"Pokemon Go"'s new Nearby feature, which initially started in San Francisco, is now live in most areas of the world the game is played. If you're a "Pokemon Go" player that ever lamented the loss of the tools that helped you find Pokemon in the game world (and the third-party apps that developer Niantic Labs say drain bandwidth from the game), you'll appreciate this.
In "Pokemon Go"'s latest update, Niantic has made the new Nearby feature available in most places in the world where the game can be played, according to their official blog. This follows the gradual roll-out which saw the feature first get tested in San Francisco, then in western states and provinces of North America, as well as all of Australia. It moved on to all of North America, the UK, and Australia until it was finally unlocked everywhere, as GamenGuide reported.
The new Nearby feature was also slightly reworked by Niantic. GameSpot reports that the feature works differently when there are some PokeStops in the area, but other than that, it's not specifically clear on how different it is. "Pokemon Go" players will just have to keep playing to find out how it has changed; perhaps Niantic has increased the feature's window of availability. Right now, the Nearby feature notifies players of spawn locations and nests when a PokeStop is around them.
"Pokemon Go" has been gathering some new buzz lately, as Starbucks has teamed up with the game in order to put out a new "Pokemon" frappuccino and turn many of its US branches into PokeStops and Gyms. What's even more exciting is that Niantic is set to announce news on new Pokemon, possibly the second generation and more, coming to the game this Monday. Stay tuned for more updates.