Remember Pokemon Go, that thing everyone played before No Man’s Sky took over the news cycle? Good times.
- CNBC reports that y’all have way too much money, as apparently Pokemon Go accounts are trading for as much or more as League of Legends accounts. While some folks on a popular auction site are asking prices up to $1M, $2K seems to be the high-mark for LoLÂ accounts and the bar of popularity for other games. (I once sold some accounts for $1800, and that was over a decade ago in a tiny, old MMORPG, so color me unimpressed!)
- Reuters reports that Cambodia has banned playing Pokemon Go at the country’s Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a former Khmer Rouge prison. “We have guards on standby, any tourists holding iPhones or iPads and playing this game will be asked to leave,” the museum director said. “This is a place of sorrow, not a place to play games.”
- Venturebeat has a new interview with Niantic’s John Hanke, who discusses the concept of “real world social,” describes Ingress as a “cult hit” with 15 million downloads, and said the Pokemon IP came to them as an April Fool’s joke. The partnership with the Pokemon Company was an easy one thanks to the fact that its CEO was already a high-level Ingress player when they met. Hah!
- Police helicopters in Ontario, Canada, tracked and filmed a suspicious vehicle prowling around a neighborhood at 3 a.m., but alas, it was just a dude playing Pokemon Go. “There’s nothing more reflective of the state of our society in the wake of the Pokémon Go craze than when you watch the officer on the ground radio in that the suspect was only out trying to catch them all,” Kotaku quips. (The revelation in the helicopter video comes around 5:00 in.)
Thanks to Jacob for one of these tips!
