WEBVTT - How Pokemon Go Works 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:14.480 Get technology. With tex Stuff comes stuff stock Coom. Hey there, 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.680 and welcome to tex Stuff. I am your host, Jonathan Strickland, 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:21.280 and today is the day that I talked about the 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:24.560 game that took the world by storm. Everyone was either 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:27.320 playing it, knew someone who was playing it, or at 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:31.000 least was wondering what the heck was going on. Pokemon Go. 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:36.120 It's a thing. It's a big thing. So I want 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:40.040 to talk today about where it came from, how it works, 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:42.520 where it's going. What are some of the other weird 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.000 stories around it. You've probably heard quite a few of 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:47.319 them already. I'm going to kind of cover a lot 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:52.400 of that in today's episode. And yes, I have played 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:56.400 Pokemon Go. I am of an age that is over 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:59.760 the age of forty, which means that I was too old, 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.000 or rather too old is probably the wrong way of 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:04.640 putting it. I was not the right age demographic for 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:09.080 Pokemon when it first debuted, so it missed me. I 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:13.000 found myself mostly mystified by what Pokemon was, didn't really 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:16.319 understand when, uh, you know, the kids on the lawns 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:20.280 started talking about pokemons, which I understand they think is 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:22.440 not at all funny, which is the reason why we 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:25.800 old people keep saying it that way. Um, I wasn't 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:27.600 really in that age group, so I didn't get it. 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:31.440 It was kind of like magic the gathering. I didn't 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:33.680 get into that. So people who were really into it, 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.240 I it was like talking a different language whenever I 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:40.080 chatted with them. But now I played Pokemon Go a bit, 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:43.440 I'm starting to understand. I obviously, UH don't have the 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:46.679 depth of knowledge of the players who have been with 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:49.480 it since the very beginning, but I'm I'm starting to 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.160 actually understand what it is they're talking about now, which 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.720 is interesting. Uh. It is an interesting game, and I 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:58.440 see where the appeal is now. So let's talk about 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.560 a history of Pokemon itself before we get into Pokemon 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:05.280 Go and the company that created it. Uh. That goes 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:09.720 back to it's when a young man named Satoshi to 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:14.760 Jerry came up with an idea that would evolve into Pokemon. Evolution, 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:17.280 by the way, plays a big part in the Pokemon universe, 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:20.840 but I just happened to have chosen the word evolve 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:25.120 there to Jerry had already founded a video game magazine 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:27.480 earlier in the eighties with a couple of friends. That 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:31.200 magazine was called game freak, and he had even pitched 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.800 a few ideas to different game companies in the past. 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.120 He won a competition, I believe for Sega to pitch 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.120 a game idea in the early eighties. So he had 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:44.480 really loved video games for quite some time, to the 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:48.840 point where his his academic performance was suffering back when 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:53.360 he was in school, and had always been at least 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:57.840 wanted to be part of the video game culture and industry. 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:02.720 Now to Jerry, also, as a kid loved to catch 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.720 things like tadpoles and insects. He loved to catch and 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:09.840 collect them, and uh, he began to think about maybe 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.079 making a video game that had a similar kind of 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:16.120 purpose to it, like the idea of catching and collecting things. 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:20.560 And he had also seen the game Boy mobile device, 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.640 the handheld gaming console, as well as the game Link 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:27.400 cable which allowed two game boys to link together for 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:31.880 competitive or cooperative play, and it got the ball rolling. 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:34.560 He started thinking, well, what if I created a game 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:39.320 in which players seek out creatures to collect, then they 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:42.360 could also maybe trade creatures with each other. So let's 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:46.000 say I catch two of the same thing, and I 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:48.000 have two of them, but my friend doesn't have any 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.640 of them, but my friend does have another creature I 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.120 do not have. Maybe we can make a trade happen. 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:55.400 And then he thought, well, what if we could also 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.240 have these creatures compete against each other create a competitive 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:04.480 gameplay element, And so he pitched this idea to Nintendo. 