Tag: pokemon

Angry Pokemon Go-Fest Attendees sue Niatic

If you read my previous article regarding Pokemon Go-Fest, you might notice that some people were unhappy with the entire experience. People came all over the world to Chicago to catch Legendary Pokemon and experience an event dedicated to a game they enjoy on a daily basis. But constant game failures, lack of response, long lines in summer heat and slow fixes led to a complete event failure for Niantic. To apologize, they refunded all the attendees, gave them $100 worth of in-game currency, and Lugia. It was inevitable that somebody would sue Niantic and the first person was Jonathan Norton from California. Thomas Zimmerman is a Chicago lawyer who is supporting his and other people’s cases.

Since Jonathan’s first lawsuit, 20 – 30 lawsuits have followed as of July 27. They are mostly suing for negligence and Niantic not refunding participants’ plane ride ticket to Chicago.  Zimmerman stated

“Niantic is not offering to refund people’s travel expenses for coming to Chicago. Most of the people came from out of state, many people from other countries — I talked to someone who flew in from Japan.”

While Niantic did extend the time of the event and increase the range for catching Pokemon, Zimmerman stated it wasn’t enough. He stated

“The issue is, what was promised, what was the incentive that people relied on and the representations that people relied on to buy a ticket and make travel plans and fly to Chicago to participate in this festival, would they have done that had they known that that was not going to be lived up to and they weren’t going to get the experience that was represented?”

Opinion:

I personally think that paying for everyone’s plane ride ticket is too much. Yes, the event failed to meet anybody’s expectations but if you purchase a ticket, there is always a risk. This is the same for any concerts or any outdoor events. Regardless of how awful it is, companies don’t owe you for the trip because they didn’t plan the ride.

Do you think Niantic should refund participants for their plane tickets? Or do you think this is too much?

Sources:

Polygon

Chicago Sun Times

Pokemon GO Fest ends in Complete Disaster

If you still play Pokemon Go, you might have heard of a huge event called Pokemon Go Fest. Held by Niantic, developers of the Pokemon Go App, the event was held in Chicago, Illinois. The concept was to host a park area where Trainers would work together to capture legendary Pokemon. Fans from all over the state and the world flocked to the area. Tickets were $20 to even attend such at Chicago Park. Their goals had good intention and it sounded like Niantic would finally deliver the experience players wanted; however, it failed horribly and has been a huge disaster for the company.

Many players attending were unable to log on to the game. Countless Trainers around failed to log on. The CEO, John Hanke, and their Marketing Officer were booed on stage and were shouted at by players to “fix the game.” As a sign of apology, they increased the range of the event itself by 2 miles. Animations were slowed down to run the game in the area leading to choppy animation but the Trainers were able to play the game and catch the legendary Pokemon and more.

As a final form of apology, Niantic has promised to give $100 worth of PokeDollars to Trainers who purchased a ticket. They also will refund them the price of the ticket and obtain a free Lugia.

Sources:

Niantic Pokemon Go

The Verge

Polygon

Opinion:

Niantic screwed up. They have never been able to handle the load of players or properly gauge the amount who would be interested in playing. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt because they are a smaller company but they should have servers set for a number of people. A Gaming company should test the numbers before even considering hosting an event of this calibre. People travelled from all over to have a good event and they were met with crushed experiences. Hosting a live event always has the potential of being a complete backfire on the company and it happened. I still play Pokemon Go and I don’t particularly enjoy it because of the technical issues and the lack of interaction despite the game being a year old. It’s basic and overall, a pretty boring experience. I’m not surprised this event failed and that they didn’t have servers that could handle the amount because they have never proved themselves to be capable of doing it. It’s their own fault again and I feel no empathy for a company that has constantly disappointed their fan base.

TLDW: POKEMON DIRECT June 6, 2017

The Pokemon Team and Nintendo held a Direct specifically for Pokemon today. They announced:

Pokken Tournament DX:

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An updated version of Pokken for the Nintendo Switch. It will come with 5 new characters. 4 Pokemon that were only released in Japan’s Arcade: Darkrai, Empoleon, Scizor, and Croagunk and the new addition is Decidueye from Pokemon Sun and Moon. They will also include new support Pokemon as well. The game will also include a 3v3 mode, Daily Challenges, and everything will be unlocked. If you are attending E3, you can play the demo available there. Pokken Tournament DX will release September 22, 2017.

Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon: Not much was revealed but it is an alternative story from the original Pokemon Sun and Moon. There will be new Pokemon, moves, and a new form for Solgaleo and Lunala. The forms are shown on the image below and you can see influences from Necrozoma, the Legendary Ultra Beast Pokemon. The game will be released November 17th, 2017 worldwide.

pokemonultrasunandultramoon.jpg

Pokemon Gold and Silver will be released on Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console on September 22nd. The Pokemon can also be transferred into the Pokemon Bank which will allow you to transfer them into the current generation games.

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For the Entire stream and my source, you can check out the Nintendo Direct below.