In China, fears that Pokemon GO may aid locating military bases

The augmented reality (AR) app, which uses GPS-tracking and technology that superimposes a digital facade on the real world, is sending players out into their cities to capture Pokemon characters. The Pokemon copyrights are held by Pokemon Co. rather than Nintendo. For the moment, the game developer earns revenue from in-app purchases of virtual items and power-ups.

The augmented-reality mobile app launched in Australia, New Zealand and the USA on July 6. “I really looked forward to playing the Pokemon artificial reality game since they first announced it”. But Pokemon Go opens up a new opportunity for gaming.

Still, since “Pokemon Go” is based on US company Niantic Labs’ “Ingress” game, it made sense for the game to launch overseas first, says Tokuriki, who has a popular blog about technology.

The game is already available in many countries, and I think the parents have a responsibility because no one wants to expose themselves or their children to any possible threat.

The augmented reality game – in which players walk around real-life neighbourhoods to hunt and catch virtual cartoon characters on their smartphone screens – has been blamed in the United States for several robberies of distracted mobile phone users and auto crashes. Finally, they succeed in playing the game.

A report by SimilarWeb indicates that users were spending more average time per day on Pokemon Go (43 mins) than they were spending on Whatsapp (30 mins), Instagram (25 mins) or Snapchat (23 mins).

That strategy foundered as the company posted losses in two of the last five fiscal years, hit by competition from smartphones and unfavorable exchange rates. “It will be available in other countries around the world in the days ahead”, a notice on Niantic Labs website said this week.

The cops aren’t the only ones issuing warnings – Montreal’s metropolitan transportation agency has asked riders to respect safety rules when going in search of Pokemon near it’s facilities, posting a photograph of one of the game’s monsters by a railway track as a train approaches.