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:08.960 At the time, he was calling it Capsule Monsters, the 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.840 idea being that you would use these little capsules to 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:15.880 capture the monsters themselves, and then the monsters would emerge 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:20.840 from the capsules. This was similar to some uh uh 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:24.480 some some Japanese shows that he liked a lot where 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:28.920 monsters and and creatures could pop out of seemingly impossibly 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:32.520 small containers. So you've got this tight little container that 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:35.760 suddenly pops open, and a creature much too large to 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.320 fit that container is there. He wanted to have that 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:42.040 element in it as well too. Jerry initially met with 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.799 some resistance from Nintendo when he was pitching this idea, 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.880 but eventually he got the green light to develop the game. 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.839 So over the next six years he refined his idea 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:54.200 and worked with the video game studio Creatures to create it. 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:57.839 They changed the name from Capsule Monsters to pocket Monsters 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:02.279 or Pokemon after in honoring a trademark Hurdle with the 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.839 original name, and the game launched in Japan in February 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:10.560 nine six. It's a very simple game, where you're simple 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:14.400 is being too dismissive. It was simple in concept. You 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:18.200 would capture these creatures and train them and and have 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:22.359 them battle other creatures and earned badges, and it was 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:27.840 really compelling gameplay. It struck a nerve, became extremely popular, 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.359 and two years later in it would come over to 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.120 North America and also find a lot of popularity here. 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:39.120 Now again that basic idea is simple. Player takes on 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:41.599 the role of a trainer. A trainer can seek out 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:46.240 and catch Pokemon. There's several broad categories of Pokemon, and 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.679 some are more effective at battling one type of creature 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.839 over a different type of creature. It's like a really 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.719 complicated version of paper rock scissors. So you've got a 0:05:56.720 --> 0:06:00.120 Pokemon that's of a certain type. It's more effect of 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:03.640 against creatures that belong to a different type, and less 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:07.159 effective against creatures who belong to a third type. So 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:09.840 you want to make strategic use of your Pokemon to 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:14.200 maximize your ability to beat your opponent. Now you're not 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:18.200 guaranteed to win or lose just because the type of 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:22.159 Pokemon you use is matched well or poorly against another one. 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:24.640 There are other elements at play here. It's not just 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:27.919 the type, but the type has a big influence. It 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.680 is definitely much easier to win if your type of 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:35.320 Pokemon is better suited against your opponent's type. So not 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:39.359 a guarantee, but definitely easier. Now, this idea became a 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.640 bit more complicated with the game mechanic of evolving Pokemon 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:47.080 into more advanced versions of that creature. Uh. In other words, 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:51.400 you could end up having your Pokemon transform, kind of 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:53.880 like going from caterpillar to butterfly. In fact, there are 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.080 several Pokemon that have a transformation that is similar to that, 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:02.320 and when they evolve, they typically are more powerful, their 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:07.880 attacks are different, uh, and generally speaking, they are better 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:11.680 than they were before. It's a little more complicated than that, 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:16.040 but that's the general idea now. The initial attraction is 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:19.440 that concept of collecting. To Jerry knew that lots of 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:23.400 people find satisfaction and seeking out and obtaining stuff like 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:27.040 almost like a scavenger hunt or treasure hunt. This was 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:29.840 one that had randomness inserted into it, so it wasn't 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.200 that you were absolutely certain to run into a specific 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.720 type of Pokemon at a specific point in the game. 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:37.840 There was a lot of chance that was involved as well, 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.840 and that led to that phrase that has been associated 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:44.760 with Pokemon ever since. I got to Catch them All. 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:47.200 You had to catch all the different types of Pokemon 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:50.840 out there. And in that initial Pokemon game that came 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.240 out for the Game Boy or games, I should say, 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.600 there were about a hundred and fifty one of them. 