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from the exercise-is-contraindicated-in-heavy-smog dept.
Chinese state censors won't be permitting Pokémon Go and other augmented reality games anytime soon:
Nintendo's hit smartphone app, Pokemon Go, and other augmented reality games are unlikely to be rolled out in China any time soon, after the state censor said it would not license them until potential security risks had been evaluated.
[...] Prompted by "a high level of responsibility to national security and the safety of people's lives and property," the censor, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, is coordinating with other government departments to evaluate the game's risks, an industry body said. These risks include the "threat to geographical information security and the threat to transport and the personal safety of consumers", a games panel of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, which is governed by the censor body, said in a posting on its website.
Some Chinese companies have been developing similar games based on augmented reality and location-based services, prompting the panel to seek advice from the top licensing body, it said.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday January 11 2017, @08:35PM
There's all of that.... but then also that the game itself is a public nuisance. Nintendo made a lot of money without ever thinking about *where* they were putting down monsters. All of the responsibility and accountability was simply for people other than Nintendo.
Considering the sheer amounts of reports of trespassing on private property by Pokemon Go addicts, I don't think it's that unreasonable in *America* to put some regulatory oversight into games that use real life locations and location based services. It can't be random, but needs to be in approved places. Obviously that makes more work for Nintendo, but that is where the liability needs to reside. Nintendo has to know for each and every "drop" point in the real world just what the legal liabilities *are*, and stick to public areas. Clearly the players themselves have demonstrated a unique ability to go "full retard" in their quests.
Nintendo really were inconsiderate buttheads of the highest order to just pepper the world indiscriminately with possibly rare monsters for these insane addicts to climb over/break into/swarm some poor people's backyard for a fucking Snorax. At its height I heard reports of "flash flooding" of an area just because the game indicated a popular and rare monster.
Yeah, China has issues with censorship and a different culture. Stipulated. They also share in common with us the reaction to trespassing and the idea to regulate these games is not intrinsically totalitarian. Pokemon Go is fucking nuts, dude :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday January 11 2017, @08:50PM
STOP RIGHT THERE
http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/25/investing/nintendo-shares-pokemon-go/ [cnn.com]
https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-relationship-among-Niantic-Labs-Nintendo-and-The-Pok%C3%A9mon-Company-Whos-benefitting-the-most-from-the-success-of-Pok%C3%A9mon-GO [quora.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday January 11 2017, @09:08PM
and stick to public areas
Can't play pokemon go without a smartphone and hard to buy one without a camera and hard to play the game without flashing it all around.
Generally in the USA if you're in a public area you can take a picture. That's actually kinda unusual for the rest of the world. Quite a few militaristic places will get all agitated if you take a picture of the harbor or the docs or the airport.
For example in the US we usually line our waterfronts with parks and private recreational areas so no one cares if you play with your phone camera on some bridge, but in other parts of the world they get all out of whack about military secrets and terrorism.