Sean O'Donnell

On March 20th, 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released for the Nintendo Switch. This is the fifth main series title in the Animal Crossing series. This game has received tons of positive feedback, because so many people have been playing this game while being stuck inside. Game Stop rated ACNH a 4.8/5, and google users rated it 4.2/5. So what exactly is this game even about?

Me personally, I have never played an Animal Crossing game ever, so I am going to be telling you what others say about this game. Many people describe all Animal Crossing games as chores but as a video game, yet they still love the game and can't get enough of it. Brett Medlock at Nintendo Enthusiast said: "Animal Crossing has the ability to make simple gameplay mechanics have a huge pay-off in amusement and replay value. Whether it is cleaning up your town, buying new merchandise, or fishing, Animal Crossing has a convivial spunk that makes responsibility all the more fun in its small digital universe."

Basically in all Animal Crossing games, you run a town with villagers and you can do whatever you want. Previous games in the series started you off with a town hall, museum, and other buildings, but what makes New Horizons different is that you are started on a completely desert island with just a couple of settlers. You build everything from the ground up, when and where you want it. Steven Scaife of Slant Magazine said in his article: "You are the god of the sandbox," and that is the perfect explanation of Animal Crossing.

People love Animal Crossing because of the characters, the music, and the all around relaxing feel they get from playing the game. It is a nice escape from everything going on in the world. Personally after reading about it, I definitely want to try this game. My brother owns a Switch, so maybe I'll buy it and we can share it. Animal Crossing will be what a lot of gamers recognize as helping them to stay inside and getting them through this pandemic.

Sean O'Donnell

Rocket League is not your regular soccer video game. Unlike games like FIFA where you control human beings and kick a normal sized soccer ball, you are a car and the ball is twice the size of you. Your car can jump and dodge towards the ball to try to control it. You also have boost so you can drive faster or even fly into the air for a couple seconds.

At first, this movement system is hard to learn. When I first started playing rocket league in 2015 when it was released, I could barely hit the ball. Everyone else would shoot it over my car and I was left way behind. There is a steep learning curve to this game because there are no other games like it. This game is 5 years old, but still maintains well over 300,000 players online on PS4 at any point. In my opinion this game is timeless. The gameplay is fun, and it has the ability to play with people on Xbox One and PC, so you can play with friends that are on different consoles. The developers constantly update the game with new cars and other cosmetic items like goal animations, paintjobs, and boost trails. They even make new game modes, like heatseeker.

This new mode is like standard Rocket League because it is still 3 on 3, but it has a twist. The ball is attracted to the net, and it moves very fast. The game starts with the ball on one of the teams sides. They are basically serving the ball. My friend Connor McOwen stated during a game once: "This new game mode is a lot like tennis, one team serves and they volley the ball to each other until one of the teams misses a hit and the other team scores." I think this is a good comparison. A team wins when they score 7 points.

This mode is only available for a limited time, but my friends and I have been really enjoying it. We hope the game developers decide to make heatseeker a permanent mode in the game.

Sean O'Donnell

This is the first time a huge music artist like Travis Scott dropped a song inside of a video game before releasing it on streaming services. Even though Fortnite isn't the game it used to be, this event was still a huge deal in the gaming and music community. This type of thing isn't unusual for Fortnite, they have had man gatherings and updates where they would partner with people and companies to bring new items to the game. Some examples are the Star Wars update which had lightsabers, the Avengers update which had weapons that the Avengers used, and the one that relates most to the Travis Scott event, the Marshmello concert.

This was actually not the first time that Fortnite had a music artist have a concert in game. In February 2019, the DJ Marshmello held a concert in Fortnite, but no new songs were released. This time, Travis Scott released the song "The Scotts" which features Kid Cudi on it. I think that this was actually a very unique and interesting thing to do while we are stuck inside. Obviously Travis Scott can't have any concerts right now, so he had one in Fortnite. He also released 2 skins, a glider, and a weapon skin that players can purchase in game.

I actually attended this concert in game. I went to the first showing on 4/23 at 7pm where the song was debuted. The stage was near Pleasant Park. I dropped in and landed at the stage. The game made it so no one could use weapons, we could just watch the concert. Everyone was using emotes and dancing. You could hear his song "Sicko Mode" playing, and then Travis Scott flew into the stage and destroyed it. There was a giant Travis Scott walking around the lake where the stage was, and all the players were scattered around. The giant Travis Scott would then walk around the area while rapping. He started with "Sicko Mode" then his new song "The Scotts" and then finished with "HIGHEST IN THE ROOM". There were 5 total shows, so players who missed the first one could go to one of the others. During the last song you are flying in space while listening, and after it is over you drop back into the map for a normal game of Fortnite. Overall this was a very unique event and I am glad I attended it.

Sean O'Donnell

Within the last couple of weeks, a few friends and I have started a franchise on Madden NFL 20. This is something I would strongly recommend doing. We all play as team owners, and we do a fantasy draft to redistribute the players. You can play with up to 32 players, but we have 4. Each player takes control of an already existing team and selects players that they want to play for them. My friends Nik, Will and Henry all play with me. Henry and I both chose teams in the AFC East so we can play each other twice a year. I chose the Dolphins and he chose the Bills. Nik and Will both chose teams in the NFC West, Will chose the Seahawks and Nik chose the Cardinals.

After one season, it was me versus Nik in the Super Bowl, and Nik took home the trophy. After the first season, we relocated all of our teams to make them totally ours. I became the Salt Lake City Elks, Nik became the Mexico City Diablos, Henry became the Dublin Bills, and Will became the Toronto Mountains. We have played 3 more seasons with these teams, where every season we draft new rookies, make trades, and sign free agents. We simulate all of the weeks where two real players don't play each other, but play the other weeks.

For my next podcast, I am going to have my friend Nik come on and talk about his franchise team and what he enjoys and dislikes about playing an online franchise, so be on the lookout for that. I will also go more in depth about how franchises work, so check it out!

Sean O'Donnell

From the beginning to the end of the beat project, I learned a lot of skills that I can use in the future. One of the important things I learned was how to use google sites and how to organize a website if I were to create a website again in the future. Another thing that this project did was help to improve my research skills, as I had to research a lot about games I haven't played and had to do research for my podcasts.

I also learned how to write a personable blog but still keeping it professional. I can try to connect with an audience in a professional way through these blogs and also through the social medias I created. I learned how to use social media to spread information about my beat and also to promote the things I wrote about. If I were to continue this or do this for another hobby, I would make social medias and a website again.

I could also use these things to raise awareness about other topics that aren't as light hearted as video games. When I followed some of my classmates on my socials, I found that some of their beats were like mine and about hobbies, but some were about serious topics and they used their social medias to spread information and raise awareness. This project taught me a lot about a different type of journalism that wasn't about writing for a newspaper.