Video Games (Review and Hints)

 

The standard that I used was, Indicator 2: Students can comprehend and fluently read text.

 (Analysis) 11.R.2.1 Students can analyze how diction affects the interpretation of text.

(Application) 11.R.2.2 Students can read fluently to comprehend grade-level text.

During 20% time, Dylan Brende and I read review on current, and what we thought were interesting video games. Then when we decided on a game that was school appropriate and visually appealing and chose to play that game. During my 20% time I decided to play the game, Rockband 3 and attempt to fully understand the features that this game had to offer. If you would like you could visit the Best Buy website and read reviews by other gamers on their opinion and viewpoints of the current games that we are playing. To see reviews on Rockband 3 visit The Reviews on Best Buy and check it out. Throughout this 20% time Dylan and I will be reviewing games that we might play outside of school and then blog about them on the blog site and and blog on the games official site as well, or in this case on Best Buy's website. During this 20% time Dylan and I plan on playing most of the newer games either inside our outside of school and writing reviews on them to learn how professional reviews are written. Some of the difficulties will be the games that are not school appropriate so we will have to play the games outside of school and write the review during 20% time in class.

This week my group had come together after school in order to play the video games that were not entirely school appropriate, such as Modern Warfare 3. Dylan Brende and I had decided that we were going to attempt to finish the campaign on Veteran, which is the hardest difficulty. I will be commenting on the official website or Best Buy's website, on the games abilities and features. The entire game has much more to offer than the previous games made around the view of Call of Duty. I think that newer is most of the time better which means that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was amazing and the best Call of Duty yet. This Call of Duty has the option of Survival mode which allows for a Hoarder based mode that requires all of the Allied players to compete against AIs in a new twisted game mode. Each player starts out with either a pistol (Five Seven) or an Assault Rifle (M16) depending on the difficulty setting. Then as you battle through waves of oncoming AIs you gain money to purchase a vast variety of weapons, grenades, and air support to help you survive, hence the name Survival. Each player is also allowed to get perks throughout the game mode through carepackages and some cash. As the game progresses on it obviously gets harder which means that each AI gets more armor, air support, and weapons. Overall Modern Warfare 3 is a completely different game then Modern Warfare 2 with a new campaign, many more options of game play modes, and a whole new multi player exprience.

This week was more of a independent 20% time because I went through the Gears of War 3 campaign and finished that on Insane difficulty which is the hardest difficulty in the game. The best part about it though is that I did it by myself which makes the game much harder because you don't get skilled players helping you defeat the horde. Instead, the players gets to experience a whole new game type with a bunch of ridiculous AI's walking around like they have their heads cut off and not even helping you complete the mission. The cool thing is that they do the same thing on the Halo: Reach campaign, in which you can go through the campaign by yourself and get extra gamerscore. For those who don't know hat gamerscore is, it's the point that your account receives for completing achievements that the games come out with. An average game will have 1250 gamerscore for you to get, but most of the time the achievements that are worth more are harder and the game designers usually try to come out with some that are close to impossible to achieve. For example, Gears of War 3 has 1750 gamerscore that you can get and then they added more when they came out with the new DLC's, which are also known as map packs. All in all, I think that Gears of War 3 has a lot to offer with it's new and improved maps with the exciting new Horde mode that allows you to be Locust and upgrade your Command Centers.

For the new year I have decided to go semi-solo with this project because I am playing games that only require a single player instead the multiplayer games I was playing last year. This year I thought I would start out with a new and truly loved game by all of the gamers, Skyrim. If you ask anyone who is truly a gamer they will be able to tell you everything and anything about Skyrim. Skyrim is a open map game that is have a medieval setting, but with a twist of magic and dragons. Throughout the game the player is able to battle newer and tougher dragons and learn new spells such as Flame Cloak and Thunes or shouts. The Thunes and shouts are special to your character because he/she is of dragon blood which allows him/her to speak in the tongue of dragons and do special things. For example, one of the first shouts that you learn is Fire Breath and later on in the game Dragonrend which is a shout that you shoot at other dragons to make them land. The game offers over 400 hours on in game play time because of the massive amount of quests that are available. Skyrim also allows the character to customize and enchant weapons and armor to make them better. You can also learn a variety of spells such as Spark to Storm Atronarch. Skyrim is all around an amazing and intense game that offers, in my opinion, more than any other game, that has come out in the last 3 years.

  






Alduin (the main dragon in Skyrim)





Daedric Armor (the best armor in Skyrim)

The video game of this checkpoint is going to be World of Warcraft. I don't think many people who have played World of Warcraft or are still playing have noticed that the creators are planning on coming out with a new expansion pack. The new expansion is going to entail a new class, Monk, and a new race, Pandaren, which is sort of like pandas out of Kung Fu Panda but they have unique features. For example, the Pandaren are able to choose a side unlike the other races. For those who don't know about the different sides, there are only 2, Alliance and Horde. For some who just play for fun that isn't a big deal, but for others who are hardcore gamers choose their side with great passion and chose their race of character based on either Horde or Alliance. As a gamer who loves most games, I can't wait for this to come out and see the new features that the Monk class has to offer. If you want to see the trailer about the Monk and new expansion go to the official website and read some of my blog posts, http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/ . 

This week I will be talking about another new thing/ things that I have learned throughout my experiences of playing video games. This week's game just happens to be World of Warcraft again, but this time it is about the best and most effective way to gain different types of currencies. First and most importantly, Honor Points, which are earned by attack players of a different faction, Alliance- Horde and Horde-Alliance. These are best earned when you are higher levels because you get a larger bonus for winning the battlegrounds. The best way is to play until you win and the bonus drops one level and then go for a different currency until the bonus goes back up. This technique will be applied to every type of currency except for daily quest currencies which can only be awarded on a daily basis. The most prestigious of currencies is Conquest Points or Valor Points depending on the type of player you are. Both of these have certain limits that you can get per week, and are the hardest to get based on the amount that you get each time and the amount that you need to purchase items with these points. The only other currency that can be awarded is Justice Points which are used to purchase heirlooms and other lower level equipment. These points are earned best through bonuses within the dungeons. Thanks for reading my blog and hopefully this helping in the always epic World of Warcraft.



All of the excitement about the new Diablo 3 coming out has been very hidden among the gamers and players. The beta testers have very few posts and comments about the new game because many of them have been hidden behind the new World of Warcraft beta. That beta has had the most beta testers of any game ever created, with an insane amount of 1,000,000 + testers. All of these players have to be signed up for a blog or a comment area which they report on their game experience to help the World of Warcraft developers understand the problems and bugs that occur during this new beta and expansion to World of Warcraft. I among the many others got to be a part of that beta testing and have noticed that there are many problems that need to be addressed. Some examples are that some quests don't have proper dialogue and some items needed for quests aren't received until later in the game or never appear. Although this has developing and problems that haven't been found yet. The new class and other new experiencees that are going to be in the new expansion are quite amazing and will amaze the new and old players into not being able to leave the computer.