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Qualcomm teams up with 'Pokémon Go' developer to make AR glasses
Qualcomm didn't only reveal its new and more powerful chip for extended reality headsets at the Snapdragon Tech Summit, it also announced its partnership with Niantic. The chipmaker and the Pokémon Go creator have teamed up to create reference hardware, software and cloud components for augmented reality glasses. It's a multi-year collaboration meant to accelerate the development of AR software and hardware, though it remains to be seen how long you'll have to wait to enjoy the results of their partnership.
'Catan' AR game could ride on Niantic's tech
If you're Niantic and you're planning a follow-up to augmented reality hits like Pokémon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, what famous property do you work with next? Apparently, the answer is a hardcore board game. A product page, source code sleuths and TechCrunch tipsters suggest that Niantic is partnering on Catan: World Explorers, an AR title based on the classic colony-building game Settlers of Catan. While the game's mechanics aren't completely clear, it looks like it really is an attempt to squeeze Niantic's basic formula into Catan's world of hexagonal grids, road building and resource trading.
Niantic is adding gifting to ‘Harry Potter: Wizards Unite’
Taking a page from Pokémon Go, Niantic is adding gifting to Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The next time you launch the augmented reality game, you'll be able to find different colored boxes at the game's inns, fortresses and greenhouses, and then send them to your friends.
‘Pokémon Go’ users can add PokéStops and gyms with Niantic Wayfarer
Last week, Pokémon Go developer Niantic announced several new features for its AR game. One of the updates, Niantic Wayfarer, is now available for all trainers who have achieved level 40 or higher, allowing them to add real-world locations to the game's map. These spots can serve as Pokéstops (where you can buy supplies) or gyms (where you can battle other players). Qualified trainers can nominate a location after passing a short quiz. Others can then vote on whether or not the location should become a PokéStop or gym. The feature was available to select areas as a test, but it is now enabled worldwide.
'Pokémon Go' will let you play with your friends’ monster pals in AR
Niantic has been around for nine years now (it was originally part of Google before it spun out on its own), and the company is still going strong. A lot of that has to do with the success of Pokémon Go, as well as the recent debut of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Today, the company is making several announcements — a couple of improvements to Pokémon Go and new programs for small businesses and developers — that it hopes will fulfill its ever-growing AR ambitions.
'Pokémon Go' will introduce online battles in early 2020
Starting next year, you'll be able to put your Pokémon battle skills to the test against other players around the world. Niantic has announced a new Pokémon Go feature called Go Battle League, which builds upon Trainer Battles and enables online play. The company introduced Trainer Battles last year to give you a way to challenge nearby players, though you could also play against friends anywhere they are, as long as they in your Ultra or Best Friends lists. Go Battle League pits you against random players from all over the world through an online matching system.
‘Harry Potter: Wizards Unite’ gathered location data while users slept
It's no secret that games like Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Pokémon Go track their users' locations. But it can be alarming to see just how much data companies like Niantic have. As part of an extensive report on how tech companies are mapping the world, Kotaku revealed that Niantic's Wizards Unite, in particular, gathered a surprising amount of data.
Pokémon’s New York-inspired monsters join 'Pokémon Go' today
Starting today, September 16th, Pokémon Go players can begin collecting Pokémon from the series' fifth generation of games. As with any of the other Pokémon you could collect previously, you'll be able to catch Gen 5 monsters by finding them out on your daily commute, taking part in the game's co-operative 'Raid' mode and by hatching eggs. Some of the more notable additions included in today's update are Gen 5's three starters, Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott. For the full list of new Pokémon, as well as information on how to obtain them, visit developer Niantic's website.
'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' will track activity without running the app
Pokémon Go players have had the luxury of syncing their activity tracking with the game, but not Harry Potter: Wizards Unite fans. If you've wanted to unlock Portmanteaus or otherwise complete distance-based goals, you've had to keep the app running and kill your battery in the process. You might not have to put up with that for much longer, thankfully. Niantic has reportedly been emailing users promising that Adventure Sync is "coming soon" to Wizards Unite, letting players tie activity from their phone's fitness tracking to accomplishments in the game.
'Pokémon Go' has racked up 1 billion downloads
So much for Pokémon Go's initial success being nothing more than a fad. The Pokémon Company has released a series of videos in Japanese noting that Niantic's location-based mobile game has been downloaded over 1 billion times since launch. Some of those are re-downloads, and it's not clear how many players are active (Superdata estimated 147 million monthly users as of May 2018). All the same, it's an achievement for a game many thought might fizzle out after a few months.
