POKÉMON FANS DESPAIR AFTER SERVER CRASH
FANS of the gaming phenomenon Pokémon Go were in despair when its servers appeared to crash yesterday. The craze, an augmented reality game which has exploded in popularity, uses the phone’s GPS location data to allow players to roam the real world and catch virtual monsters.
But it would appear that the creatures were able to roam free yesterday afternoon, as fans posted on social media about how the server was down.
The system failure led to a Pokémon event in Swansea being cancelled, despite around 300 enthusiastic gamers turning up in the city’s Castle Square for the event.
Fans worldwide took to social media in their droves complaining that the cult game – which allows the user to go on virtual safari around the country’s streets hunting and capturing strange cartoon-like creatures – had crashed.
Attempts at playing the game saw them greeted by a message that said: “Our servers are humbled by your in- credible response. We are working to resolve the issue. Please try again soon!”
One devastated Pokémon follower tweeted: “I could definitely leave the house, but what’s the point if Pokémon Go servers are down?”
Another posted a cry for help, saying that he’d been out tracking the invisible creatures so intently on his mobile handset for so long that, when the server crashed, he looked up and realised he had absolutely no idea where he was. “Send for help,” he added. The world developed Pokémon fever this week as millions across the globe downloaded the free reality gaming app onto their smartphones.
Another Pokémon event – or Pokestop – has been set up for around 5pm today outside Cardiff’s National Museum of Wales.
Hundreds are expected to turn up in the hope of uncovering, in the unlikeliest of places, such characters as Squirtle the turtle, Charizard the dragon, Weedle the caterpillar and the coveted (and most famous of all) yellow rodent-like Pikachu.
Elsewhere in the world, though, the app has become infamous for a host of other reasons.
In San Diego, California, on Wednesday, two men in their early 20s fell an estimated 90 ft off a cliff after ignoring warning signs about the steep drop, in order to continue playing.
Elsewhere, in Missouri, players found themselves lured, via the game, to isolated spots in their area on the promise of encountering Pokémon, only to be then preyed on by armed robbers.
Similarly, two students in Hulme, Manchester, were also recently mugged at knifepoint and their phones stolen after they’d failed to pay attention to their surroundings.
Meanwhile, back in the USA, a teenage girl from rural Wyoming hooked up to Pokémon Go found herself stumbling upon a dead body.
“I was trying to get a water Pokémon,” she told police after making the grisly discovery while searching a river under the nearby Highway 789 Bridge.
“I guess I was only paying attention to my phone and where I was walking,” she said, admitting that it had taken her several minutes to spot the floating corpse, despite it having been mere feet away from her.
Another news service has also reported that one 15-year-old girl in Pennsylvania had been hit by a car after the app had sent her in search of Pokémon across a busy interstate during rush hour.
And in Alabama a 28-year-old man wrote off his car after crashing it into a tree while playing and driving.
Most tragically of all, however, a teenager in North Carolina was shot dead after he trespassed onto the private property of a 67-year-old widow.
It’s thought he tried to enter her house as she slept, in an attempt to find a rare Pokémon which had appeared on his phone.