Tag Archives: Niantic

Convention News, The Mega-Blog

Pokemon Go Fest Has Been Kind of a Disaster

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Today, Niantic is holding their first ever live event for Pokemon Go in Chicago called “Pokemon Go Fest.” The event promised massive group raids, rare Pokemon, and goals that could eventually unlock Legendary Pokemon for players worldwide. What people have apparently gotten though are long lines and an inability to connect to the game.

Now, to be clear, the actual Niantic servers seem to be up. I myself just walked around and did a couple of raids. What’s at issue for attendees though is that the cellular networks covering the park are getting jammed by all of the players. I mean, it’s 20,000 people in a concentrated area, all attempting to go online at once.

Did no one think to see if the networks were capable of supporting an event like this before choosing the venue?

Niantic has apologized, and is offering all players who attended a refund and $100 worth of in game Pokecoins. Admission was only $25, but because tickets sold out so quickly many bought their entry through resellers. Those who overpaid said scalpers are (frankly) just going to be out of luck.

Hopefully everyone will learn some good lessons from this (like, say, blanketing the place in Wifi and paying for multiple fiber connections).

The Nerd & Tie Podcast

Episode 101 – The Mid-Move Mess

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On this episode of Nerd & Tie we deal with the ongoing move of our production studio, mourn the passing of Adam West, go through the highlights of E3, discuss the changes coming to Pokemon Go, review the confusing situation surrounding the Venom movie (and how it MIGHT still be MCU adjacent), and consider Wizard World’s money problems.

There are a few technical difficulties in the video too, but at least the audio version is largely clean?

This episode of Nerd & Tie was sponsored by Ohio Kimono

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Convention News, The Mega-Blog

Niantic Announces ‘Pokemon GO Fest,’ Whatever the Heck That Is

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This week Niantic announced that in celebration of the first anniversary of their popular game Pokemon Go, they’re hosting an event called “Pokemon Go Fest” in Chicago’s Grant Park on July 22, 2017. Tickets will go on sale on the official website on June 19th… and we have no idea what the heck it is.

Will there be Legendaries? Vendors? Anything beyond wandering around the park like every other meetup we’ve seen? We have absolutely no idea. But it’s a thing, it’s happening, and they’re going to charge money for it.

In that same announcement, Niantic wrote that separate European events are planned, there’s a Pikachu event in Yokohama, Japan this August, and that starting June 13th a Solstice event will kick off featuring fire and ice Pokemon. Finally, the company also mentioned that the game’s gym system is being reworked, a part of the game that is long overdue for an overhaul. It’ll be interesting to see how that bit turns out.

But yeah — something is happening in Chicago this July, and we have no idea what the heck it is.

The Nerd & Tie Podcast

Episode 93 – The Digression Paradigm

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On this episode of Nerd & Tie we discuss how Bill Paxton’s passing, Mystery Science Theater 3000‘s new season getting a release date, the addition of Generation 2 to Pokemon Go, Matt Reeves taking over The Batman, Syfy launching reality series Cosplay Melee, how “Jedi” is plural in The Last Jedi, and how Angry Goat Productions quietly cancelled their Sailor Moon Themed events.

Because who would have guessed that the company that cancels all of their events would cancel another.

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The Mega-Blog

‘Pokemon Go’ Adding Generation 2 Pokemon This Week

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Niantic’s Pokemon Go was the surprise hit of last summer, and while the user base has diminished greatly since its initial hype filled release, the game continues to have a dedicated group of players. I mean, running around, finding Pokemon, and fighting for gyms in the real world can be pretty fun. While there have been small updates and tweaks to the game throughout its release, we’re going to see the biggest update to the game yet this week.

Niantic posted a news update yesterday, saying that Generation 2’s Johto region Pokemon would be added to the game this week. Since it’s Thursday already, that has to be pretty damned soon.

The update will include 80 new Pokemon, including new evolution for existing ones. They’re also adding new interactions with the Pokemon, new berries, and new customizations fro the player avatars. Will this be enough to reinvigorate the player base? I don’t know.

But I plan on going out and trying to catch them at least.