Explosion of Pokemon Go 'fascinating': U of S tech expert

It's not officially released in Canada, but that hasn't stopped clever Pokemon Go players in Saskatoon from getting the game working on their smartphones.

• Sask. gamers head outdoors to capture Pokemon in expanded universe

"It's fascinating how quickly it's grown," said Regan Mandryk, a University of Saskatchewan associate professor of computer science.

She said this kind of game has been around  for quite some time now.

"There are a lot of examples of this type of game both in terms of commercial releases and in terms of projects that have been done by academics," she added.

Augmented reality

The style of play offered by Pokemon Go, known as augmented reality, mixes in the real world with game objectives.

"You have a smartphone and through the camera you actually can see the world," said Mandryk. 

"But superimposed on that view of the real world are little virtual objects you can collect — in this case, Pokemon."

According to Mandryk, the broad appeal of Pokemon Go could lead to more augmented reality games even if the initial enthusiasm for monster catching wanes.

"I think probably as the public gets used to this kind of interaction, we'll see more location based games, maybe that are a little more sophisticated in their mechanics," she said.