‘Pokemon GO’ Searches on Google Have Plummeted Since Peak in July
Google: The ‘Pokemon GO’ Server Issues Were Unavoidable
The month in games: PlayStation Virtual Reality is almost here
Sony are hoping to buck the trend of flagging VR sales with its new console , while Deus Ex proves there’s life yet in the dystopian gaming genre
If you did your growing up in the 20th century, the chances are your youthful predictions for 2016 would have involved colonies on the Moon, flying cars and friendly, subservient robots. Although these visions of ultra-modernity are sadly yet to be, we can always console ourselves with the fact that at least we’ll all soon be using virtual reality, gaming’s holy grail, which has been tantalisingly out of reach since its initial appearance in the early 90s. But this month even that small piece of future-certainty looked questionable with news that, in the US, sales of Oculus Rift (£549), the Facebook-owned technology that re-sparked interest in VR, and HTC Vive (£799), its technically superior rival, had both ground to a halt. PC gaming platform Steam showed a 0% growth for Vive and a 0.01% increase in Oculus Rift ownership last month, a possible indication that early adopters have got theirs, and everybody else is waiting for some decent games and a price reduction.
Related: PlayStation boss: virtual reality throws out the game-design rule book
Related: The month in games: No Man’s Sky goes where no gamer has gone before
Continue reading...With trading, in-game events finally coming to ‘Pokémon Go,’ are battles next?
After in-game events and trading between players are added to Pokémon Go, we may see player-versus-player battles become part of Niantic's augmented reality app.
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Apple CEO Favors Augmented Reality Over Virtual Reality
Apple CEO, Tim Cook, recently gave an interview where he explained why he favors Augmented Reality over Virtual Reality. A few of the key quotes from Tim Cook include:
“There’s virtual reality and there’s augmented reality — both of these are incredibly interesting,” Cook told ABC News’ Robin Roberts. “But my own view is that augmented reality is the larger of the two, probably by far.”
“(AR) gives the capability for both of us to sit and be very present, talking to each other, but also have other things — visually — for both of us to see. Maybe it’s something we’re talking about, maybe it’s someone else here who’s not here present but who can be made to appear to be present.”
“Virtual reality sort of encloses and immerses the person into an experience that can be really cool, but probably has a lower commercial interest over time. Less people will be interested in that.”
An eMarketer study recently found that investment interest in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality remains strong. However, as we pointed out in a recent VentureBeat OpEd, Virtual Reality has received the majority of recent startup investment.
Pokémon Go has reached $500 million in revenue faster than any other mobile app and is on track for $1 billion in revenue by the end of the year. And this is only the direct revenue that Niantic (Pokémon Go’s creator) has achieved. There’s an entire soft or ancillary revenue stream from retailers and brands that are benefiting from the Pokémon Go ecosystem – primarily game players that are driven to retail locations to make purchases.
Virtual Reality on the other hand, while receiving the majority of investment, has an entire ecosystem that is unlikely able to reach the same level of revenue this year as one single Pokémon Go Augmented Reality app.
Though Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are both exciting technologies and future of interaction and immersion, Vanity Fair’s thoughts on the Tim Cook interview sums it up best, “Tim Cook Nailed The Problem With Virtual Reality.”
The post Apple CEO Favors Augmented Reality Over Virtual Reality appeared first on Zugara.
A fake ‘Pokémon Go’ app tricked half a million players into downloading malware
Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab says it's identified a malware-infected Android app called "Guide for Pokémon Go" that it believes has been downloaded more than half a million times by fans of the hit smartphone game.
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‘Pokémon Go’ introduces Buddy Pokémon mechanic in latest update
Niantic has detailed a new update to Pokémon Go that is currently being beamed out to players, introducing support for the Pokémon Go Plus wearable, and the recently announced Buddy Pokémon system.
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Putting Pikachu on your wrist: ‘Pokémon Go’ may be coming to Android Wear
Pokémon Go was announced just last week for the Apple Watch, but it appears that the game will also make the jump to its main competition. The app will run in the background as users catch monsters directly from their watch.
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How imperceptible vibrations could take augmented reality to a new level
Abe Davis and his co-researchers have been working on extrapolating data from vibrations recorded in 2D video for some time now and the potential effect it could have on augmented reality, CGI and architecture is huge.
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Gotta wear ’em all? Pokémon Go Plus wearable will launch on September 16
The delayed Pokémon Go Plus wearable will finally be available to trainers on September 16, but it remains to be seen whether there's enough player interest to make the device a success.
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