, 7:21 pm by ShadowFlare.

My apartment complex and workplace is a deadzone. I wish I lived closer to a pokestop because jesus