'Rest your best!': Pokemon Sleep game coming this year

Pallade Veneta - 'Rest your best!': Pokemon Sleep game coming this year

CULTURE 28.02.2023

'Rest your best!': Pokemon Sleep game coming this year / Photo: Charly TRIBALLEAU - AFP/File

Pokemon's last major smartphone hit, "Pokemon Go", had fans on the move hunting the lovable characters, but its next release will focus on a more relaxing activity: sleep.

Change text size:

The Pokemon Company has revealed it will release "Pokemon Sleep" across most of the world in summer 2023, four years after it first announced plans for the game.

"Turn your sleep into entertainment," the company said in a press release late Monday.

Trailers for the new game suggest it combines a smartphone sleep tracker with gaming.

"Your adventure takes place on a small island where you'll carry out research on how Pokemon sleep. You'll work with a large Snorlax who lives on the island and Neroli, a professor who's studying Pokemon sleep styles."

"The longer you sleep, the higher your score in the morning, and the more Pokemon you'll see appear around Snorlax," the company said, urging players to "rest your very best!"

Fans will also be able to buy a "Pokemon GO Plus +" -- a Pokeball-shaped gadget that users can place by their pillow, with Pikachu's voice offering "cute prompts when it's time to wake up or go to sleep".

The company's "Pokemon Go" game, which saw players track down the "pocket monsters" using their phones, was an international phenomenon.

The free game uses satellite locations, graphics and camera capabilities to overlay cartoon characters on real-world settings, challenging players to capture and train the creatures.

But players were blamed for traffic accidents and other violations as they roamed the streets, buried in their phones.

Pokemon has been a global hit since it was launched as a role-playing game in 1996 for Nintendo's Game Boy console.

The franchise, whose slogan is "Gotta Catch 'Em All", also includes movies and a hugely popular animated TV show.

A.Fallone--PV

Jersey Boys Anniversary Tour Opens in Birmingham With Gritty Account of Crime and Fame

The 20th-anniversary tour of Jersey Boys has opened at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre, offering a gritty and unvarnished look at the Four Seasons’ journey. The production details the band's turbulent rise from New Jersey petty criminals to international rock stars, highlighting the complex personal costs behind their musical success.

UBC professor describes police call after Galloway remark as act of care

VANCOUVER — A University of British Columbia professor has testified about a colleague’s decision to call police to visit Steven Galloway after he was accused of sexual assault, describing it as an “act of care” toward the author, who had spoken of killing himself. Galloway, who is suing his accuser and others in a defamation trial centred on the unproven allegations, has described his subsequent committal to a hospital in the United States as “terrifying.

Pallade Veneta - 'Rest your best!': Pokemon Sleep game coming this year