Breaking down borders in video games.
A pokéwalk in the park
Later this month, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver — already out in Japan for about 6 months — will finally make their way to the west, with a North American release date of March 14 and a European release date of March 26. With them will come the Pokéwalker.
The Pokéwalker comes bundled with Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver
The Pokéwalker is essentially a pedometer which can communicate with your DS. The idea is that you “store” one of your pokémon in the Pokéwalker and then carry it with you when you’re out and about. The pedometer then measures how far you walk and how many steps you take, and makes your pokémon proportionally happier and more experienced.
I have to say, I’m in two minds over the whole idea. On the one hand, I’m definitely in favour of innovation and providing new ways for people to interact with their games, and this certainly delivers on that front. I also see the idea of encouraging people to lead more active lifestyles as being desirable, and if this manages to get people to walk more because they want to level up their pokémon then so much the better.
On the other hand, I’m a little bitter over the whole thing. I’m going to be in hospital on the European release date, having had surgery the day before. I’ll then be spending the next week in hospital followed by several weeks after that convalescing at my parents’ house, where I’ll have very limited mobility and will be spending most of my time in bed.
I’m planning for gaming to occupy a lot of my time in that period, and will probably include one of the new Pokémon games in my gaming diet. They hit just the right balance between being simple enough that I could play them while groggy, in pain, or doped on painkillers, while being complex enough that I won’t grow bored of them too quickly.
Needless to say, I won’t be using the Pokéwalker at all during this time.
Still, I consider myself on the privileged side of the line here. After a couple of months of recovery, I’ll be back to close to full mobility and will be able to use the Pokéwalker as intended. Not everyone will be able to. It’s a useless device to those with disabilities or illnesses which stop them from walking much or at all.
The naïve response to this is to say “you don’t have to use it!” and there’s certainly some truth to that. I’m sure it will be perfectly possible to play and enjoy Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver without using the Pokéwalker, and I’m planning on doing exactly that. What concerns me is the issue of game balance.
Is the game going to be balanced for use with the Pokéwalker, or without it? If the answer to this is “with” then people who can’t use the Pokéwalker — for whatever reason — are going to be left with an unbalanced game. Certainly it won’t be an unplayable one, but we’re going to have to work extra hard on levelling up our pokémon.
This is not something that’s new when it comes to the Pokémon games. Like many RPGs, they’ve always had an element of grind required for levelling up. I suspect the Pokéwalker is in response to that. Now instead of grinding, you can level up jiggypuff by going for a walk. Great! For those who have that option, anyway.
I worry that Nintendo and Game Freak might consider the problem “solved” with this addition. If people have the option of avoiding grind entirely by going out for a walk, why should they bother trying to minimise or avoid grind? In fact, if they want to make sure that there’s still a challenge even with the Pokéwalker, might they want to actually increase the grind involved instead?
I don’t know the answer to this question. I don’t know how the game developers are thinking about the issue. That’s why I remain in two minds over the whole thing.
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about 4 months ago
Or you could just leave Pikachu sitting on top of a running dryer.
about 4 months ago
Could do, but to me, that would feel like cheating and make the game less fun.
about 4 months ago
there a commercial for the pocket pikachu with a bunch of kids sitting on the dryer
about 4 months ago
I have played the game now over 3weeks and I don’t agreed with you. Your pokemon only get one level up after the long walk while you get level up so easy by pushing button for few times. I don’t think you are going to less benefit because you can’t use pokewalker. I thought that the game could have used more integration with pokewalker.
about 4 months ago
This sounds similar to the Pocket Pikachu when I was in middle school (11-12 years ago, wow has Pokemon been around that long?). It has a step-counter, but didn’t interact with the Gameboy like this new device seems to. I used to cheat all the time by sitting in class and shaking my Pikachu for hours to get more points. The game didn’t really have an objective… you just fed your points to Pikachu and it would make a happy animation. At least a Tomagachi or NanoPet would evolve or grow!
about 4 months ago
Haha, I remember that thing, I almost got in trouble for having it in school, the teachers thought it was a pager! Yeah, it was not a very deep game or anything…
about 4 months ago
Oh yeah! Everyone always asked me, “Is that a pager?” because I kept it inside my pocket with the clip on the outside of my pocket. This was before kids had cellphones. I was the attendance TA so I always walked a lot at school and racked up Pikachu points.
about 4 months ago
I LOVE the idea of integrating a step counter with a video game. Let’s face facts, right? But I had never thought about the accessibility issues.
