Pokemon GO Rumors: What Fans Can Learn From Niantic's Ingress

Pokemon fans may have to look at Ingress to learn more about Pokemon GO as the game's makers have been tightlipped about it.

Pokemon GO was announced last month as a combined venture of The Pokemon Company, Niantic Labs, Nintendo and Game Freak. President and CEO of the Pokemon Company Tsunekazu Ishihara said during the announcement on September 10 that Ingress provided the much need impetus and concept for Pokemon GO.

"When I was working on concepts for the future of Pokémon, a certain individual introduced a game to me that had just come out of beta test. It was called Ingress. Ingress was very impressive to me and I found myself really getting into the game. I also felt that it shared a common philosophy with Pokémon and that with the developer, Niantic, we could create a new type of Pokémon game," Ishihara said.

Ingress is an augmented-reality online RPG that uses Google maps to serve players portals across the world. Ever since its launch in 2013 its sci-fi theme has become a lifestyle for many. The game provides players with in-game narratives and progress in the game depends on capture of 'mind units'.

According to Express, Ingress can serve clues to what Pokemon GO will look like. Just as Ingress uses local business and site besides historical monuments and sites, Pokemon GO may also let users capture or battle Pokemon in everyday locations found through maps. Additionally, Pokemon GO Plus can notify players when in the vicinity of Pokemon or to trade with other players.

The teaser trailer shows players can discover, battle Pokemon or even group at just about any location. It remains to be seen if the level of gameplay reality shown in the trailer is replicable in the game.