Hoots and Haunters!

Hey there, Gamelings!

Yesterday was day 1 of the Pokemon Go Halloween Event!

What does this mean for you?

This means that Ghost Pokemon, namely Gastly, Haunter, Gengar, Zubat, Golbat, Drowzee and Hypno, will be more prevalent and you get DOUBLE the candy for catches, transfers, and hatches! 

(But not for evolutions... sorry.)

Who else is super excited?!?

Along with those wonderful gifts Pokemon Go has some other wonderful surprises that it has not mentioned!

There has been an increased number of Cubones, Marowaks and Meowths being sighted!

They have also given us a new loading screen!

Oooohhhhh!!!! Creeeeeeeepy!

This event goes from October 26th to November 1st.

Get up and Pokemon Go Trick-or-treating!

Have you seen any other frequent spawns? Have you noticed any other unannounced halloween event perks?
Leave us a comment and look out for ourofficial coverage posts of Phoenix Comicon's Fan Fest!

Source: BGR

Never PokemonGo anywhere without a buddy!

Howdy doody, Gamelings!

Another day has come and, as such, so has another Pokemon Go update.

Now, I must be honest with you, Gamelings.

If I'm not honest with you, what kind of journalist would I be?

Anyway...

To be completely honest...

I am a bad PoGo player.

I used to play constantly.

We'd go on family walks just to go catch Pokemon.

Now, though?

I've been stuck at 7.7km out of my only 10km egg for about 3 weeks.

I know...

I know...

What am I doing with my life?

Unfortunately the answer to that question is: Adulting.

So, naturally, when I saw that there was a new update available for PoGo my emotions ran the gamut from regret to guilt to apathy. 

I clearly didn't have time to play this game so why should I care?

Also, being reminded that it exists made me feel kinda guilty for ignoring it and it made me regret all of the time spent staring into the black abyss of "I'm so tired I could die" instead of playing PoGo.

I clicked on the "What's new" option to see what cool new feature they had added.
As usual it started with "bug fixes".

Ah, good ol' bug fixes.

Then it listed "Buddy Pets".

I read on to find out that "buddy pets" allows you to equip a certain pet as a "buddy" and earn candy for that pet as you travel certain distances.

This is friggin phenomenal for people, like me, who live in a less-populated area and STILL HAVEN'T EVOLVED THEIR FRIGGIN EEVEE! 

Your buddy will either stand behind you, beside you, or sit on your shoulder depending on how big they are!

PoGo screenshots courtesy of me and Bri. ;)

SO yea... this is now a thing.

"But how will I know just how far I have to walk to get candies for my Poke-dudes?"

Well HERE is a wonderful link that has them all listed!

You'll notice that the legendaries and ditto are listed.

Super cool!

It makes a lot of sense that buddy system would be put into place.

It would probably be the only way to get candies for legendary Pokemon.

Unfortunately this update also blocks root/jailbroken users!

I mean, that never stopped anyone before and it certainly hasn't stopped them now!

Now, while we DEFINITELY DO NOT endorse cheating, stealing, or any such stuff...
THIS LINK gives info on how to get around the user block.

You do you, booboo.

One final thing that users have noticed is that the game has Android Wear compatibility which enables users to use their android smartwatches as Pokemon Go Plus devices!

Super neato!

So...

I guess, now that I've updated my PoGo, I have no excuse.

It's time to get out there and

CATCH

THEM 

ALL!

Source: ComicBook, LifeHacker, Heavy

Leaders On Social Media

Pokemon Go has made everyone Pokemon-go-nuts!
Recently the leaders of each team have been publicized (YAY COMICON!).

Team Valor- Candela

Team Mystic- Blanche

Team Instinct- Spark

Team Valor believes that power is the most important thing in the Pokemon world and Candela mentions in her intro that she is researching ways to increase the Pokemon's natural power.

Team Mystic believes that knowledge, reason, and a cool head rule over all in the Pokemon world. They believe that you can unlock a Pokemon's true potential through evolution.

Team Instinct believes that trusting in the Pokemon's natural abilities, instinct, and decisions is the way to go. They think that the Pokemon's intuition is linked to how they were hatched.

While most people are fiercely loyal to their team, the team leaders seem to be less than competitive. In fact the majority of the internet seems to think that they are all friends. This, if you ask me, is awesome!