Upgraded 'Pokémon Go' battles will have you swiping on the screen
Niantic finally launched trainer battles on Pokémon Go late last year, giving you a way to take on friends or any other random players you come across. Now, the game developer has started rolling out an upgrade for the feature that'll have you swiping on the screen. The Charged Attack mechanic in trainer battles used to be all about tapping on icons as fast as you could. After installing the update, though, you'll have to swipe on the screen to collect as many icons as you could to power up your Pokémon's attack instead. It's more Fruit Ninja than Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, but it could amp up your enjoyment if you never quite liked furiously tapping on your phone.
Niantic is shutting down Field Trip, its first app
Niantic built its reputation on location-based games like Pokémon Go, Ingress and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, but its roots are in its Field Trip app for finding nearby activities. And believe it or not, the company has kept the app going since 2012 -- even after the split with Google. Now, though, it's ready to wind down its original project. The team is shutting down Field Trip's services sometime later in 2019 in order to "prioritize" its efforts on augmented reality experiences.
A weekend with 'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite'
Mat Smith and Dan Cooper grew up in the UK at the right age to witness the birth of Pottermania. The Harry Potter novels are firmly encoded in their very British psyches, and both are fans of augmented reality, GPS-connected mobile games. So it made plenty of sense that they spend a weekend playing Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. One of them is a convert; the other, a hater, so let's watch them hash this out -- politely, of course.
'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' rolls out to 25 more countries
If you were disappointed at being left out of the initial Harry Potter: Wizards Unite launch, don't worry -- there's a good chance you can play now. Niantic's augmented reality sorcery is now available on Android and iOS in 25 more countries. This includes Canada and Mexico in the Americas as well as several European and Scandinavian countries, including France, Ireland, Germany, Norway and Sweden. You can also expect to play in a handful of other places around the world, such as India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' is available to play a day early
Niantic's Harry Potter: Wizards Unite officially debuts on June 21st, but you won't have to wait until then to play if you live in the right country. The location-based game is already available for would-be Android and iOS spellcasters in the US and UK -- not surprisingly, Niantic is welcoming early adopters in a likely effort to minimize Pokémon Go-style server overloads. Australia and New Zealand have had the game for weeks in a pseudo-beta test, but Niantic is clearly expecting the broader launch to be particularly demanding.
‘Pokémon Go’ creator buys hybrid board game company Sensible Object
Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go, is up to something -- but exactly what is yet to be revealed. Following a number of AR and game company acquisitions over the last 18 months, Niantic has now purchased London-based Sensible Object, a games developer probably best known for blurring the lines between digital and table-top gaming.
Niantic sues group of alleged 'Pokémon Go' cheaters
It's not just multi-platform gaming giants suing cheaters. Niantic has sued members of Global++ for allegedly offering "unauthorized derivative" (read: hacked) versions of Pokémon Go, Ingress and even the still-in-beta Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The modified mobile apps not only violate intellectual property rights, Niantic said, but "undermine the integrity of the gaming experience" by helping players cheat. This hurts player enthusiasm for the games and thus could "interfere" with Niantic's business.
Stop saying 'Minecraft Earth' is essentially 'Pokémon Go'
Minecraft Earth is a mobile AR game, but that doesn't mean it's Pokémon Go. Yes, it uses a mobile device. Yes, it superimposes digital objects on the physical landscape -- but that's just the definition of AR. Many stories and conversations about Minecraft Earth immediately compare it to Pokémon Go, describing it in terms of what's different or what's similar to Niantic's creature-collecting game. It'd be like contrasting The Life Aquatic with Billy Madison just because they're both shot with a camera and play out on a screen, but one happened to come out first. Pokémon Go and Minecraft Earth are vastly different experiences from the ground-up.
'Pokémon Go' will drop Apple Watch support after July 1st
If you're used to advancing your Pokémon Go game with an Apple Watch, you'll want to change your habits. Niantic is ending support for the Apple Watch after July 1st -- beyond that, you can't connect your watch to the creature-catching game. Simply put, it's not as useful any more. Now that Adventure Sync can track steps, earn Buddy Candy and hatch Pokémon on your phone, Niantic wants to "focus" on using the feature on one device instead of splitting your attention.
'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' is now beta testing in Australia and NZ
Niantic is giving Harry Potter fans in Australia and New Zealand the chance to be among the first to wave their augmented reality wands and vanquish rogue magical objects. The beta version of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is now live on the Apple App Store and Google Play in those two countries. Since it's just a test run, the company says the available features, languages, design and even the game's overall appearance aren't final -- they'll likely change based on the first players' feedback. Also, testers can expect to encounter bugs and unstable environments common to most beta software.
