Augmented reality has gone mainstream thanks to Pokémon Go, which has attracted even jaded New Yorkers into the game. And as Hans Klis reports, with so many young players, savvy retailers are using the game to try to catch ‘em all.
“Central Park is a good place to catch rats. Not just real ones”. The iconic New York City park is infested with Rattatas, says Jonathan Chu. The software programmer from Queens just started out playing the latest mobile craze “Pokémon Go.”
The Rattata is a very generic kind of Pokémon, he’s come to the park’s Sheep Meadow field to catch something more rare and exotic: like the dragon-like Charizard that attracted hundreds of players to the American Museum of Natural History or the plant Pokémon Venusaur that caused a stampede near West 83rd Street.
“A lot of people set out lures here in Central Park, so a lot of Pokémon pop up”. Chu hopes that he can catch better digital beasties here than near his home in Astoria Park.
Augmented Reality app “Pokémon Go” has taken the world by storm since its launch in June. It’s been downloaded more than 75 million times. The game is based on the popular Nintendo franchise and follows the same premise: you need to catch, train, and trade digital animals called Pokémon and battle other players to gain experience.
Read more of ‘Augmented Reality Helps “Pokémon Go” Players & Advertisers Try to Catch ‘Em All’ at Open Mobile.
