Geek Beat: Exploring the Explosive Pokemon Go Craze

There was no way to avoid talking about Pokemon Go this morning, considering how massively popular the newly launched game has become in just a few days. But this morning’s Sunrise “Geek Beat” segment allowed me to spend a little time giving credit where credit is due. Before there was Pokemon Go, after all, there was Ingress, a geolocation based came that was hatched out of Niantic Labs while it was still part of the Google family.

I was crazy for Ingress, which had me walking 20,000 steps a day during the peak of my addiction. But the storyline was dark and the gameplay was complex, whereas Pokemon Go is simply adorable. But Niantic was able to learn a lot from Ingress players, not the least of which were the locations of the unique local landmarks that now serve as “Pokestops” in the new game.

We also talked about the potential pitfalls of public Pokemon play, and what new features could keep players hooked long into the future.

You can watch the video embedded above, or on YouTube.