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Nintendo Stock Price Up 9% After Pokemon Go Launch (venturebeat.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the revolutionary-new-way-to-exercise dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Following the release of the location-based mobile game Pokemon Go, Nintendo's stock is up 9 percent on the Tokyo Exchange. VentureBeat reports: "The iOS and Android app debuted Wednesday evening in the United States, and it has fans outside walking around looking for digital creatures to catch on a GPS-powered world map. The free download shot to No. 1 on the top-grossing chart in less than a day. With that level of demand, developer Niantic is having trouble keeping its servers up, and players are complaining about outages and connection issues. It comes from The Pokemon Company International, which is a separate entity that Nintendo only owns one-third of in partnership with Pokemon developers Creature Inc. and Game Freak. Having even just a piece of the Pokemon Go party should mean significant revenue for Nintendo, but this also keeps the brand relevant."

46 comments

  1. I love this game by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sadly, I never leave my house, so all I can capture is MissingNo.

  2. Game servers or login servers? by Todd+Knarr · · Score: 1

    A friend reports it's only people logging in through Nintendo's Pokemon Trainer accounts who are having problems, players using Google accounts are OK. That'd point to a problem in Nintendo's login servers rather than the Pokemon Go game servers themselves.

    1. Re:Game servers or login servers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Nah it's the game servers. I've been booted multiple times after successful login with my Google account. Sometimes you can even get into the game but it won't connect long enough to download the pokestop information and will just keep on trying to connect.

    2. Re:Game servers or login servers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That might explain why club.pokemon.com is undergoing "maintenance" and won't let me sign up for a new account...

    3. Re: Game servers or login servers? by jsh1972 · · Score: 1

      I was in the closed beta since early June, and use my Google account to log in to the official game. Testers never once had the server issues that we've been seeing continuously since launch.

    4. Re:Game servers or login servers? by emag · · Score: 1

      Nope, I don't have a Pokemon Trainer account, logging in only through a Google account, and until about 19:30 or so EDT, I literally cannot login to the game without getting a server error.

      --
      "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
  3. Corpses == profits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    19-year old girl find dead body while playing Pokemon Go! Buy on Nintendo! Buy buy buy!

    Also Mexican kids are dying while playing the game. Shares up 9%! Buy buy buy!

    1. Re:Corpses == profits? by mlts · · Score: 1

      Final form, perhaps?

    2. Re:Corpses == profits? by Z80a · · Score: 2

      Its the Darwin award in action.

  4. Disgusting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    another shiney, blinking asian POS toy for over-excited asperg [man]childs

  5. Still not interested by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe I'll check this out of the Kardashians or Katy Perry starts playing.

  6. Using while driving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can see ALOT of people having accidents playing the game while driving. It's a great way to quickly capture lots of stuff, but is your safety worth it?

    1. Re:Using while driving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A speed lockout like in their previous game makes it difficult to do much while driving except at slow speeds.

    2. Re:Using while driving by emag · · Score: 1

      Unlike Ingress, this is *not* a game I'd attempt while driving, at least capturing Pokemon or attacking gyms. Getting gear from the Pokestops is easy enough to do, but the rest requires way more concentration which isn't conducive to vehicular play...

      --
      "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
    3. Re:Using while driving by emag · · Score: 2

      Yeah, Niantic may need to implement the speedlock/sandbox they have with Ingress, especially since several interactions require even more attention than "tap, hack". I can confidently hack portals in Ingress while driving (under 35 mph) with no fear of losing control. Needing to spin a pic at a Pokestop is slightly more involved. Needing to toss Pokeballs or battle at a gym is *way* too involved to do while driving...

      --
      "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
    4. Re:Using while driving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If you're playing any game while driving then your license should be revoked permanently.

    5. Re: Using while driving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, including games like I Spy, and other actions like the radio and AC. Cars are smart enough to know if there is a passenger, since there is a weight sensor to enable/disable the passenger side air bag. No passenger - then the radio and other controls should be locked while the car is in gear.

    6. Re:Using while driving by catprog · · Score: 1

      What about passengers in the car or train?

      --
      My Transformation Website
      Kindle Books http://www.catprog.org/rev
      Interactive CYOA http://www.catprog.org/st
  7. How long until the cheaters take over? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are there any kind of global score boards associated with this?

    Or is it strictly a single player thing with options for multiplayer trading?

    I don't know about Android, but under iOS Core Location has a debugging mode where you can feed the system any arbitrary GPS coordinates you want. Usually this is done via Xcode and only for debug builds, but it's not hard to trigger the same behaviour via a jailbroken device for a release application.

    Do they actively record and monitor the GPS coordinates to prevent your phone from teleporting around the globe? They're clearly recording the GPS coordinates of the active users, since spawns appear to be generated based on the density of active applications within a given area. Whether or not they're logging enough of those on a per-user basis for reliable anti-cheat, I dunno... Even something as simple as logging 4-5 GPS coordinates per user can take up a ton of disk space when you scale it up by a few million users.

    1. Re:How long until the cheaters take over? by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 2

      They'll handle it the way they have with Ingress the past 3 years. This isn't Niantic's first game, and all the shit in pokemon go is based on locations in Ingress.

      --
      You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
    2. Re:How long until the cheaters take over? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even something as simple as logging 4-5 GPS coordinates per user can take up a ton of disk space when you scale it up by a few million users.

