POKEMON fever grips borough
THE latest craze in video games has arrived in Runcorn and Widnes with Pokemon Go.
People may have been perplexed at the sight of their neighbours and friends wandering about while engrossed by their mobile phones screens more than usual.
They may well have been stalking imaginary Japanese cartoon creatures called ‘Pokemon’.
The games work using ‘augmented reality’ and superimpose images of the beasts over the real world view of the phone-user’s surroundings via the camera.
Players then wander around looking for the creatures, whose appearances are fixed to, and triggered by, global positioning system (GPS) satellites.
‘FlackaJack’, on Youtube, has posted a video of a Pokemon expedition around Runcorn including Wigg Island.
On Twitter, David Bromilow, @ DaveBrom1, announced he had found a ‘Magikarp’ on Mersey Road in Runcorn last Thursday, July 14.
Tracey Sankey-Jones, @MissTenaciousT, said Runcorn Old Town was ‘full of pigeons and rats’ in Pokemon Go.
Davey @daveygranger tweeted a picture of barren landscape showing no Pokemons in Runcorn lamenting that it was not as fertile a hunting ground as London, commenting that ‘it is not lit, my dudes’.
Shirley Humphries posted on Facebook that Pokemon Go was ‘good for getting the kids out and about’ as she had ‘never seen so many young people on Runcorn Hill’
Michael Mercer said ‘half of Runcorn’ are playing the game.
There is also a @RuncornPokemon account on Twitter.
Widnes has a ‘Pokemon Go Widnes’ Facebook page with 57 members at time of writing and listing finds such as Rob Moore’s discoveries of a ‘Geodude’ and ‘Bulba- saur’ and Rory Hough’s menagerie of creatures including a ‘Wartortle’.
Jon Wainwright revealed he was seeking Pokemon on Pickerings Pasture.
On Twitter, Widnes town’s branch of Game sought to capitalise on the craze by posting a slew of offers on tech products while Twitter user and Christian @Lauraleeleath used Pokemon Go to encourage residents to visit churches, which she said were ‘Pokestops’.
Some residents were less enthused, with Twitter user ‘ Mr Bump’ @bigglezuk tweeting ‘seriously... get a grip’.
The game has been portrayed as a breakthrough for augmented reality gaming in much of the national Press.
The Financial Times reported that shares in Nintendo – one of the franchise’s joint owners – had more than doubled since the game’s release.
However, a slew of incidents have allegedly been linked to the phenomenon.
The New York Post reported that players had been lured into an ambush by robbers and had discovered dead bodies while hunting for their virtual quarry.