I bet would be trivial for them to make something that clipped onto the rims of a wheelchair and counted revolutions instead of steps.
I have an uncle with Parkinsons who gets out a lot, but has a very shuffling gait. Maybe it could have adjustable sensitivity levels, with relatively more “points” awarded for each step on super-sensitive mode. That way each shuffle-step my uncle takes would count as say 10 walking steps.
about 4 months ago
*snickers then burst into laughter because I remember those days*
-Ani8
about 4 months ago
So this pokewalker thing is gonna be for all copies and not some pre-order bonus crud? Eitherway never given the subject any thought until you pointed out. Makes me curious as to how a pedometer works and if there’s the possibility of register other forms of movements rather than just walking, allowing must users to employ the use of other types of exercises.
-Ani8
about 4 months ago
If it works like that Pikachu toy mentioned above, you just have to shake the thing up and down to get to get it to register a “step”.
about 4 months ago
I am thinking it probably works like the Pocket Pikachu. Which makes me think that some disabled people can clip it to their arms, or other places that they move more often to use it.
Still though, the product assumes that EVERYBODY can walk.
about 4 months ago
I do not want to be the person that comments “But you don’t have to use it!” in an ignorant and obnoxious tone, but this post really does sound like a desperate clutching at straws for something to complain about.
I have not played the new pokemons so I can not say for sure, but I can not imagine the gameplay will have changed drastically because of this added toy. Certainly, some disabled people will be unable to use it, and I love the borderhouse blog as it is something I would not even have considered without this blog. That said, I don’t think the fact some disabled people will be unable to use it is a reason for it to not exist at all, which seems to be the only solution to the problem as presented in this article.
Should Wii Fit not exist because some people are unable to use some aspects of it? I guess that is a more extreme example of my issue with this post.
Certainly, games should be as accessible as possible for as many people as possible. Peggle has a colourblind mode, which I think is great, but it is something that should be able to be turned off because, well, not everyone is colourblind. I guess that is how I feel about this. The idea of taking your pokemon with you in a real pokeball is, in theory, awesomely cool and innovative. I don’t think that shouldn’t exist because some people are unable to use it. (Note: I know you never actually argue for it to not exist, but I can not see any ther alternative to its current design).
Anyway, it is late and I am half asleep. This post probably sounds far more insensitive than it is intended to sound, and I apologise for any offence caused. It is still an interesting topic and one I would not have even considered if this blog did not draw attention to it, and I suppose that if nothing else justifies its discussion.
about 4 months ago
this post really does sound like a desperate clutching at straws for something to complain about
I would suggest that if you do not want to be ignorant, obnoxious, insensitive or offensive, you should refrain from phrasing your criticisms in such a dismissive, inflammatory way.
Note: I know you never actually argue for it to not exist, but I can not see any ther alternative to its current design
You acknowledge that the OP does not suggest that the Pokewalker should not exist, yet most of your comment is focused on dismantling that straw argument and you suggest that its nonexistence is the only solution that this article can lead to. I have to counter that and say that your conclusion shows a lack of imagination! A few alternatives that I can think of that might make the Pokewalker more accessible: design the pedometer so that it can register the rotation of a wheel as a step or, if the addition of the Pokewalker does significantly alter the balance of the game as the OP fears, give players the option of playing the game in a “With Pokewalker” mode or a “Without Pokewalker” mode, so that they can play the game with a balance that is suitable to their ability.
about 4 months ago
Oh, hello again :p
You are right, this was a horribly written comment, as I should have realised when I felt I needed to write the last paragraph of it, lol.
