Beta sign-ups have begun in Japan, but they are currently region locked and are unavailable to those who live outside the country. Luckily I do live in Japan and have thus already registered in hopes of receiving early access. No word on what exactly the preliminary version will include, but many gamers are eager to see how catching and battling with Pokémon will work in the real world.
Unfortunately, there’s also some bad news regarding the title. The much anticipated Game Developers Conference panel about the game has been cancelled:
“We have decided to forego our GDC talk on Pokémon GO in order to focus on getting the product ready for beta test and launch,” says Niantic CEO John Hanke. “As much as we hate to disappoint those in the industry attending GDC, we feel our time and energy right now are best spent on making sure every aspect of the product is where we want it to be.” – Game Informer
A downer to be sure, but hopefully their reasoning is legitimate and it will result in more resources being put towards finishing the game itself and putting that much more effort into it. Who can say no to that?
<3 PJ