Pokemon Go comes to Kolkata; game geeks are excited

KOLKATA: Sneh Saluja was on his way to office on Wednesday morning when he bumped into an old acquaintance he had almost given up all hopes of meeting, Koffing.

Yes, the spherical “creature” with an inflated body, two pointed teeth in the upper jaw and skull and crossbones below his face showed up near the Ruby crossing. This was not any zombie but a Pokemon.

Pokemon Go, the popular augmented-reality smartphone game, made its official foray into India late on Tuesday night, nearly six months after its official launch in some other countries. And the game geeks in Kolkata could not have more of it.

Since late on Tuesday evening, social media platforms and groups were abuzz with the news that Pokemon Go was arriving in Kolkata officially.

“I was crossing the Ruby junction when my phone buzzed. I was pleasantly surprised to see the notification. There was a Pokemon in the vicinity. I immediately caught it,” said Saluja who then informed his partners in Pokemon crime who immediately set out to catch as many Pokemons as possible.

Soon after its launch Pokemon Go had proved an instant phenomenon, sending players into the streets with their smartphones in search of creatures called Pokémon. They visit virtual Pokestops, fixed locations, often linked to landmarks, where players can gather items used in the game, and “gyms,” where they can join teams and train and battle Pokemon.

Though the games was not officially launched in India but it could be downloaded from a particular website and played. That stopped within a few days.
But on Wednesday morning the official of Poekmon Go put out this notification: “We’re excited to announce that you can now download and play Pokémon GO officially ….in India and other South Asian countries including Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.”

The game geeks in the city are excited. Plans are already afoot to venture out at midnight over the weekend in search of Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle and many other Pokemon.

“I do not have to worry about anything now. I can play Pokemon uninterrupted. We have already made plans on our Whatsapp to go out on a midnight trail on Saturday night,” said Sneh’s friend and colleague Ritesh Kumar Swain.

What had made the game popular to the level of addiction is that Pokestops, creatures in the digital world, and other features in the real world overlap with each other. Players capture the many types of Pokemon and then use them to battle on teams for control of locations known as “gyms”.

In India, Niantic has tied up with a private telecom service provider the outlets of which are the Pokestops and gyms.

It is natural that with such soaring popularity the game is bound to draw some global alarm too. While some countries termed it a threat to internal security while some others said it was anti-religion.

In order to make it safer, the developers have added some new features. For example, if a player is driving and playing, the app will sense that the player is moving too fast. But players have already figured ways to circumvent that.

Vedika Agarwal intends to go out Pokemon hunting on Saturday night with her group of friends. Though they will be in a car yet they will go very slow.
“If we move fast we will not be able to play due to the security feature. If we go slow it will seem that we are walking,” said the second year old student of a south Kolkata college.