- Well, the long awaited
Pokemon Go game is now
officially available
for download in Canada.
Joining us now this morning
is online security expert,
David Papp to discuss Pokemon Go
and other augmented reality games.
Good morning, sir.
- Good morning, Mike.
- So, what's the deal with this game?
This has taken off, it's just humongous.
- It's massive.
You know what I think?
I think we had the right elements in play.
The current generation
that's embraced technology,
so they've all got the
smart phones and stuff
and they live off of it, right?
Grew up with Pokemon and so now basically
they're taking advantage
of this hot product
that everybody is gonna
go and download this app
and play this game.
But it's not just a regular
game that you set down,
you have to actually get up, Mike, and go.
You have to go places.
And the way they've done that
is they've teamed up with
a company called Niantic.
Now, Niantic created a game
four years ago called Ingress
and people would submit portals.
So these were locations around the world
that you could go and visit and control.
So by using this user
contributed data over four years,
they were instantly able to
launch Pokemon Go worldwide
with millions of locations
that you could instantly go to
by using the information that
they built on another game.
So, I mean, interestingly enough,
if you want to know where to go right now
for Pokemon Go for the hot
locations around the city,
you go and create yourself a free account
on the Ingress game and
you can get a massive map
of the city on your PC
and you can actually see
the concentration of areas.
- Do these areas change though?
Like if you go to one specific area now
and see a bunch of
Pokemon characters there,
could they return or how does that work
in terms of where they're set up?
- On that note, you can find
Pokemon just about anywhere.
Now, Niantic is a company
that was spun off from Google.
So they're using all
that valuable information
that Google has gathered
which specifically includes
demographics of concentration,
where people are...
The heavily populated areas.
You will tend to spawn
Pokemon, you will find them
in areas that are more
concentrated with people.
If you go out in the country,
you're gonna have a lot
of problems playing the game.
If you go in the middle of a city,
and there's some hot areas, Mike.
I mean, we've got The U of
A, heavily concentrated,
The Ledge, The Muttart Conservatory,
these are some areas that you can go to
and there are, you're gonna
find a lot of Pokemon.
- Now is this just a series
of augmented reality games,
just one of many that are out there?
- There are more out there,
Ingress, as I indicated.
So, what augmented reality
means is that you're actually
in the real world but superimposed on top
of that is another layer
which you need technology
in order to see.
So, interestingly enough, I
could be looking right now
and there could be a
Pokemon sitting next to you.
I mean, because it's using your camera
on your smart phone, right?
And some people have actually showed up,
I don't know if you saw
that story about somebody
who went up to the Hells
Angels headquarters
in New Zealand.
- No, no.
- And actually knocked on the door,
not knowing what it was and saying,
"There's a Pokemon in there,
- Oh my goodness.
- "I'd like to go in and get."
(laughs)
- On that note, let's
talk about safety concerns
within a game like this.
- Absolutely.
So, you know, use common sense.
Don't go to locations,
you have to be careful.
Some people are even
swimming out into bays
and using kayaks in order to get locations
because they're trying to get
to these things called PokeStops.
And that's what they brought over
is these Gyms and PokeStops
where you're gonna find
a lot of concentration of Pokemon.
These are what the
portals were in Ingress.
These are the physical
locations you can go to.
They don't change.
So, you indicated, do things move around?
The PokeStops and the Gyms do not change.
They will always be in the same location.
The Pokemon, however, will
show up in different locations.
They just, they kind
of pop out of the earth
and you try to capture them.
- And from what we've been told,
we are a Gym here, so what can we expect?
- Yeah, you do right outside.
I noticed that.
- Oh, you knew that then?
(David laughs)
So what's gonna happen?
- People will try and
take control of the Gym.
So right now it's the red team, I noticed.
And what they're doing is that they're...
They put their Pokemon
that are certain levels
and you can challenge them if you come up
and you want to take over that Gym.
So right now currently the
red team has got your Gym.
- [Mike] Should we hire
more security guards?
- Yeah. (laughs) Exactly.
It is funny to watch people walking
around though, you know.
- Yeah.
- They're not even looking.
Well, I mean, we already have
that with texting. (laughs)
- Yeah, yeah, alright.
Thanks, David.
You can follow David on
Twitter or check out his blog.
We've got the information you
need up on your screen now
and, no, there's no Pokemon there.
We'll be right back, stay with us.
("Pokemon Theme")
♪ Pokemon, gotta catch 'em all ♪
♪ A heart so true ♪
♪ Our courage will pull us through ♪
♪ You teach me and I'll teach you ♪
♪ Pokemon, gotta catch 'em ♪