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.360 Hundred and fifty of them were published before the game 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:01.720 even came out, or announced before the game came out. 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:05.200 The hundred fifty first, which was Mew, was kept as 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:09.360 a secret until after the game came out, and the 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:14.760 games were insanely popular. They inspired manga and anime series, 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:19.120 They inspired toys, they inspired a trading card game as 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.200 well as other merchandise, and there have been multiple games 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:26.080 in the series. Typically, later games would add even more 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:30.000 Pokemon and more evolutions to the world, so you would 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:36.200 get a lot more with the various uh additional versions 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.880 of the game that came out. So that's the history 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:44.120 of Pokemon in a nutshell, a very short version. Let's 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:49.360 talk about the technological foundation for Pokemon Go. So you've 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:54.680 got Pokemon that's going like gangbusters. It's incredibly popular across 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:58.640 multiple forms of media. Uh, it is right for a 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:04.800 new implementation into a game. Meanwhile, around the same time, 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:09.000 you have a technological development and augmented reality that is 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:14.000 creating the opportunity for this game. But that that opportunity 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:18.520 didn't just spontaneously happen to To look at the development 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:20.520 of Pokemon Go, you have to look at a company 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:27.120 called key Hole Incorporated. Now Keyhole started in two thousand one. 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:31.359 It was a private startup company in Silicon Valley, and 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:34.880 it received financial backing from lots of investors, you know, 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.960 like Sony was a big investor. Also a big investor 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:43.560 was a venture capital fund that was connected to the 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:47.559 c i A, the Central Intelligence Agency. So you probably 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:52.400 have heard that Pokemon Go was created by a guy 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:56.640 who got funding from the c i A. That's an oversimplification, 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.920 but the CIA was interested in fun Keyhole. And what 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:05.040 was Keyhole doing. They were creating detailed maps with geospatial 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:09.600 data incorporated directly into those digital maps. In other words, 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:13.760 you would be able to create a digital globe that 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:19.640 had an accurate representation of what was in any specific region. Um. 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:22.120 And as you've got more data about stuff that was 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:23.680 in that region, you could add it to the map 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.560 and make it more accurate. Uh. And so you have 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:29.600 think of like a a very accurate local map and 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.440 then just expand that to be for the entire globe. 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.840 It was not a small undertaking, but Keyhole went after it. 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:39.640 One of their early products was called Earth Viewer, which 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:43.360 looked like a primitive version of Google Earth. You probably 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.120 have seen Google Earth. In fact, it became the basis 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.520 for Google Earth. The company gained recognition in the early 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.280 two thousands as news programs ranging from CNN to ABC 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:57.960 and CBS. We're using the software to create visualizations of 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.600 different cities around the world, particular pularly for wartime footage. 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:05.079 So you have this very dramatic look as a camera 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:09.079 seemed to zoom in on a virtual globe all the 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:14.199 way down to a level where you could see specific buildings. UM. 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.679 It is very effective in that way, very dramatic, especially 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:21.599 for the early two thousands. Now, the CEO for a 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:26.880 Keyhole Incorporated it was a guy named John Hank who 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.080 has continued to be a very important part of this 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:37.480 entire process. Now in two thousand four, Google purchased Keyhole 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:43.120 Incorporated for a cool thirty five million dollars. Google was 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:46.280 busy trying to create the Google Earth product and saw 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:52.160 the value of acquiring the Keyhole software and expertise. Now, 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:54.840 if you've never used Google Earth, it is an interactive 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:58.240 digital globe. You can zoom in as if you're descending 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:00.840 an altitude over the Earth, so you can look at 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.800 it from a view of your looking at Earth from space, 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:06.600 and then you can zoom in closer, so you start 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:11.920 getting details. And those details originally as you descend will 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:15.960 be from satellite imagery. As you continue to zoom in, 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:20.240 that will give way to images that were created through 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:24.720 aerial photography, so