Catching Pokémon on HoloLens Looks Like the Pokémon GO of Our Dreams

We created a full immersive @Pokemon Go version for the @HoloLens #PokemonGO #HoloLens #wannaplay #MixedReality pic.twitter.com/CrDgiF2Y6N

— David Robustelli (@RobustelliDavid) July 14, 2016

Sure, it seems like Pokémon GO is already the Pokémon GO of our dreams—despite its faults—but what if it could get even better? That’s the world imagined by this demo on Microsoft’s HoloLens headset, which maps graphics to your surroundings. It’s both exciting for future possibilities and a painful reminder of just how limited our Pokémon hunting experience still really is.

Of course, it’s not the full game on HoloLens so much as it is a demonstration of the hardware capabilities, but Capitola VR‘s demo comes closer in some ways to the original Google April Fools’ Day joke that set this all in motion. For as great as Pokémon GO is, it’d be much more fun to just hold up your phone (or wear a HoloLens) and look around to spot hiding Pokémon than try to use some of the convoluted tracking methods everyone’s been concocting.

Perhaps it’s even a glimpse into the future—the distant future, probably. Pokémon GO‘s success has hinged on a number of factors, not the least of which is the massive number of people who already owned hardware capable of playing the game for free. Even after HoloLens debuts, it’s unlikely to reach the essentially ubiquitous nature that smartphones have for a very long time, if it ever does (though future VR/AR headsets probably will someday). In the meantime, phone hardware that can pull off some similar tricks is probably closer to widespread consumer adoption, so maybe we can hold out for a feature like this in a future update or sequel.

Pokémon GO already makes the hunt for rare Pokémon more compelling than its main series counterparts by giving the player consistent incentive to catch specific Pokémon. In the standard games, making a Pokémon stronger is a simple matter of battling whatever opponent comes along, with higher level foes yielding faster growth regardless of type. That leads to a kind of monotonous, mindless grind against random opponents.

While Pokémon GO still includes that aspect to a certain degree for increasing the trainer’s own level, Pokémon can only get stronger if the player keeps finding and catching that specific type of Pokémon, which prolongs the thrill of the hunt past initially tracking down something rare. Taking that to the next level with better environmental integration seems like the next logical step.

(via The Next Web)

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