Pokemon

Pokemon Go Cheaters Are Being Punished In An Insanely Clever Way

This might actually work.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017 - 10:56

Pokémon Go developer Niantic has stepped up efforts to eradicate cheaters and tracking apps for the fan-favourite augmented reality game… and it’s a punishment so clever, it might actually work.

Niantic

From here on in, accounts that use third party trackers (and by that, we mean accounts that are already flagged as cheats) won’t be able to see rare Pokémon in scanned areas. That’s right: if you’re account is flagged you could be standing next to someone in the very same place and not see *the same* rare Pokémon in front of you.

Here’s a quick snap (thanks, PoGO Dev Discord) so you can see what we mean:

Niantic

Already some third party apps are suggesting they’ve found a way to sidestep the punishment, but the only way to be certain is to avoiding cheating altogether!

Niantic

Don’t forget, from now until tomorrow, our friends at Pokémon are running Pokémon Go Adventure Week, a new event designed to “honour the memories created so far, and our collective journey yet to come”.

While we’re on the subject of Pokemon Go, did you check out the recent hack to grab yourselves some super rare Pokemon? Meanwhile, it's just been proved that Pokemon GO is officially good for you!

- By Vikki Blake @_vixx

11 Pokémon Facts That Could Change EVERYTHING

"Pokémon’’ is not a Japanese word, but it’s a combination of the two English words ‘’Pocket’’ and ‘’ Monster’’ - a bit like how Tamagotchi means egg and watch. The Japanese love a good portmanteau don’t they?

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Which leads us nicely onto Pikachu, whose name is a combination of the Japanese onomatopoeia for sparkle, pikapika, and the sound of squeaking, which is expressed as chūchū.

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While we’re on the subject of that little scamp - ‘Pikachu’ literally means ‘crackling squeak’. Whodathunkit.

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Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee are based on Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee respectively. Unfortunately, HitmonNorris, HitmonSeagal and HitmonVanDamme were never introduced to the games.

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Uber is now doing rides for Pokémon Go. While it’s a neat idea for the company to capitalise on the game’s popularity – if you take up the offer then we hope Hitmonchan hits you with a big stick.

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The master ball has a 1 out of 65536 chance of failing. But don’t let those odds lure you into a false sense of security. If Donald Trump can become the Republican nominee – anything can happen.

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Pokémon was inspired by bug collecting, from young the Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri would collect bugs and trade them with his friends.

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Thanks to Pokémon GO a lot of the Americans who’ve been playing the game, has only just learnt how to use the metric system. Next up: Americans learn what autumn is.

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The illustrator Pikachu is the Holy Grail for every Pokémon trading card game collection. In 2013, the card went up for sale for a WHOPPING $100,000 on eBay.

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This year marks Pokémon’s 20th anniversary. Starting in 1996, when Pokémon Red and Blue launched in Japan, the world has purchased over 279 million (!) copies of Pokémon games and its spin-offs.

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Pokémon holds a Guinness world record for most photosensitive epileptic seizures caused by a TV show. The 38TH episode in series one is responsible for this.

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