Pokemon GO Update: Gen 2 Event Transfer Plus Valentine's Day

Plans for the next Pokemon GO event have been made for Valentine's Day – and the time is ripe for more Gen 2 monsters. All code changes up unto this point in APK updates suggest the imminent release of another wave of Gen 2 Pokemon. As we've heard little of updates from Niantic since the last "in coming weeks" before the end of the year, one could safely assume some sort of big update is coming soon.

Each relatively major US-centric holiday since the initial release of Pokemon GO has been celebrated with an in-game event. As is tradition in Niantic games – in Ingress, that is to say – it wouldn't be a surprise to see an event on the anniversary of the release of the game, too. After Ingress became relatively established, Niantic began to hold events based on the narrative of the game, rather than the narrative of the world in which the game existed.

But for now, Pokemon GO's success in events has settled on or reasonably near real-world holidays. Thus far, Niantic has given special consideration to events which generally give school days off for students – Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve. Halloween isn't generally given off from school, but the fact that Pokemon fits so perfectly well with the theme, Niantic could hardly be blamed for mixing the two.

The same is true of Valentine's Day and Easter. For Easter there's a big batch of potential for Pokemon Egg-based action. Easter is generally a time around which spring... springs – so a bunch of new Pokemon will probably pop up then, too.

IMAGES ABOVE: Illustrated by DeviantArt user suikuzu.

Our anonymous source with information on the subject at hand suggests that Valentine's Day will be an exciting event for Pokemon GO. Valentine's Day is all about love – and for children, all about friendship. A couple of the most well-known and/or long-awaited Pokemon in Pokemon GO's Gen 2 collection are created with Friendship.

Eevee evolves into a bunch of different Pokemon dependent on which Generation game the user is playing. If Gen 2 becomes available, both Espeon and Umbreon are put in play. In the original Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver, the Friendship (aka happiness) level of a Pokemon can have a collection of effects.

As our Eevee evolution guide suggests, Eevee can evolve into Umbreon and Espeon depending on the time of day it is when evolution occurs. To make this happen in Pokemon Gold or Silver, Eevee's Friendship level needs to reach a certain point, after which evoltuion will result in either an Espeon or an Umbreon, (again, depending on if the evolution takes place in the daytime or at night.)

Though we've seen no direct evidence of "Friendship" (as mentioned with that name) in Pokemon GO, it's simple to guess where it might pop up. Walking with a Buddy Pokemon now only results in Pokemon Candy being found every so often. The total distance walked is recorded for no reason currently utilized. Consider this the point at which we predict how to make Umbreon and Espeon as early as possible.

• Jolteon: Name Eevee "Sparky"

• Vaporeon: Name Eevee "Rainer"

• Flareon: Name Eevee "Pyro"

• Espeon: Friendship + Day (4:00 AM – 5:59 PM)

• Umbreon: Friendship + Night (6:00 PM – 3:59 AM)

We're crossing our fingers that our anonymous tipster's suggestion of additional bonuses for Valentine's Day come to fruition. We've been wishing for double-XP and extra Pokemon Candy for what seems like an eternity! Have a peek at our Pokemon GO Twitter Portal for additional predictions and APK teardown information.

UPDATE: The original bulk of the article published on the 27th of January, 2017 is included below. While our previous best calculations suggested that the next Pokemon GO event would take place this weekend, things seem to have changed. If China isn't on board with Pokemon GO, there's little sense in celebrating the Lunar New Year with China in the game now, is there?SEE TOO: How to run the Pokemon GO 2x Power Up exploitIn less than 24 hours, we'll see whether the biggest event of the lunar year rings true for Pokemon GO. China celebrates the new year this weekend, and our calculations suggest a decent chance of a secret Pokemon GO event. A secret, that is to say, because all previous reveals of this sort of event have taken place after an announcement of an incoming event. This time that didn't happen. But we've still got reason to believe that the next Gen 2 event is imminent!One part of our 2-part prediction from earlier this week came to fruition – that of a full South Korea release of Pokemon GO to the public. This part of the two-part report was relatively independent of the other, so one should have little to do with the other. However, because of similar (anonymous) sources to those we've relied on in the past, we have reason to believe that the 2nd event was on the books at one point – and stands a good chance of taking place this weekend in some form.