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    Pokemon GO Field Test Slated For End of March

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    …in Japan. The rest of the world will have to hold their breaths for just a little bit longer. After announcing the cancellation of its presentation during GDC, Niantic followed up with an announcement for a Japan-only regional field test for their highly anticipated location-based mobile game, Pokemon GO. 

    Unless you’re located in Japan, clicking on the link will alert you that the content is currently unavailable in your country. It does however, link to Niantic’s development blog, whose latest post is the following:

    March 3, 2016

    The Pokémon Company and Niantic will be inviting users to field test Pokémon GO in Japan later this month. The Pokémon GO field test program will give users the opportunity to share early feedback and help improve the Pokémon GO experience.  Please stay tuned for information about expansion of the field test to other markets.  

     

    Thank you for your interest in Pokémon GO.

     

    — The Pokémon GO Development Team

    Reddit user /u/yus0359 with help from /r/translator was able to translate some information from the Japanese beta site.

    • Field testing will begin in late March for Japan and can be terminated without warning
    • Participants must either own an iPhone 5 or later model, or an Android running 4.3 or higher. These minimum requirements don’t guarantee smooth operation
    • As usual, beta participation is not guaranteed. iOS has more limited slots for testing
    • Progress will not transfer to live version
    • No rewards for participation
    • Beta accounts cannot be sold or give away by participants
    • Testers have to agree to a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
    • Niantic won’t be held responsible for testers that hurt themselves while participating

    Another redditor, /u/mil1ion has provided an image of a translated version of what Japanese users are seeing on the beta page:
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    Though optional, Ingress (Niantic’s other location-based game) players might get some sort of preference during the acceptance period, due to their familiarity with a similar system.

    While Niantic has been nearly silent since announcing Pokemon GO, the beginning of a closed/limited beta does seem to be a signal that development is slowly heading in the right direction for its intended 2016 release. This post will be updated with any additional news.

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    Walter is a California native. He is currently in his last year of college pursuing a B.A. in English, but is often mistaken for a freshman...or a middle school tourist on occassion. His earliest gaming experience was Pokemon Red version on the Gameboy color, which he played actively. He would dabble with the Nintendo 64 and Playstation 2 for a bit before transitioning to many years of F2P MMOs. He then moved on to League of Legends, with whom he as an on and off again relationship. He currently spends most of his game time on his Playstation 4. He's also a bit of a Marvel nut.