If you like Pokemon (and most gamers are on a slider of liking to adoring the franchise), you’ll be happy to know that after Japan, Pokemon GO will soon go into field testing in Australia and New Zealand. If you want to be one of the lucky ones to check it out, go here to sign up. Keep in mind, though, that signing up doesn’t guarantee you a place in the field test, but it’s definitely worth trying to get in early. If you don’t know much about the game, at the moment there are 151 Pokemon in Pokemon GO, but it’s likely we’ll get more Pokemon as we go. The battles won’t be realtime; instead, you’ll leave Pokemon at various locations with two moves selected. Disappointing as an idea, but definitely much more realistic given the constraints of a GPS-based game.

So far, the Japan field testing hasn’t been going very smoothly (and that’s probably an understatement), but judging by their decision to expand the field test, the developers seem to be confident enough about their ability to get it up and running smoothly in the near future. You can check out the Pokemon GO subreddit to get more info on the game, though do keep in mind that usually the ones writing in there are the ones having issues with the game, so it’s probably not a true representation of the game’s state. I’m very curious to see how the game will play out, and I’m definitely going to give it a try once it hits the US. Hopefully it will work by then.