There’s a gaming revolution underway as Pokemon Go takes the world by storm, reportedly gaining more users in its first couple of weeks than dating app Tinder and forecast to grow larger than Twitter in the coming months.
But before I explain why the game, an augmented reality upgrade on the original 1990s franchise, has given rise to some hilarious viral videos, it’s probably worth explaining what it actually is.
Once players have downloaded the Pokemon Go app, developed by Google spin-off Niantic Labs, they have to travel to different, real-life locations using the phone’s GPS in order to capture Pokemon. It’s kind of like 21st century orienteering… with cartoon dinosaur-type creatures.
Augmented reality, technology that essentially mixes a fictional world with the real one, has achieved widespread notoriety in the mobile gaming world before with zombie-based running apps and various other things, but Pokemon Go has taken it to new levels.
And the videos the game has given birth to on the internet, which tend to be more fails than wins, have almost been as brilliant as the game itself.
Here’s my top five uploaded to Newsflare this week:
5. Pokemon Go players go mad as rare Pokemon appears in US park
4. Boy’s grandma thinks Pokemon Go will kill him
3. Pokemon Go spoof shows how bizarre the game really is
2. Man appears to ‘shoot’ at Pokemon Go players on his property
1. Engineers hack Pokemon Go by using a drone
There are undoubtedly hundreds more videos like this online, as you would expect given that millions of people have started playing worldwide.
It comes as no surprise that Nintendo shares have skyrocketed in recent days, giving them their biggest boost in three decades.