I still stand by my first sentence, though. The second half of this article is based on a big “what if?”. The reason the article’s writer is in two minds about it and “doesn’t know” the answer to the questions they themselves pose, is because they haven’t played the game yet. I think they should have held out the extra week(ish) for the game to be released, see if the pokewalker actually does seriously affect the game, and then write this article if it does, in which case it would be entirely appropriate.
I imagine it is just a gimmick to help sell copies of what is essentially a cover of an old game. I really can’t imagine it changing the fundamentals of the pokemon experience. Players are still gonna be grinding through the caves and long grass with the rest of their pokemon. I imagine a “Without Pokewalker” mode would be exactly the same as just, well, not using the pokewalker. But that is entirely speculation, just as this article is speculating the opposite.
To prove I am not entirely as uncreative as I sounded, perhaps they could have implemented more tamagochi-esque elements into the pokewalker so you can look after your pokemon as well as walk it. That would be one option to make it more accessible that would still be attractive to the nintendo bigwigs.
about 4 months ago
I thought the idea of the pokéwalker was quite nice because I remember I didn’t like levelling up my pokémon. I’m not an RPG fan and I confess I played the Blue Pokémon because of all the hype back in 1998. But I really liked! I just don’t like all the battle to get experience.
I’m sure disabled people can still level up their pokémon by the old method, otherwise this pokéwalker would be a very bad idea. But thanks for bringing that up, it caused me to stop and think.
I’m very attracted by the game. A Pokémon released originally after the one I stopped playing with a device that I can use while running to catch the bus. Fantastic. I’m still in doubt if I should get it, since where I live everything related to videogames is so expensive, I wonder how much the pokéwalker will cost…
about 4 months ago
I don’t own it myself, but practically all my friends do so I can tell you a few things with fair certainty:
1) It’s an extra feature, not an integral part of the game. You can get certain “special” pokemon — like surfing and flying Pikachu — as well as “shiny” (ie. different colored) pokemon. You also can get “presents” of useful (but, to my knowledge, common) items to put into your game.
2) I’ve never heard of it being used to level up one’s pokemon (the pokemon people I know put in are ones they only intend to use in the pokewalker, not in the game itself).
3) The pokewalker can be triggered by shaking it in any form (although speeding up the shaking does not get you more steps), so while it’s designed for people to use while walking, it can be used in other ways. I was personally fond of taking my friends’ pokewalkers and shake-dancing with them, others have put them on their dogs or cats and built up watts that way, etc. You can see that as “cheating” if you want, but making watts is making watts and if you need/want to make watts with your hands, or using another person/object to help, then I think that’s perfectly fine.
Since the game is 100% playable without using the walker, you don’t need to worry about your play experience being ruined by (dis)ableism.
But I do think that your post raises some good questions about devs and their assumptions about ability and disability, and how something that’s supposed to be a fun extra could potentially become something that leaves disabled kids (and adults!) feeling left out and unable to get the “full” experience of the game.
about 4 months ago
Yeah, it is not worth the time to try and actually level up a pokemon using it, as you an only get one level each time you send a pokemon to it, and I think if the pokemon gets to a level where it would otherwise learn a new move or evolve, the new move randomly overwrites an old one (daycare-style), and the pokemon will not evolve. So it’s better to have some pokemon to specifically use in the walker.
The only advantage that is disappointing to be without is access to certain pokemon that aren’t in HG/SS that are (sometimes easily) obtainable on the pokewalker. But those can be obtained through trading with friends or the global trading system.
Putting it on the pet is freaking brilliant! I am so doing that from now on instead of bringing it to work, where it sits in my bag…
about 4 months ago
There’s one thing that kind of bugs me… I suspect that a pokemon leveled up this way will be weaker than one leveled normally because of the hidden Effort Value points that you gain when you win a Pokemon battle. (Pokemon leveled in-game using methods other than battling end up with lower stats, because the other methods give Experience Points but no Effort Value points.)
about 4 months ago
I think the community is still working on whether a pokemon can get EVs from the pokewalker, but my hunch is that they will not. The walker seems more useful for catching pokemon that can’t otherwise be found in HG/SS than for leveling up.