These characters have gained such a huge following that you can even follow them on  Facebook!

Candela

Blanche

Spark

They all have quite a friendly vibe about them.

Enjoy, everyone!

Source: Heavy, Pokemon Go

Trainers Rejoice In Trading

Let the Pokemon Trading Commence!

According to Niantic CEO John Hanke, players will soon be able to trade their Pokemon to other trainers in a future update to the wildly popular mobile game Pokemon GO.

We do not have even a guess-timation on the release date, time or even millennium that the patch will be released, but we have been assure that it WILL in fact happen. All we can hope for is that it will be sooner than later.

Now, if we could just get some server stability that would be nice too!

Source: Comicbook

Accio Go!

With the enormous success of Pokemon Go the nerd community cries out:

"LET US HAVE HARRY POTTER GO!"



Fans of the Harry Potter book series and movies are screaming out for an augmented reality game similar to Pokemon Go.
What better marketing for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?

It is a film, based in the wizarding world, about a man who is literally roaming about looking for all of the wayward "fantastic beasts".

While I am sure that, if this gets off the ground and Niantic teams up with good ol' J.K., they will give us a better name than "Harry Potter Go" I cannot wait to play it! The fans have set up a Care2 petition that is called "Accio Harry Potter Go: We Want a Harry Potter Version of Pokemon Go!"

This petition asks for features such as:
Finding and destroying horcruxes (with swords and basilisk fangs!!)

Casting spells

Finding and capturing magical creatures

Wizard duels with your friends

Temporarily disabling other people's apps with "Expelliarmus" in duels

Maybe it would even be cool to have a Quidditch mini-game!

If you want this as much as I do, go HERE to sign the petition!

As I write this, they have a 9,000 signature goal and are already at 8,772!!

Also, Tweet J. K. Rowling and Niantic and play matchmaker!




Remember to catch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them! In US Theaters on November 18, 2016.

Lightning, Water, Fire, and Air! We Love Our Eevee-Lutions and We Don't Care!

Pokemon Go has created a lot of buzz (both negative and positive).
The memes alone number in the thousands at LEAST!
Along with such a craze is sure to come rumors, theories, and conspiracies.

The latest theory seems a bit far-fetched but who knows? Maybe it works.

This theory suggest that, in order to obtain the Eevee-lution that you desire (between jolteon, flareon, and vaporeon), you must nickname the Eevee Sparky, Pyro, or Rainer.

That's right...
You have to name the Eevee after the original Eevee trainers, The Eevee Brothers, to obtain that type of Eevee-Lution.



Redditor SmithNigel came up with the theory and made this post to inform people.

PSA - How to force your Eevee to evolve into your choice of Eeveelution! from pokemongo

After receiving, what seems to be, a massively positive response the theory seems to have some solid base. It will only work once for each Eevee-Lution, though, it would seem.
Have you tied this theory out?
Did it work for you?
Let us know in the comments!
We will update this post with each experience!




Update: Our very own writer Bri has confirmed that this works!!!! Here is a ScreenCap of her Jolteon!

Update #2: We have an anonymous comment that confirms that it works but only the first time!

Source: Thrillist, Reddit

Wait, They Don't Catch You Like I Catch You. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaps. Wait...

THE MAPS ARE FINALLY HERE 

While searching the web this evening trying to see if anyone has started tracking their Pokemon sighting at all, I stumbled across something called PokeCrew. It is a map that piggybacks off of Google Maps to give a startlingly accurate world map where people all over the world are reporting their Pokemon sightings. All you have to do is look up your location, and see what people in your area are finding. I highly recommend creating a free account yourselves and reporting your findings as well, as helping other trainers out is the wonderfully nice thing to do! 

You can find the PokeCrew maps →  HERE  ←   

HAPPY HUNTING

Thoughts on Pokemon Go from a stay-at-home mother of 4

I will start with the bad stuff and work my way to the good... 

Pokemon Go is just not a game made for people like me. It is more of a single-people game. This game requires you to get up and go within a moment's notice to find the Pokemon of your dreams. When you are stuck at home with 4 crazy kids and you see a Clefairy down the street, your heart sinks knowing that it is either, leave your kids home alone or just let it go.

