BOSTON – The new Pokéwalker accessory that comes with Pokémon Heart Gold and Pokémon Soul Silver for the Nintendo DS is great at insinuating gameplay into real life. It's also really easy to lose.
The Pokéwalker is a small pedometer included with the recently-released Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver that lets you take your Pokémon with you wherever you go. Your critters level up, find items and catch new pocket monsters for you while you're walking. The act of transferring your wards from the Nintendo DS to the small gadget makes you, somehow, feel that much closer to your Pokémon.
Nintendo couldn't have timed the device's release better if they'd planned it out: The Pokémon games were released just before the PAX East expo in Boston last weekend, and you couldn't swing a dead Pikachu without knocking one out of a gamer's hand.
Which is apparently what happened to me. Somewhere between the picture posted above (that's me and my Geodude "Sly Stone" enjoying craft beers at Bukowski Tavern) and my last day of PAX East last weekend, I lost track of the little gizmo.
I'll miss my Pokéwalker if I don't get it back.
I initially suspected that the device got lost somewhere in my hotel room, but the cleaning staff didn't turn anything up when I asked.
Saturday night, I took the T out to Cambridge to see a handful of Harmonix bands play at The Middle East. I remember showing my Pokéwalker to a friend some time between sets from Anarchy Club and The Main Drag. That means I could have lost the thing in the cab, during a drunken visit to the 24-hour Shaw's grocery store or – as I first suspected – somewhere in my hotel room at the Colonnade as I collapsed into bed.
I suppose the good news is that all is not lost. I can recover my lost Pokémon with my DS, reverting back to the moment I took the creature for a stroll. Check the game's manual for instructions if you find yourself in the same predicament. But I'm not going to resort to such measures quite yet. I'm holding out hope that some caring soul finds my Pokéwalker and attempts to return it.
Until then, the rest of my Pokémon are under house arrest.
Photo: Gus Mastrapa/Wired.com
See Also:
