In some video games, such as Overwatch, there are these things called "loot boxes", where a player can pay real world money to get a prize box, which gives the player virtual items, such as special customization items, weapons, and armor for their character.
Recently, U.S. senator Maggie Hassan wrote a letter to the Entertainment and Software Ratings Board (ESRB), asking if they could investigate loot boxes. She compared loot boxes to tactics used in casinos, getting people to pay money for prizes, inciting gambling-like behavior. The loot box industry is worth $30 billion, and it is a large source of income for video game companies. The fact that players don't know what they will get when they open the loot box makes it even more appealing to players, wanting the trill of opening the box and hopefully getting a rare prize. Players can also sell their loot box loot for real world money to other players. In my opinion, the loot box industry has grown out of control. I think that video games should let players get rare and exciting prizes by leveling up, or finding an easter egg, which is usually a hidden location in a video game map, that references something from the real world or another video game. This way, players will play longer, trying to reach the next level to get that awesome prize, and more people might buy the game if they see all they need to earn a cool prize is by simply playing the game and leveling up. -Loot boxes are like gambling. -It is a $30 billion industry.
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A game I have been playing for about a year now is Garry's Mod. Released in 2005, it is a sandbox style game where you can mess around and do anything from building structures to driving a mail truck around Hogwarts. The default game features a few maps to play around on, and the game gives you construction materials, tools, weapons, and some vehicles to mess around with. You can download more maps, weapons, vehicles, entities, props, character skins, and much more from the Steam Workshop to add to the game. All the things in Garry's Mod are actually from other games, such as Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2.
Pros: -Lots of customization -Few rules, lots of freedom -Singleplayer and multiplayer How you play the game is up to the player, they can play singleplayer or multiplayer, and they can do whatever they want with what is given to them in the base game or what they download in the steam workshop. With multiplayer, you can host a private game with your friends or join a public server, which usually consist of roleplay maps such as Star Wars or Harry Potter, where they reenact the movies or books, or just where you can join explore a map from a franchise dressed up as character from that franchise. Back to singleplayer, the leader of the game session can customize rules for the session, such as if the player can take damage or if the player can fly around. Also, the player can set the singleplayer session to allow friends to join and make the session a multiplayer session. Cons: -Takes a long time to load -Lots of keyboard shortcuts to learn -Menu can be complicated One major problem I have with Garry's Mod is how long it takes to initially start up, and especially when joining a multiplayer game. I think this is due to having to download and update Steam Workshop mods when joining a game. Also, there are a lot of keyboard shortcuts to learn, and I have only learned a few, which my friends use against me. In addition, the menu is something I am having trouble getting used to. Finding weapons or entities can be hard for me, especially when I don't know the name of the item and the fact that I'm subscribed to hundreds of items on the Steam Workshop for Garry's Mod. Sometimes the menu feels more like the internet than a game menu. Rating (Out of 10): Graphics: 9 Music: N/A (No music) Cinematics: 9 Story: N/A (No story) Content: 10 Controls: 5 Gameplay: 7 Due to the large freedom of play and customization, the graphics don't really matter to me, nor the fact that the game has no story or ambient music. The controls can be hard to learn at first, but that is normal for most video games. If you are into sandbox games like Minecraft, then you should add this game to your collection. I rate this game 8/10. Some video games have had movies made based off of them. One such video game is Angry Birds, which started as a mobile game back in 2009, which I remember playing back in 2nd grade on my iPad Touch. This weekend, I watched The Angry Birds Movie, and decided to compare it to the original game.
In the game, the player is given a set amount of birds of different types for each level. Each bird has its own name and its own ability. Some abilities are speed, bomb, or weight. The player must figure out how to use these bird's abilities to effectively destroy the pig's structure, who are the enemies. The structures are built out of different materials, such as wood, stone and glass. These materials have different strengths and the player must decide how to slingshot the birds at the structure to get it to collapse and kill all the pigs. The birds are attacking the pigs due to the fact the that the pigs have stolen the birds eggs to eat them. In the movie, the birds live on a utopian island where happiness is emphasized in society and everyone worships the mythical Mighty Eagle. The main character of the movie, Red, who is also the most famous bird from the game, has anger management issues and is an outcast from society. He is always grumpy and lives on the beach away from the bird's village. One day, he screws up by cracking a family's egg, and is punished my getting sent to an anger management class. All of his classmates are the birds from the Angry Birds game. Eventually, the pigs show up to the island one evening and are very kind to the birds, and throw a large party. All of the birds are very excited about this, except Red, who senses something is off. He and Chuck, also known as the yellow bird, and Bomb, explore the pig's ship and find a lot more pigs inside. Eventually over time, the pigs integrate themselves with the bird community, and the pigs start to show a creepy interest in the eggs, which they steal in the game, and that's exactly what happens next. While the birds are at a massive rave party the pigs built for them, the pigs steal all the eggs and blow up the bird's village. When the birds realize what happened, they abandon their happy, peaceful ways and become angry and warlike. They build a raft from what the pigs left behind and head to the pigs island. When they get to the pigs island, they launch themselves at the pig's city with a slingshot the pigs gave them earlier in the movie, and the birds use their powers from the game to start destroying the city, which is built out of wood, stone and glass just like in the game. the birds raid the castle and fight with the pigs for the stolen eggs, when the Mighty Eagle shows up and helps turn the tide of the battle in the bird's favor. The pigs launch a counter attack with aircraft built out of scrap which resemble aircraft from the game Bad Piggies, which is another game in the Angry Birds series, except where you play as the pigs. Eventually, Red fights with the king pig, and blows up the entire city. The pigs are defeated and the eggs are safe. The birds return to their island and treat Red as a hero, and build him a new house in the center of town. Overall, the movie was very entertaining, and the plot was very easy to understand, even for those who have never played the game. The movie was very brightly and colorfully animated, and there were a lot of innuendos in the dialogue, a few too many for a children's movie in my opinion. I wish the movie was longer, but based off the ending, I believe there will be another one. Some other movies that are based off of video games are Assassin's Creed, Warcraft, Mortal Kombat, Rachet and Clank, and Tomb Raider. I plan to check out Ratchet and Clank and Tomb Raider, as those games are more of my style, so I think those movies will interest me more. The game and the movie are similar in many ways: -The birds each have special powers to help them attack the pigs. -The pigs main goal is to steal and eat the eggs. -The pigs build their buildings and equipment in ways it can easily be destroyed by the birds. -The Mighty Eagle comes in when the birds are in deep trouble. -The game and movie were very similar, but had many differences too. -Overall the movie was very entertaining. -There are many movies based off of video games. |
AuthorMy name is Adam Servas, Categories
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The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools.
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