NEW VIDEO GAME RELEASES
Games like Call of Duty: Warzone and Spiderman: Miles Morales are making waves this year
Video games are an essential to many teenagers’s everyday routine. With the COVID-19 pandemic making travel and outdoor activities more difficult, many teenagers are finding new things to do while they stay in isolation at home. One of the popular activities during quarantine is playing video games, and many game developers have released new and exciting games to keep us entertained during the pandemic.
A popular new release that came out this year was Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which can be played on the Nintendo Switch. It came out on March 20th, 2020, not long after the pandemic struck. During March, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the new craze, and it caused Nintendo Switches to be sold out everywhere. It came out at the perfect time, because everyone had started to stay home and find new activities.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a simple cartoony game that can take you on many adventures and has many tasks that you can complete. It sold over 13 million copies in the first six weeks of releasing.
“I was excited because one of the main reasons I got a switch was to play Animal Crossing,” said Amaris Alverio-Serrano, 9. "It’s kinda embarrassing to admit, but I played it for 2 or 3 months straight and then here and there, after I got bored.”
As many people started to play it, people noticed the many amazing features that Nintendo has added to the game.
“I think the best part is either the building of the community with the villagers or the customizing that we could do to the island,” said Alverio-Serrano.
One of the most anticipated games coming out is Spider-Man: Miles Morales for Playstation. It is an action-adventure game developed by Insomniac Entertainment. This fast-paced one player game comes out on November 12, 2020.
If you can’t wait until the 12th of November to play Spider-Man, Assassin's Creed Valhalla for Playstation comes out November 10, 2020. It is also a one-player game and was developed by Ubisoft Montreal. As time goes on, these games get better and better. Games have gotten so good that different inputs like console or Nintendo can play with PC. This is called cross-platform gaming. Take the most popular game right now, Fortnite. A couple of years ago, you might have played on console and wanted to play with your friends, who played on PC. You couldn’t. Now, you can add a PC, Nintendo, etc. player by their gamertag and play with them. This makes games way more fun to play, and you can’t get left out.
If you are a gamer you have most likely played Watch Dogs or Watch Dogs 2. If you had fun playing either of those, you're going to love what comes out October 29, 2020. Watch Dogs: Legion is an upcoming action-adventure game that can be played with up to four players with online co-op. If you like action co-op games, you will love the upcoming Watch Dogs: Legion.
Another new video game that people were interested in this year was Call of Duty: Warzone, which was released on March 10th, 2020. Call of Duty: Warzone is an action-packed game that can be played on the Xbox One, PC, and Playstation 4. This has also included cross-platform and cross-play, which can help you switch from your PC to your console. Warzone added 2 different maps as well as a 150 player pit going against each other in a huge map.
With all of the many new additions to the game, many people were excited to see what it was going to be like when it was initially released.
“I play Call of Duty: Warzone not that much but a decent amount over the summer,” said Aidan Barnett, 12. “When it first came out, I thought it was alright and a pretty good game to play when I’m bored around the house during quarantine.”
A major factor that many people enjoyed about playing this game was that it was free to play for everyone, because many people don’t want to spend a lot of money on video games. A perk of having a video game free is that many more people feel tempted to play it, which helps gain its popularity.
“My favorite part of Call of Duty: Warzone was that I could play it for free,” said Barnett.
In addition, a game called NBA 2K21 was released on September 4, 2020 as a basketball simulation video game that many people love playing. NBA 2K21 added many new features including new gameplay, and better, clearer graphics.
“When NBA 2K21 first came out, I was excited by the new park, clothing brands, and graphics they added,” said Bradley Blackman, 9.
As teenagers get addicted to new video games, they tend to play multiple hours of the day trying to get better and more rankings in the game.
“When the game came out, I played for around 4 hours a day to increase my Rep and unlock badges and attributes for my player,” said Blackman. “Now that I unlocked those, I now play for around an hour or two a day due to the fact that I don’t have to earn those unlocks.”
New video games coming out over the world's period of self-isolation were a major advantage for people trying to find new activities to fill their days at home. These new releases were a big hit during summer and gained a lot of popularity, helping both teens and adults to stay sane over quarantine.
This is Danielle’s first year on The Edge Staff and third year at Edgewood. She enjoys spending her time drawing and playing video games. As staff writer this year, she hopes to further develop better writing skills and learn new tactics.
This is Terrell's first year on The Edge staff and second year at Edgewood. He enjoys spending his time playing basketball and hanging out with friends. As a staff writer this year, he hopes to improve his writing skills and creativity.