CHS Students Get Their Game On Wednesday, November 30, 2011 By Junior Adam Ussher Senior Zane Clark has been playing both Skyrim and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. - Zane Clark Advertising One thing teenagers get to enjoy with the technology available today is video games. From early beginnings starting with games as simple as Pong, video games have progressed to online, multi-player play, and story lines requiring hundreds of hours of game play. Currently, there are three video games that hold center stage. Senior Nathan Rose-Heim said, “The popular video games out right now are: Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, and Skyrim. They are all very similar games, although Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 are a little more similar. Those three games were all released within 3 weeks of each other, which is very unusual.” These video games have a variety of settings. Senior Sam Murdock said, “Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 are both warfare games set in modern times, and Skyrim is set in the Middle Ages. Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 both happen in various places around the world. The location of Skyrim is actually Skyrim; that’s the name of the land the game takes place in. You could say Skyrim is its own province.” Video games can be made to be simple or be made to make your head spin. “Battlefield 3 is pretty straight-forward, as well as Modern Warfare 3. Skyrim is a bit more complicated, partially because it contains many puzzles that are meant to confuse you,” said Nathan. “When you play Skyrim, you can party chat so you can get tips from others,” Nathan added. Many popular video games are part of a series. “Skyrim is the fifth Elder Scroll. The games of the main series of the Elder Scrolls are: Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, which just came out. Modern Warfare 3, of course, is the third Modern Warfare, but there are numerous Call of Duty games,” said Senior Braiden Van Brunt. “As the series continue, the developers try to change the games up a little bit for different people, but they are always good,” Braiden added. One thing many popular video games have in common is a multi-player feature, but it is not always the case. Nathan said, “Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 are both single-player and multi-player games--a lot of people will be buying them for the multi-player features--but the single-player feature is just as good. Skyrim is exclusively single-player, and because of that, it’s a much bigger single-player game so you can spend a lot more time playing Skyrim than you would playing single-player Battlefield 3 or Modern Warfare 3.” Skyrim is said to require over 300 hours of gameplay to complete the main story line. Parents of gamers often worry about the violence shown in video games. Braiden said, “These games are violent, but, at the same time, I’ve learned a lot from these games. While playing Call of Duty: World at War, you can see clips of real-world combat -- not people dying, just everyone shooting. The games also show a lot of tactics.” Something gamers anticipate with any new video game is the ratings and reviews. Sam commented, “Skyrim is getting great ratings, which is typical for an Elder Scrolls game. In my opinion, Skyrim is the best; it’s my kind of game. I personally think Modern Warfare gets too repetitive.” Imagine Games Network, IGN, has rated Skyrim 9.5/10. IGN also gave Battlefield 3 a 9/10 and Modern Warfare 3 a 9/10 as well. For Xbox 360, Gamespot has awarded Battlefield 3 an 8.5/10, Modern Warfare 3 an 8.5/10, and Skyrim a 9/10.

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