In case you missed it, there's a new game that's literally taking the world by storm. Pokémon GO that uses augmented reality and forces players to walk in their cities is leading people to dead bodies and is being used by armed robbers to lure victims. So great is the success of the game, which was released on July 6 in only a few countries officially that Rs 47,000 crore was added to Nintendo's stock after its release. Servers are crashing because the intense load was not foreseen by the developers.
But, surprisingly, a video game so earth-shattering in nature had quite humble origins. It began life as an...April fool's joke. A joke that was in development since 2013. And why was Google doing this? Because they seek to hire "the most exceptional people". People who, as shown in the video above, climb sheer cliffs to capture a Charizard or actually go fishing for a Gyarados. Catch all of the "pocket monsters" and become a Pokémon Master at the world's largest tech company.
Unfortunately, the joke video set the bar for the game too high. Here's social media users lamenting the version of the game they got.
Niantic Labs, the company behind the game, was founded and is currently head by John Hanke who was closely involved in the Google Earth project. Some of the team members were also closely linked with Google Maps, and much of that data is being used to design the real world features of the augmented reality video game.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!