The Pixelated Post #1
It’s summer break, the sun is beating down outside, there’s no breeze, and all of the local weather channels are reminding people to stay indoors. What time could be better for playing video games?
Summer is traditionally a slow time for video game releases, which can be rather confusing. It seems like the summer break when students have large amounts of free time, and it’s too hot to do anything outside would be a great time to release the newest hit. In the Summer of 2010 two franchises answered the gaming community’s call for quality entertainment.
The first of the two summer hits is Madden NFL 11, the next game in a franchise that has been running since 1989. The game has changed dramatically, upgrading from blocky, pixelated graphics to the high definition graphics we’re used to today. However, graphics aren’t the only things that have been upgraded, this newest release in the series allows for team online play, in which a player can team up with two friends to control separate groups of players on the field. Further improvements to the game include shortening the amount of time it takes to play a game as well as helping to simplify calling plays for those gamers who aren’t necessarily deeply involved in football strategy.
If sports really isn’t your thing, the other hit release this summer may be what you’re looking for. It is next to impossible to have gone through summer and not heard about StarCraft 2 from somewhere. The game comes as a long awaited sequel to StarCraft which released in 1998 and some would say redefined the real time strategy genre. StraCraft 2 takes the same basic formula and improves on it with updated graphics, a more streamlined multi-player system, and an amazing single player storyline. It tests players abilities to adapt and change in real time to their opponents strategy requiring immense amounts of skill to be considered a strong player and creating a completely different game experience with each match. The single player campaign crafts a storyline with challenging yet enjoyable missions and big screen quality cinematics.
While everyone needs time to relax and enjoy downtime, one important part of gaming at college is ensuring to budget time between video games and studying. While video games and studying seem to differ substantially there can actually be advantages in splitting time between the two. It is generally not advisable to play video games for extremely long periods of time. Players need to take breaks at some point. Studying is exactly the same, people will absorb information better if they take breaks every hour to hour and a half. So while studying take a few breaks to relax and let your mind rest, maybe by playing a round of Tetris. Or for all of those Facebook addicts there’s always FarmVille.