Pokemon GO Plus Arrives in Australia on September 16th
UPDATE: Added pricing and availability
The Pokemon GO Plus device was designed to allow you to play Pokemon GO without having your phone out. It’s a much more convenient way of playing that should also hopefully cut down on the app’s battery usage. People were disappointed when it was announced that the Plus would be delayed from its original release date. Well, overseas, anyway – we never actually had a release date to begin with! It has now been confirmed that the accessory will be releasing next week “in most countries”, on September 16th. Nintendo have confirmed that Australia is included in this, so you’ll be able to purchase the accessory next Friday. They will be retailing for $49.95 here, and will only be available from EB Games and a new Nintendo AU/NZ eBay Store. So our EB Exclusive prediction was almost right. You’ll be able to preorder a Pokemon GO Plus from EB online starting 12pm on Monday the 12th of September, with a limit of one per customer. Nintendo’s eBay Store will only start taking orders from 9am on September 16th, so you’ll have to wait a bit longer to start GO-ing.
Pokémon GO Plus will arrive 16/9 via @EBGamesAus & NZ and the new Nintendo AU/NZ eBay Store. https://t.co/9G7e8E61pt pic.twitter.com/tOSKsUn0m4
— Nintendo AU NZ (@NintendoAUNZ) September 8, 2016
The Pokémon Go Plus is available to preorder Monday September 12 at 12PM AEST! https://t.co/xy2ywr8hrF pic.twitter.com/B6lc4rC7KW
— EB Games Australia (@EBGamesAus) September 9, 2016
“We’ve been testing it here at Niantic and we love the way it allows you to blend Pokémon GO even more seamlessly into family and fitness activities,” Niantic’s update says. “Now you’ll be able to play and enjoy your walk, run, hike, park trips or visits to the library without having to look at your screen all the time.”
The Pokemon GO Plus will allow you to interact with some elements of the game without having your phone out. If you pass a nearby PokeStop or Pokemon, the device will vibrate and light up. You can then push a button to gather items or attempt to catch a Pokemon. You’ll need to check your in-game Journal later on to see what you caught though. Annoyingly, the game won’t track the distance you walk while the game isn’t open, which presumably means you can’t hatch your eggs this way. It also won’t detect Pokemon lured in by your incense. So there’s definitely some drawbacks to the added convenience.
Nintendo also added a Safety Warning on their site that gives you another reason to not use a hoverboard (in case you needed one) along with a list of compatible iOS and Android devices.
We’ll add this release date to our calendar.
