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Pokemon Go craze crashes Aussie servers

Jul 12, 2016

High demand for the augmented-reality game Pokemon Go crashed the app's servers in Australia today.

It also attracted safety and trespassing warnings from the authorities.

The game has been a massive hit since it was rolled out in Australia, New Zealand and the United States last week, with more than 5 million downloads on the Android Google Play app store.

A Pokemon "walk" in Sydney on Sunday saw thousands of gamers descend on the iconic harbour, chasing virtual cartoon character monsters around the Opera House and Botanical Gardens with their mobile phones.

"Police have received numerous reports of Pokemon around the state. Rest assured - we're gonna catch 'em all!" quipped the police force on Facebook, using the game's tagline.

But they warned that "'I was collecting Pokemon' is not a legal defence against a charge of trespass, so be sure that you have permission to enter an area or building."

Officers in the northern city of Darwin also took to the social media website to advise users that while their police station featured as a "Pokestop" -- locations where players can pick up supplies -- gamers did not have to enter it to get the items.

In Sydney and Melbourne, where "Pokemon" has been trending high on Twitter, users complained about crashed servers, with one posting: "Twitter = moral support group for when #pokemongo server goes down".

"Finally the world has found something to unite about. Our collective trauma of the #PokemonGo server being down," another user wrote.

The app's popularity has sent shares in Nintendo, which has invested in the game's developer Niantic after it was spun off from tech giant Google, soaring by more than 40 percent over three trading sessions in Japan.

Source: AFP