Pokemon Go's success means augmented reality is here to stay

LOVE it or hate it, the wildly popular Pokemon Go mobile game that is taking the world by storm has changed the face of the augmented-reality world for good.

Nintendo, the Japanese gaming group, has struck gold with this smartphone game, which requires players to hunt high and low for colourful hidden characters, "capture" them and "compete" for territory in a digital version of the real world.

It has been barely three weeks since the game's July 6 release, and already it has been hailed in many quarters as one of the most successful mobile games in history; in the US alone, there are more than 20 million daily active users and counting, along with tens of millions more people around the world.