you get better detail and definition. And 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.120 then if you continue to zoom in, you start seeing 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:34.199 three dimensional representations of landmarks and buildings. Um So, for example, 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:36.679 I took a look at a three dimensional version of 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:38.880 the office building we work in, which is at six 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:42.360 seven five Constantly and Avenue. If you want to take 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.600 a look at that in Atlanta, Georgia, and open Google Earth, 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:47.800 you can pull up a view of the building we 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.280 work in. It is enormous. We have a very small 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:55.640 space in that very large building. Um it's not a 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:57.680 very small space to us. To us, it's large, but 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.600 in the context of the building it's very small. Anyway, 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:02.840 you can get these three dimensional views, so it's like 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:08.040 you are virtually at that location. You can even uh 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.120 do navigation from one point to another and it'll be 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:14.320 as if you are going through the streets to get 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:18.479 from point A to point B, making all the turns necessary. 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.199 And this sort of stuff has been built up in 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.640 Google Earth over time. It's not like Keyhole came in 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:27.880 and created Google her Google Earth, um uh the way 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.720 it is now right off the gate. It has been 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:36.240 a process, so things like that three dimensional representation of 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:40.960 buildings that took time to develop. And over the years, 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:43.800 Google offered a few different versions of Google Earth, including 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:46.920 a commercial version that businesses would pay for in order 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:50.640 to incorporate Google Earth capabilities into websites or programs of 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:52.640 some sort. So, in other words, if you were a 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:57.040 company and you are creating a a program to show 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:02.720 the effects of your business. Maybe you're a construction company 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:04.360 and you want to show off some of the buildings 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.840 that your construction company has built in the past, that 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:10.880 might be a good implementation of it and Google actually 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:14.280 sold a commercial product, which these days is free, but 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:15.760 at the time you had to pay something like four 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:21.120 hundred bucks for a copy. So when Keyhole came over, 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:26.560 Hank remained on board and continue to work on Google products. 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:33.320 In Hank created a department within Google itself called Nyantic. 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:37.680 So this was a startup company kind of thing, but 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.800 it was within Google itself, so it wasn't a separate company. 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.600 It operated kind of like a company, but under the 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.720 corporate identity of Google itself, so it's sort of a 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:52.480 division slash startup. The group took its name from a 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.560 whaling ship that operated out of San Francisco during the 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:58.400 gold rush days. At one point that ship was dragged 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:02.160 onto shore and eventually it was built over. And Hank said, 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.720 you know, San Francisco is like this. You've got all 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:10.040 these ships that were eventually just kind of incorporated into 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:15.800 the landscape of San Francisco, or or are underneath San Francisco. 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:17.760 And he said that gave him the idea that the 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:20.840 world around us often has a lot of treasures that 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.760 are not evident just upon first glance, that you know, 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:26.960 you would have to have this revealed to you. And 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:29.600 so he liked the idea of creating technologies that would 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:34.680 augment reality so that we could reveal those things to us, 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:38.880 or even appear to reveal things that were not actually there. 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.960 In other words, imagine having an app that can transform 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.680 the space around you so that it looks like a 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:49.360 fantasy medieval setting. That's the sort of stuff that you 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.120 could do. Or just an app that allows you to 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:55.080 walk down a city street and take a look at 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:58.240 what it was like a century ago. That's the sort 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:01.840 of stuff he was thinking of. Niantic, by the way, 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:04.840 is also the name, or at least the Anglicized name, 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.920 of the Nhantucket tribe, who are Native Americans that lived 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:13.520 in New England. Presumably, I would, uh say, that's the 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:18.040 source of the whaling ship's name. So Niantic Labs takes 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:20.160 its name from a whaling ship, which in turn took 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:25.040 