      Their previous game, Ingress, would enforce a maximum speed limit between actions and lock you out if you went too fast. That just requires the location of your last action, which is probably being recorded already. It isn't perfect at stopping spoofing, but is enough to limit it to smaller locations. And it does mean that if you drive on the interstate for a while or take a flight somewhere, you might need to wait an hour or two before playing at the destination.

      And besides, you just need ~64 bits for a gps location, and an int or two for user id and action. Even if you spent a whole whopping 32 bytes per entry, 10 million users would still amount to less than a GB for storing three locations each.

    3. Re: How long until the cheaters take over? by jsh1972 · · Score: 1

      They tried as hard as they can to make go kid friendly: no comm chat, no Intel map, no direct conflict like within ingress. The battle dynamic is completely different in go. I'm sure some griefers will think of ways, it seems pretty well thought out.

    4. Re:How long until the cheaters take over? by ShakaUVM · · Score: 1

      The way the system works is that the first time you take an action, it creates a virtual sphere that grows at a certain rate (something like 15 miles per hour?). If you take any actions outside of that sphere, then you get locked out for 15 to 30 minutes.

      So catching a flight isn't an issue, the sphere will have expired by the time you land. Driving on the interstate could potentially be problematic if you hit a portal, speed to another place, and then hit another portal within 15 minutes.

      The common case that it fails on the most, though, is the jitter you get right when you turn on GPS. If you are close to two portals when you turn it on, the jerking around as it tries to pinpoint your location can move you faster than 15MPH according to the app, and lock you out.

    5. Re: How long until the cheaters take over? by emag · · Score: 1

      Yeah, some people where I work really want to have PvP, but they don't play Ingress, so haven't seen the, um, drama associated with COMM, interactions, Intel maps, etc. I keep telling them that it's a Really Bad Idea, because even though they're adults and want to battle coworkers, there are so many bad, bad things that'll happen.

      --
      "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
    6. Re:How long until the cheaters take over? by emag · · Score: 2

      The speed bubble is ~35 mph, with a 30 minute timeout. That being said, I've been on flights with wifi, locked into the departing airport, and it's taken an hour or more to get out of the sandbox. Sucked transferring at DIA to BWI and driving home. Jitter really shouldn't play into it for more than a couple of minutes with close portals. Cell tower drift, on the other hand, while helping with Trekker, can screw you on a desk portal for a while (I've drifted 10s of km away sometimes).

      --
      "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
    7. Re:How long until the cheaters take over? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those numbers don't work out in the real world though, as I will quite frequently be locked out for 2-3 hours after landing after a 3-5 hour flight. And while I find that the speed you get locked out from doing anything at the moment is closer to 45 mph, the bubble grows faster. It is only on interstates going 70+ that I find I have to wait at the destination for things to catch up, while driving on smaller highways at 60 will let me do things within a minute of stopping, even after a couple hour drive.

      Also, a growing "virtual sphere" is just another way of describing the same idea of a maximum average speed limit between actions. You just need the location and time of your last action and divide the change in location by change in time of your next attempted action to compare to a limit.

    8. Re:How long until the cheaters take over? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      I found a portal in ingress that was most easily accessed by charging at a brick wall, then taking a dive at the last moment and curling up around the phone. It loses GPS, carries on extrapolating, and you can 'slide' on past the brick wall and travel just far enough to reach the portal on the other side.

      I don't play Ingress any more.

    9. Re:How long until the cheaters take over? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You stopped playing a game because your avatar could phase through walls? That sounds hella cool.

  8. Also known as... by Huge_UID · · Score: 1

    Tinder for Geeks.

    1. Re:Also known as... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Almost all of the gyms/hotspots are located inside churches, which means it's really Tinder for Priests. Considering the target demographics that works....

    2. Re: Also known as... by corwinsr · · Score: 1

      Uh, yeah, that's bullshit. Most of them are open areas like parks, libraries, stores and actual gyms.

  9. Wasn't this the Slashdot consensus by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 1

    Nintendo would make soooo much money if they shifted focus to making games for mobile, and even porting old Ip through emulators

    --
    God spoke to me
    1. Re:Wasn't this the Slashdot consensus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think a PC release of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild would sell 10 million copies, and a PC/PS4/XBox release would sell 100 million copies.

      I'd buy the game, but there's no way I'll buy a Nintendo.

  10. Evolution... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So when does Pokemon GO evolve into an actual game rather than the tedious pedometer it currently is? How many candies are required?

  11. As You can See... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nintendo Is Gods Gift To Furry's

  12. (Furious typing) by Zanadou · · Score: 1

    $ sudo pokemon go stop

  13. Hack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I put a snickers in the 7th pocket of my North Face jacket while I've been walking on the shore of this beach, with one leg in the water and one leg out of the water, for what seems like forever yet Pokemon Go says it doesn't have service. :-(

  14. Control = cash flow by dbIII · · Score: 0

    They could be another tiny player in Apple's walled garden or they could continue with their own platform, have others write stuff for them and take a cut.
    Remember that most games on Nintendo's stuff are not written by Nintendo.
    If they are only selling their in-house stuff on another platform it would be a drop in the bucket.

  15. Also Anker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am going to guess that Anker will also increase their premium battery charger sales once the Pokemon players start feeling the drain on the phone batteries.

  16. Pokemon Go! (To Church) by bheerssen · · Score: 2

    Maybe this will finally convert those heathen millennials.

    --
    (Score: -1, Stupid)
  17. A success for Nintendo? You know what that means! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Time to treat developers like shit.