GOTTA CATCH THEM Z'S
Pokemon Sleep revealed – and it tracks your shut eye to ‘turn sleep into entertainment’
POKÉMON fans have been burning calories in their millions since the launch of Pokémon Go, and now Nintendo has set its sights on helping you get better sleep too.
Pokémon Sleep aims to "turn sleep into entertainment", though it's not entirely clear how it's going to do it.
6
The Pokémon Company says it thinks Pokémon "could enrich our everyday lives", and this new app is the next step.
We know sleeping well is hugely important to your health, and that both sleeping too much and too little are linked to serious health problems.
The app will track how much sleep you get, and when you wake up, and that is going to feed into the gameplay.
According to the firm, which is part-owned by Nintendo and responsible for all official Pokémon products, the aim is to make a game that makes people look forward to getting up every day.
It's going to come with a new Bluetooth gadget too, the Pokemon Go Plus Plus.
6
6
Like the current Pokémon Go Plus, it will still accurately track how far you walk and feed that back into Pokémon Go, and let you interact with things in the world of Pokémon Go.
It will have the option to buzz and flash when there are new Pokémon nearby too.
On top of that, it will connect with Pokémon Sleep and help the app track your sleep more accurately.
The disc-like device has a built-in accellerometer, and it looks like you'll have to place it on your bed for it to work - a brief trailer shown at the announcement showed it placed next to the user's pillow.
The app is going to come out at some point in 2020, but we don't know exactly when yet.
6
HOW DO SLEEP TRACKERS WORK?
SLEEP-TRACKING devices have been around for some time, but what exactly do they do?
Sleep trackers come in three main types.
You can get apps that just use your phone and its sensors to track your sleep, ones that you wear like a watch, and ones that have another piece of hardware that sits near you as you sleep.
Ones that you wear as a watch tend to be the most accurate, because they track your movement more precisely and often measure your heart rate too.
This means they can get a much better picture of the quality of sleep you're getting, and whether you're in deep sleep or REM sleep (when you can dream) at any given moment.
Bits of hardware like the Pokémon Go Plus Plus that sit next to you as you sleep are pretty good too, though.
They can't track your heart rate, but do track motion as well as (sometimes) sound to get a pretty good idea of how well you've been sleeping.
Most of them even do a pretty good job of only tracking the person they're next to, even if you share a bed.
We don't know how detailed the Pokémon Sleep app is going to be, but as well as easily tracking when you go to bed and get up, it could well reward you for how well you sleep as well as how long for.
Having a set bed-time and getting up a regular hour are both good for you, as is getting between six and eight hours sleep - so expect the game to reward you for going to bed on time, getting up when your alarm goes off - and maybe even having high-quality sleep in the middle.
- Want a better night's sleep now? Check our list of tThe five best fitness trackers you can buy in 2019, or our guide to the best iPhone sleep apps. Android user? Check out the excellent .
Pokémon Go players are going to be able to get in on the action too.
John Hanke, CEO of Pokémon Go developer Niantic said his firm was "keen to reward good sleeping habits as part of a healthy lifestyle," but didn't offer any more details on exactly how this would work.
To celebrate the announcement, though, he revealed that sleeping Snorlaxes have been added to Pokémon Go for a limited time.
6
As well as catching them, players can use the game's AR camera mode to take snaps of the dozy Pokémon napping wherever they happen to be.
That wasn't all that the Pokémon Company revealed last night, though.
Following the success of the movie, there 's a new Detective Pikachu game coming out for Nintendo Switch.
There's also a new way of storing Pokémon in the cloud that will let you add Pokémon from almost any other Pokémon game.
Pokémon Home will interact with the Pokémon Let's Go games, Pokémon Go, and the upcoming Pokémon Sword and Shield games too.
You'll be rewarded for adding Pokémon to Pokémon Home, and you'll be able to use the app on your phone to trade Pokéon with pals.
6
The last revelation was one some grown-up fans had been most eagerly awaiting.
The line of tailored Pokémon shirts from Original Stitch are going to be available worldwide.
Available in men's and women's cuts, in casual, dress or short-sleeved Hawaiian styles.
As well as specifying the size, collar and sleeve lengths, you can customise which of the first 151 Pokémon you want on each bit of the shirt, with different options for the body, inner and outer collar and pocket.
MOST READ IN GAMING
More Pokémon news is coming next week with a full presentation on the way from Nintendo on Pokémon Sword and Shield.
Meanwhile, a sake expert in Japan is taking advantage in the resurgence of Pokémon Go worldwide by opening a bar dedicated to Pokémon Go players
It was also recently revealed that playing Pokémon as a child permanently changes your brain, with kids developing a specialised cluster of brain cells devoted just to identifying Pokémon.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
Detective Pikachu trailer gives behind-the-scenes look at new Pokemon movie
Topics