Well the UK release of Pokemon Go occurred on Thursday 14th July and I reinstalled the App to my complete lack of surprise it failed to logon restarted the App and tried to logon again again again...until I closed it down. If I tried to register not through my Google account it pointed me at a site that told me due to the high number of new accounts being created they have limited the number that can be added at any one time.
Before all of this however I visited the town (was a city until they forgot register for it) Rochester, Kent, UK. It is a level 8 Ingress Enlightened (Frogs) farm of about eighty portals, I play for the Resistance (Smurfs). The thing about Ingress is you get to blow stuff up as opposed to catching fluffy animals and then training them to fight one on one battles for you. Blowing stuff up in an augmented reality is quite a de-stresser and at same time creates an adrenaline boost so much so I was quite wired for the rest of Thursday, however it reminded me of how much I like the game.
Do I want to blow stuff up for real, DEFINITELY NOT! There are other aspects of Ingress like creating farms, fielding, hacking kit, glyph hacking kit, guardians etc which allows you to play the game the way you want.
You have chat within the game also, unfortunately any form of open chat environment on the Internet always leads to Trolls. Pokemon Go does not have chat functionality whatsoever not surprising since there is no age limit on Pokemon Go unlike Ingress which is set to thirteen and older, you do not want young kids subjected to trolls through the game. They get enough of that via every other form of social media.
Ingress has the capability to trade items between players unfortunately this can lead to cheating in the form of dual accounting whilst Pokemon Go does not have that feature at the moment. Although one of the first reviews I read of the game suggested that trading would be part of the game. Maybe that will be in a future release.
The thing about Ingress is that you can play as a lone wolf or as a team player or both it is entirely up to you. From what I have seen of Pokemon Go so far it is centered on single player game play whilst it does have some team aspects not nearly as much as Ingress.
My suggestion to you is if you have kids let them play Pokemon whilst you play Ingress. The PokeStops/Gyms are a direct copy of the Ingress Portals although they have thinned them out somewhat.
Ingress is the grown up version of Pokemon Go not surprising since it came first and is effectively its parent game.
Pokemon Go in its first week generated $14.04 million since its release whereas Ingress has only made $1.1 million this however is a poor comparison since Ingress only recently added a purchase system on the App last year whereas Pokemon Go started with it and Pokemon itself is a huge well known brand.
The irony is that the child has far surpassed its parent in earnings alone.
Additional note: Pokemon Spawn points are linked to XM generation in Ingress.
Showing posts with label Smurfs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Smurfs. Show all posts
Saturday, 16 July 2016
Tuesday, 31 May 2016
Ingress - Its Full of Triangles!
Note: this is not a review!
I have been playing Ingress which is a GPS augmented-reality based game on my Smart-Phone for the last two years and I have finally got to the point where it no longer holds any appear for me whatsoever, it has become more habit now than any enjoyment.
The game itself is very simple and has a quite addictive game play to it which will keep you happy for at least two years (in my case) or a few months in others. Besides the game itself it has a fairly strong social element which had a definite appeal to me, I always like meeting new people plus it does get out you of the house walking in the fresh air. Other forms of travel are also used:
The game is played all over the world, it also has big events called Anomalies normally centered in several big cities around the world. You can have many as six hundred players in each city battling it out. Apparently there are seven million players world wide as opposed to World of Warcraft that have just over five million although I suspect the fresh air in World of Warcraft is probably virtual.
Sounds amazing doesn't it? Well Yes and No, I went to Cardiff in 2015 for the Shonin event which was extremely well organized and I did love the social side however the game itself I was bit bored with to be honest. It was completely different to the normal game you play which I definitely preferred at the time.
There is a story to game which is sort of simple, two factions one called the Resistance aka Smurfs (Blue) and the other called the Enlightened aka Frogs (Green). The Frogs are fighting for a bunch of green bug-eyed aliens called the Shapers who are meant to bring enlightenment (hence the name) to all humanity. The Smurfs are against that idea although I understand there is another bunch of aliens on the side of the Smurfs which is where the story becomes a little more complex. The problem I have with the story is that whatever the players do in the game it appears to have no effect upon the story line. Although I could be completely wrong on this aspect since I have not delved deeply in the back-story since the early days of my play.
This guy lasted two months and much of what he says I agree with:
http://www.baconfatlabs.com/2014/09/leaving-ingress-my-ascendency-and-decline-as-an-agent/
However I have not quit yet just playing a lot slower, I am level 14 and there is only two levels to go. Then its maxing out your badges none of which have much allure.
The upshot is that I have met a lot of new people and made some good friends in the process. The game play was good while it lasted, I liked the strategy of it.
Without giving too much away I have found it curious that Enlightened players tend towards more a chaotic style of play whereas the Resistance are more ordered.
Irony strikes again!
I have been playing Ingress which is a GPS augmented-reality based game on my Smart-Phone for the last two years and I have finally got to the point where it no longer holds any appear for me whatsoever, it has become more habit now than any enjoyment.
The game itself is very simple and has a quite addictive game play to it which will keep you happy for at least two years (in my case) or a few months in others. Besides the game itself it has a fairly strong social element which had a definite appeal to me, I always like meeting new people plus it does get out you of the house walking in the fresh air. Other forms of travel are also used:
- Cargress - (walking can be slow)
- Traingress - (Greener especially when you do not own a car)
- Busgress - (This occurs when the trains are delayed)
- Helicoptergress (for those richer players)
- Swimgress (for those that have dry suits)
- Boatgress (for those that are either richer or have a friend with a boat)
The game is played all over the world, it also has big events called Anomalies normally centered in several big cities around the world. You can have many as six hundred players in each city battling it out. Apparently there are seven million players world wide as opposed to World of Warcraft that have just over five million although I suspect the fresh air in World of Warcraft is probably virtual.
Sounds amazing doesn't it? Well Yes and No, I went to Cardiff in 2015 for the Shonin event which was extremely well organized and I did love the social side however the game itself I was bit bored with to be honest. It was completely different to the normal game you play which I definitely preferred at the time.
There is a story to game which is sort of simple, two factions one called the Resistance aka Smurfs (Blue) and the other called the Enlightened aka Frogs (Green). The Frogs are fighting for a bunch of green bug-eyed aliens called the Shapers who are meant to bring enlightenment (hence the name) to all humanity. The Smurfs are against that idea although I understand there is another bunch of aliens on the side of the Smurfs which is where the story becomes a little more complex. The problem I have with the story is that whatever the players do in the game it appears to have no effect upon the story line. Although I could be completely wrong on this aspect since I have not delved deeply in the back-story since the early days of my play.
This guy lasted two months and much of what he says I agree with:
http://www.baconfatlabs.com/2014/09/leaving-ingress-my-ascendency-and-decline-as-an-agent/
However I have not quit yet just playing a lot slower, I am level 14 and there is only two levels to go. Then its maxing out your badges none of which have much allure.
The upshot is that I have met a lot of new people and made some good friends in the process. The game play was good while it lasted, I liked the strategy of it.
Without giving too much away I have found it curious that Enlightened players tend towards more a chaotic style of play whereas the Resistance are more ordered.
Irony strikes again!
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