So, Wolfram|Alpha Is A Pokédex Now

Wolfram|Alpha, the self-described “computational knowledge engine”, probably doesn’t see a lot of traffic from gamers. But that might change, with the search engine adding statistics for 649 pokémon to its database, all of which can be cross-referenced in various (and hopefully useful) ways.

As Wolfram|Alpha’s Michael Feltes explains on the site’s official blog, you can query the engine with equations and conditions to gather and display complex interactions, or you can just type in the name of your favourite pokémon and get a more standard biographical listing with details such as its type, hit points and, uh, footprint (see right).

According to Feltes, pokémons and Wolfram|Alpha are a perfect match, as the former have “a set of well-defined characteristics with lots of numbers to which we can apply our analytic capabilities”. Unfortunately, the engine doesn’t include pokémon from the latest games, though apparently they are coming “soon”.

How Wolfram|Alpha compares to other online resources providing similar services I’ll leave up to the more knowledgeable players out there. But, as a promotional tool, it’s certainly one of the more inventive — and fun — ideas I’ve seen.

Gotta compute ‘em all! — Wolfram|Alpha’s new data about Pokémon [Wolfram|Alpha, via PocketGamer]