Pokémon Go Footage Shown At SXSW; New Details Emerge [VIDEO]

The first Pokémon Go footage was shown at this past week’s SXSW where Niantec Industries CEO and founder John Hanke spoke about the future of real world gaming.

Part of his presentation showed off the company’s highly-anticipated new mobile game, Pokémon Go, and with it came more details about the augmented reality game. The Pokémon Go footage shows an overlay of Google Maps with an Ivysaur just waiting around.

Using the phone’s camera to instigate a battle, the audience was treated to an augmented reality Pokémon fight. With the flick of a finger, you can toss a pokeball to try and catch any Pokémon. The game will tell you how accurate your throw was, which can affect the catch rate.

During the presentation, the Ivysaur broke out of the first pokeball, so a Master Ball was used. Take a look at the first Pokémon Go footage below from YouTube user Eric F.

Hanke explained that players can do more than just catch Pokémon, they can also “farm” for items like pokeballs and potions.

“Farming in Pokemon Go is walking into town, walking around Town Lake and harvesting the items you need to advance,” said Hanke. “It wouldn’t be Pokemon without Pokemon though, and the core mechanic of the game is to get all the Pokemon. There will be a variety of places to capture them, all over the world, in different habitats like by water or forests.”

The SXSW Pokémon Go presentation comes a week after Niantec cancelled its presentation at GDC, which left fans worried about potential delays delays with the development of the AR game. Perhaps this latest presentation, with the first gameplay footage, will put fans at ease.

Niantec has yet to announce an official release date for Pokémon Go, but a beta is currently live in Japan.

What do you think of the Pokémon Go footage? Impressed? Sound off in the comments section below.