This Week in Pokémon Go News

[inkstone]

Happy Friday, trainers! Some interesting headlines this week, so let's get started.

• A few weeks ago, Niantic began banning the accounts of botters and GPS spoofers. You might have noticed a decrease in the number of level 30+ trainers with 3000+ dragonites dominating gyms as a result. Of course, some people who used other third-party apps were also caught up in the ban wave. Niantic has begun unbanning this small subset. You have to appeal & it appears to be a one-time deal, but you can do it. (source)

• After a look at the code of the latest PokeGo update, it's been revealed that we'll be getting a pokémon buddy system in the future. We can take a pokémon for a walk, allowing us to earn candy. Personally, I think the screencaps will be super cute. Can you take a lumbering snorlax for a walk? Will pidgey ride on your shoulder? Will ekans try to strangle you? (source)

ETA @ 3PM EDT: More details about the buddy system! So they won't be walking with you on the screen, but they'll show up on your profile.

• PokeGo has grossed more than $440 million since its launch in July. (source)

• Love eevee? Build-a-Bear began selling an eevee plush yesterday! (source)

What's going on in your neck of the woods?

Comments

[jack]

Ooh! Walking pokemon does sound super-cute, and it would also be lovely to have a way of powering up even a bit pokemon I have one of and don't have a good way of getting another.

[inkstone]

Yeah, I have a couple mon that are literally waiting on 1 piece of candy to evolve but are rare in my area so it's been difficult. This will be a good way to get that!

[monanotlisa]

I'm kinda thinking I'll take my just-hatched Pikachu EVERYWHERE. :)

[jack]

I think mine are either comparatively plentiful (evee, or eventually, magikarp), or completely nonexistent :) A while back, I hatched an Aerodactyl I absolutely loved, and ploughed the candy into powering it up, and eventually ran out. And last week I hatched another, but it was already stronger than the other one, and I felt like maybe I should wait until I hatch ANOTHER to spend any of the candy, but I couldn't, I powered it up as far as it would go. And now it's one of my fairly good monsters but not in the top six. But who knows how long until I get another?

[inkstone]

I've never seen an aerodactyl (unless you count gyms)!

[yhlee]

We (my daughter plays on my phone too) caught our first Ponyta yesterday! And more Eevees. We are super low level due to not playing much, but it's still fun catching mons. =)

The desire of my heart is now to obtain a Ninetales. JUST ONE NINETALES. Someday!

[monanotlisa]

HOMG, POKÉMON BUDDY? That sounds cute as hell...of course, I'm one of the many folks waiting most of all for trading mon (I'm stocking up on Tauros just for that, and plan to ping tourists in SF ;).

I have already seen a little girl with an Eevee plushie in Oakland -- or rather, my housemate did. (It's hilarious to me that someone who doesn't play has now corrected me on the different evolutions AND pointed out the plushie on the street.)

[dickgrayson]

I cannot wait for those walks and I kind of want a eevee.

[jack]

The bans seem to make sense, it sounds like Niantic are currently making a good faith effort to get rid of bots, but not people who were not actively malicious. And it's hard to get the balance exactly, but it sounds like a reasonable attempt, which is a pretty good thing for the health of the game.

[recessional]

*makes GIVE IT TO ME NOW GODDAMN hands at the buddy thing homg*

ME AND MY DRAGON WOULD LIKE TO GO FOR WALKS NAO.

[inkstone]

Keep your fingers crossed that we'll see it next week! If Niantic keeps to their roughly biweekly updates, we should be getting a patch mid-week. Maybe this will be included! I would think it's relatively close to completion if people were able to find it in the code.

[korafox]

Ooh, taking Pokemon for walks! (Gotta-hatch-em-all is my favorite mode of the game, so this is extremely pertinent to my interests.)

Also I have to squee just a bit because I just got in from a Pokewalk wherein I hatched a Snorlax out of a 10k egg. Hee~ *gloms it*

[inkstone]

A snorlax! I'm so jealous! I've caught two in the wild and they're pretty low CP and have subpar IVs, but they're super cute!

[korafox]

I haven't so much as sniffed a wild one, so it was super cool to get one out of an egg. And it hatched at CP 579, which is better than any other Pokemon I've got right now. Of course it came with a bunch of candy, so I figured why not just level it up. I might actually be able to play with the gyms around here now!

[ephemera]

Taking Pokemon for a walk - I wantses! (although your mental implementation sounds way cuter, if more data hungry, than whats actually posted about)

I finally ground through enough Ghastlys to evolve a Gengar, so one more mark in my Pokeex, and finally a critter that gets cuter as it evolves!

(I also had a lovely moment, with a "so what team are you" conversation with a random guy on my way home last night - and by guy, I mean maybe 17y/old kid, but it made me smile. His Vaperion made me jealous - still no Eevees to be had around here - he said he got all his visiting friends in places I almost never go to)

[inkstone]

Yeah, the actual implementation sounds way more practical than what I was imagining. Logistically, it'd be difficult if your buddy were actually on the map. I can easily seeing it get in the way of catching wild mon and interacting with pokestops and gyms.

[malnpudl]

We need teleportation! Beaming technology! Something to shortcut big-round-planet distances, damn it. I'm drowning in Eevees. You could spend a weekend here and take home all three Eeveelutions, no problem.

And somewhere, no doubt, there are dragon types. Or so I'm told. But damned if I can find them anywhere near me, and travel is not in the budget.

So you have my sympathies. It's vexing!

[havocthecat]

I am totally taking my dratini with me everywhere as my buddy.

[playswithworms]

Pokemon buddy sounds like so much fun - can't wait!

[serpentine]

...Clearly I just need to drag my Magikarp on walks. XD

(The image is...interesting. Or I could just hang out on the Island once it's cooler.)