Pointless money grab or not, had an asston of fun with it. Especially with Pokemon and Zelda. Felt like it was worth it. That and I kind of still like Nintendo. 

The hype for Pokemon GO is real. I'm pretty sure this idea's been used already but was so botched and lame, it was far from what was promised (forgot what it was called). But since it'll be an app, people probably won't complain too much. 

I believe Absolis is from the US. But yeah, you're right it's massively popular there.