The Pokemon GO presentation started off about as expected, with the developers showing some screenshots of Pokemon that had been collected at E3 2016. Fans following the project since its announcement have already seen plenty of screenshots like this in the past, so the real excited came when Miyomoto (possibly accidentally) started dropping some dates and prices.
Midway through the Q&A, Miyomoto began fielding a question about the GO+ wearable device. He explained that the device makes it possible to play the game without looking down at your phone at all. The device will vibrate when Pokemon or objects are nearby and users can catch Pokemon or pick up items without ever looking at the phone. The blinking lights on the device will indicate whether the catch was a success or a failure.
After describing the functionality, Miyomoto seemed to surprise everyone on stage by revealing that the device releases before the end of July for $34.99. The developers quickly joked that there were no promises the actual game would be out by July, but kind of came around to the idea before the end of the presentation.
No firm release date was given, but Ishihara explained…
That isn’t exactly a promise of a July release for the application, but it certainly sounds like the company wants to have it finished before the GO+ releases. If not, what exactly will consumers be doing with the GO+?
While explaining the uses of the GO+, the team also revealed that Pokemon GO and the GO+ will eventually tie-in to Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon. There was no explanation about how this will work at this point in time.
North American field tests for Pokemon GO only began a few weeks ago over Memorial Day weekend, so if a release date is right around the corner, perhaps that beta will open up to a wider audience very soon.
Do you think Pokemon GO will release in time for the GO+ launch? Let us know in the comments.
Pokemon GO releases sometime in 2016 for mobile devices.
