Pokémon Sleep will feature gameplay that rewards you for snoozing
The Pokémon Company announced it is turning its attention to sleep health. An app and tracking device to be launched in 2020 will feature gameplay that rewards you for snoozing.
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The company that gave us a reason to get some steps in, now wants to get us sleeping. The news was revealed at a press conference in Tokyo yesterday. Pokémon Sleep was announced along with a number of other games and products.
“Exploring the real world was one of the themes of Pokémon Go, and through that game Pokémon trainers all around the world began to spend more time walking outdoors. We believe we are able to take the simple human act of walking and turn it into entertainment for many people around the world,” the company’s president and CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara said.
“After walking, we decided to focus on the act of sleeping. Everyone spends a large part of their lives sleeping, and turning that into entertainment is our next challenge at Pokémon.”
The accessory that comes with the software is called Pokémon Go Plus +. No, it’s not a joke. It’s pronounced Pokémon Go Plus Plus. The device is being developed by an outfit called Select Button.
The periphery is essentially an augmented version of the company’s existing step counter so is meant to be used like a regular Pokémon Go Plus during the day. But place it on your bed in the evening, and the accelerometer inside will collect data on the quality of your nightly rest and send it via Bluetooth to your smartphone.
The app would then gamify this information. How exactly this would be integrated into gameplay has not been revealed.
“Use it as a Pokémon Go Plus device during the day … and at night, you can put it on your bed and it will track simple information about how long you sleep,” said Kazuhiro Maruyama, head of device development at Nintendo.
“This is accomplished by the embedded accelerometer, and the results are sent to your smartphone via Bluetooth technology. By combining the sleep tracking features with the functionality of a Pokémon Go Plus, this device can help transform both the time spent walking about throughout the day, and also the time spent sleeping at night into something more fun and enriching for everyone.”
Nearly three years ago Pokémon GO launched on smartphones and quickly became a massive hit. The augmented reality mobile game, sends players into the real world to search for the mythical digital pocket monsters known as Pokemon. Players typically see a large spike in steps.
The new app and tracking device will make snoozing part of the fun, too. The Pokémon Sleep app and accessory are set to land on iOS and Android sometime next year.
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