its name I assume at least from a Native American tribe. Now, 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:28.440 Niantic labs first product was called field Trip, which was 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:31.360 a mobile app that provides tips for stuff to do 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:34.040 based upon your location. Actually had this on my phone 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:36.400 for a while. Uh I felt that it was a 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.760 little limited in its use, but the idea is kind 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:43.200 of cool. Like let's say you're walking down a street 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:45.800 that you haven't been down before. Maybe it's even in 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.560 a city that you're visiting for the first time. Field 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.160 trip might point out cool places for you to go to, 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:54.760 like museums or theaters that you might be interested in, 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:58.000 or maybe even that a music group you happen to 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:01.000 like also happens to be play being at a venue 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:03.680 near you at that time, or it might show you 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:07.159 like restaurants you would enjoy based upon your preferences, that 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:11.040 kind of stuff. In two thousand and twelve, Nyantick would 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:15.320 publish its first augmented reality game, and that was Ingress. 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:17.719 So you may have heard that Pokemon Go was kind 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:20.480 of built upon the foundation of Ingress, and a large 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:24.959 part that's true. We actually covered Ingress back on uh 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:27.560 an episode of tech Stuff way back in two thousand 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:29.720 and twelve, So you can go back and listen to 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.600 that classic episode of tech Stuff and listen to what 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:35.080 we thought Ingress would be like at that time. It 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.800 was still i think in beta when it we did 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:41.359 that episode. At any rate, the game requires players to 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:45.200 visit real world locations in order to participate. Inside the game, 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:49.000 you have to walk around the real environment and use 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:52.840 your app to interact inside a virtual environment that's overlaid 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.880 on top of the real environment. That's the augmented reality thing. 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:00.720 It enjoyed modest success among certain population. On the whole, 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:03.560 I would say that Ingress was rather a niche game. 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:07.040 Um people in the tech industry were more likely to 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.439 play it, I imagine, than folks who are outside of it. 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:14.679 It didn't have as broad an appeal as something like Pokemon. Now, 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:19.280 important locations within the game Ingress are mapped to real 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.200 world locations, and you have to go to those real 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.879 world locations in order to interact with the game, at 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:29.040 least if you're as long as you're not like gaming 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:34.000 the system by spoofing your phones geolocation, which is something 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:38.359 that technically you could do, but it's not with the 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:42.320 spirit of the game. So Nyantick was tapping into Google's 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:45.399 massive database of geotagged photos in order to populate the 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.240 game with initial locations. So let's say that there's a 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:51.359 famous outdoor sculpture and there's been tons of photos that 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:55.240 are geo tagged that have been uploaded into Google's databases 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:59.320 Google Photos, or something along those lines. Google could say 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:02.639 all right, well, this sculpture is at this particular location, 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:06.600 it is of cultural value. We're going to create a 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:10.320 portal inside the game that is tagged to that location, 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:13.399 and in order to interact with that portal, you have 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:16.360 to go to where that sculpture is. The idea being 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:18.920 that this will encourage people not just to play the game, 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:21.960 but to explore their environments, to go to places that 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:25.639 they might not go to before, and to encounter things 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:30.359 of historical and cultural significance, and and get a better 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:35.520 connection to their the world around them. That's kind of idealistic. 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:38.600 You may be thinking, well, whenever I see people playing 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:41.320 Pokemon Go, they're just staring at their their phones. They're 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:45.360 not looking at anything else around them. But it's not 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:50.560 for lack of trying anyway. Niantic also allowed players to 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:53.919 take GEO tagged photos of locations that they thought should 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:56.399 be in the game. So let's say that you're walking 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.080 down the street and you see this amazing mural that's 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:01.120 painted on the side of the building, and you pull 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:04.000 up Ingress and you look at Ingress and there's no 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.920 portal associated with that mural, and you're thinking, well, that's 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:10.560 a shame. This should really be in the game so 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:12.840 that people can see it and appreciate it, and also 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:16.879 just so it can you know, be part of the game. Well. 