 

This game can be life-consuming. It has only been a couple of days and already I know of people who have skipped work, slammed on their brakes, and didn't sleep... All in the name of catching Pokemon. 

On the other hand, it is making my family happier. Let me elaborate on that... Before this game our evening routine was: 

dinner

shower

play

bed

Now our routine is filled with much more togetherness: 

dinner

family walk (to catch Pokemon and visit Poke-stops)

shower

bedtime story

bed

When we take our family walks every evening we discover new things we had never seen before. We are able to have fun hunting and catching Pokemon!
My daughter caught her very first Pokemon yesterday!

isn't it cute?

As for the stay-at-home parents like me, if you feel the need, you can buy incense and put those out. The Pokemon will come to YOU. You will be the king/queen of catching Pokemon from your couch/kitchen/laundry room/bed/etc.

Pokemon Go has also united my community in a BIG way! I have made friends with people I would have never met through my town's Pokemon Go Facebook group! We share tips, tricks, rants, etc. on there and we have divided the messages up into teams. I am Team Mystic (Blue) and we have our own chat where we discuss Pokemon Go, safety tips, and our next moves against the other teams!

Pokemon Go is a wonderful game for (almost) everyone!

Have fun out there and be safe!

Angry Gamer Rant #2 (WTF Nintendo)

Sooooo, as of July 5th 2016 Pokemon Go has been officially released! 

….. 

In AUSTRALIA 

….. 

REALLY??!?!?! Wanna know what kind of pokemon they are getting over there? 

Hahahah No seriously tho, I have several awesome friends in Australia that I love dearly. And I’m glad that Nintendo finally did the right thing and gave the Aussies something first, rather than making them wait several months, or even years before they could play something. But come on Nintendo…. 

In an age when your friends that know you best are just a “click away” Why did you not opt for a simultaneous, worldwide release?  I get that your servers would have totally crashed in a fiery explosion that would have rivaled that of Krakatoa, but that would have been a wait that we could have dealt with, not making the rest of the world cry while we wait as impatiently as a toddler that has been told that they can eat their weight in candy… in five minutes. 

WHY, NINTENDO WHY?! 

**UPDATE**

Pokemon Go is ours now and we could not be happier.

Pokemon Go! It Exists!

HELLO FRIENDS! (Incoming frantic and not-well-thought-out post/rant)

I may be a little excited

I woke up to news today that Pokemon Go has been released in the US (and a few other, slightly less-important, countries, like Japan.) I mean, I guess they had to have it, since they made it, but still.

For those that don’t know (where have you been the past year?) Pokemon Go is an Augmented Reality game created by Niantic, the creators of Ingress (another AR game, that was kind of like the Matrix, or something.)

You're not Neo in that game either

What is Augmented Reality? Why, I’m glad you asked! It’s reality that has been augmented. Moving on.

Ok, seriously though, it’s a game for your phone that uses your GPS location, and roads, and landmarks around you, to ‘create’ the Pokemon world. Yes, you may have to walk around to catch your Pokemon, but that just adds to the fun! Right? Ok maybe not, cause I’m not walking three miles for… is that an Eevee? Ok, I would totally walk a few miles to catch some of these Pokemon.

It's more like shamble with me, anyway

This. This is the game I’ve wanted for so long. To be able to actually go out into the world and catch these Pokemon. You level up and evolve your Pokemon by catching more of the same Pokemon to get their particular “candy” to feed them. So a Pidgey needs Pidgey Candy to level up and evolve.

So far, there’s only 250 spots in the Pokedex, but we’ll see if they add more in the future, and I don’t know how Legendaries are being worked.

SPEAKING OF THE POKEDEX

Pokemon locations change in real time. That means, that place that you went before and found a Weedle? Might be swarming with Zubats that night.

Your Repel Wore Off

There are also Gyms, which I haven’t figured out exactly how to work yet, but I’m sure someone will comment to tell me how.

I’ve heard that once you hit a certain level, you can go to a Gym and choose a Team (Red, Blue, or Yellow.) I don’t know how these work, exactly, either.

Oh! And you get to choose your Starter! Between the Gen I starters (that’s Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle.)

I picked this guy!

There will likely be more on this in the near future, so stay tuned!