I don't remember the commercials on Television in the dorms in 1998 like I remember the commercials on Television in the Jungle, at Valencia apartments later that same year.
They were advertising some show, and accompanying card game and video game...it was all so confusing. Tony and I would look at each other and confusedly say out-loud, "What the fuck is a 'Pok-ee-mon'?"
The entire concept was lost on us. It was so foreign and dense, and we were generally so blitzed that even folks In The Know couldn't make the information digestible. Maybe it was just me.
After I returned to Sac to get my scholasticism in order, and talking with Norm and his brother Tyler did the real picture start to gel.
Then I read an article about it and it helped so much more: Pokemon, a Japanese amalgam word with English origins---literally "pocket monster"---was the name for both the video game/television show and the main stars of both, the little pocket monsters.
The game and accompanying show appealed to kids for a few reasons: there was collecting; there was discovery; there was social competition; and there was the gradual upgrading through Pokemon evolution to better specimens.
Fast forward 18 years. Some websites with articles I read have entire Pokemon Go headings (one is a sports site). Other places are going crazy with Pokemon Go content. The articles under the Pokemon Go heading have strange titles like "The Pokemon Go Injury List Grows" and "Pokemon Go: Your New Fitness App." Then I noticed the folks over at Cinemassacre have a Pokemon Go video, and I found myself talking to my computer screen: "What the fuck is Pokemon Go?"
I didn't really say that, I just took the artistic liberty to make the scene parallel the one from 1998. It was more like (out-loud at least), "All of a sudden people won't shut-up about this Pokemon Go, whatever the hell that is..."
That's when I watched the Cinemassacre video and it started to make sense.
Nintendo finally has put content onto pocket devises, in this case partnering with Google. It looks like you play as an avatar of Ash, the main character from Pokemon, but you literally have to go places, either on foot or by car, and find Pokemon. The places you can find them are all around, hence the Google aspect of using their mappery. And the social aspect is back: it turns out many people with be out and about in the exact same places you are with their phones out looking around for the same Pokemon you're looking for.
It looks like it has reached cultural phenomenon status, and the amount of traffic has crashed the servers Nintendo and Google have set aside for it a few times already in the first two weeks of it being a public thing.
It's the first real immersive-reality type game to tap the potential of that style of game and "take off." It certainly has captured the public's attention.
Usually with my gig I have advance warning about this kind of phenomena, but here I was Johnny-come-lately for at least two obvious reasons. The First: Cassius. We've been hunkered down in the bunker of our Long Beach apartment for five weeks now with a newborn just figuring out the early stages parenting. The Second: This game looks to be more geared towards adults, as in players having to really travel to find the "best" or most unique Pokemon. If you're stuck hanging out on a corner or in a particular neighborhood, the gameplay seems less rewarding.
In any case: ol' Sherweezy again tries to lift the veil of ignorance...
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