Pokemon Go crashes after hacker attack

Pokemon Go players were unable to get their game fix for hours on Saturday, as hackers crashed the system on the same day it launched in 26 new countries.

The shutdown happened around the same time the game launched in 26 new countries. The game was reported to be back up later in the day Saturday.

A hacking group calling itself PoodleCorp claimed responsibility for the outage. The group also hinted that "something on a larger scale" would happen next.

Pokemon Go is a hugely popular augmented-reality game that is played on smartphones. It has been downloaded more than 10 million times, making it one of the most popular games ever. It uses the phone's camera to superimpose characters on the real world.

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The game has also caused some controversy in the short time since its release, including reports of serious injuries to people playing the game who weren't paying attention to their surroundings.

There have also been reports of people playing in inappropriate venues, such as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C., as well as players calling 911 in Los Angeles to request access to fire stations where virtual characters were spotted.

It was available in eight countries after its initial launch on July 7.