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Pokemon Go reaches top spot on iTunes, millennials get nostalgic

Posted at 10:46 AM, Jul 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-11 10:44:16-04

HOUSTON, TX - After 20 years, 19 full-length movies, countless console and card games… the Pokémon brand outdoes itself, one more time.  “Pokémon Go” was released in the United States for IOS and Android on Thursday.

“I used to watch the Saturday morning cartoons when I was a kid, and that laid the groundwork for every nerdy thing that I’m into today,” says Devon Frost.

It’s an augmented reality game that lets you hunt for Pokémon … out in the real world!

”Americans we’ve needed a game like this to get us out there, and play… we need more fitness, and more activity,” explained Tory Evans.

There’s three different teams city wide, fighting to control gyms, collect items, and of course… catch ‘em all.

“My particular community got into this really quick, large majority of us were couch potatoes, that were fairly used to talking on the internet, and now we’re kinda having to segue into real life a little bit,” shared Marc Vanderbrink.

And it’s not just geared towards kids, this is nostalgic for most millennials. It’s also big business. Niantic partnered with Nintendo, whose stock rose Thursday 10% when the app became the most popular thing on iTunes. The game is free to download, but you can speed things up paying for upgrades.

The game loosely follows the format of another augmented reality game, ingress. And for newcomers to GPS based games – a few tips: always watch where you’re going, don’t play while driving, stay hydrated on foot, and stay off of private property!