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:19.800 Ingress would allow you to take a photo of that 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:24.239 mural and upload it so that the team over at 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:28.040 Niantic Labs could review it and decide whether or not 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:30.840 that merited inclusion in the game, and if they thought 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.879 it did, they would then create a portal inside the 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:37.520 game that would be tagged to that physical location. So 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:42.000 part of the game was created through the data mining 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:45.240 of Google's photos, part of the game was created through 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:50.000 crowdsourced information from the players themselves, and all of that 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:54.919 data that groundwork that ends up being the basis for 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:58.400 Pokemon Go later on. So if you're wondering how did 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:00.200 they come up with the idea for these partic or 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:06.720 pocus stops or gems, those came from Ingress the work 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:11.320 that was done previously on Ingress UH. And so we 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:14.240 should be thankful to Ingress players for creating that, or 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:17.000 in some cases we should probably be upset at them 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:20.719 because there have been some issues with trespassing UH and 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:26.040 some UH some overcrowding in certain areas that have irritated 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:30.360 certain folks. So both good and bad has come out 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:34.560 of that ingress experiment. Also, I should point out that 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:40.040 in some cases the sites that have been included are 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:45.600 kind of temporary art exhibitions that get replaced occasionally. So 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:48.480 often I will see a pokas stop, pull it up, 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:51.560 and I'll think, well, that's what this used to be, 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:53.960 but it's not what it is right now. In fact, 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:56.440 a theater I go to all the time used to 0:21:56.520 --> 0:22:00.720 be a church, and in Pokemon Go it still comes 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:02.800 up as a church. It's not coming up as the theater. 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:05.640 But that's, you know, that's to be understood. It's there's 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:08.480 The world is a big place, and Niantic keeping everything 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:11.520 up to date would be uh, that's all they would 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:13.040 be able to do. And even then they wouldn't be 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:16.159 able to do it. They'd just be making a tiny 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:22.360 dent in an enormous, enormous shield. So Niantic in two 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:26.680 thousand and fifteen would leave Google. Google was restructuring at 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:29.000 that time. You may remember we did an episode about 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:33.159 this about Google becoming Alphabet or creating Alphabet as a 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:37.040 parent company and Google being underneath it. During that restructuring, 0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:38.920 a lot of stuff changed, and one of the things 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:42.920 that changed was Niantic got spun off as its own individual, 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:47.080 independent company. A month after it was spun off, Niantic 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:49.720 Labs announced that it was working on a game called 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:53.560 Pokemon Go. So it wasn't long after Niantic became its 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:56.639 own independent entity that said we're gonna make a game 0:22:57.080 --> 0:23:00.679 in the Pokemon universe that is an augmented reality the game. 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:05.080 A month after they announced Pokemon Go, they held a 0:23:05.160 --> 0:23:08.040 round of funding and raised twenty million dollars from lots 0:23:08.040 --> 0:23:15.000 of different sources, including Pokemon, Google, and Nintendo. In early July, 0:23:16.359 --> 0:23:20.000 Pokemon Go entered beta testing with a relatively small group 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:22.800 of users, and they wanted to test out the various 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:25.000 features of the game, make sure that the stuff was 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:27.360 working the way they intended it, and also to kind 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:32.119 of measure server load. And then they went and opened 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:36.560 it up region by regions, so some regions like got 0:23:36.560 --> 0:23:41.120 the roll out a week or two after others. Nantick 0:23:41.240 --> 0:23:44.919 noticed that the demand for the game was way beyond 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:48.919 what they expected, causing lots of server issues. Early on, 0:23:49.040 --> 0:23:52.480 there was such a demand on servers that, at least 0:23:52.480 --> 0:23:55.160 for some of us, more frequently than not, you saw 0:23:55.200 --> 0:23:58.919 the game was not working, You couldn't connect to a 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:02.240 server at all. Very frustrating if you happen to be 0:24:02.359 --> 0:24:04.600 someone who walks to and from work, and you think, 0:24:04.640 --> 0:24:06.480 I walk all the time anyway, Now I'm going to 0:24:06.560 --> 0:24:10.520 get rewarded for it, you know, besides that being outdoors 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:15.240 fresh air exercise thing. Who needs that? I want my pokemons. 0:24:16.119 --> 0:24:20.199 But often I found myself unable to connect to the servers, 0:24:20.240 --> 0:24:21.800