Every year new games are released, most go without any special attention. However, when you have the release of a favorited franchise with its best producer, a masterpiece seven years in the making, an old time favorite renewed, or even a hopeful start up, you’re in for something special. Within 11 days from one another, four major video games were released. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, released on November 6^th, a longtime favorite series produced by Treyarch. Next Bethesda released the long awaited Fallout 4 on November 10^th. The game took seven years to make, thus creating massive hype. Rise of Tomb Raider made a gutsy move deciding not to postpone the release of their game, since it came out on the 10^th with Fallout 4. Lastly, on Tuesday the 17^th Star Wars Battlefront was released, an old time favorite from PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox days.

Report on Sales

Call of Duty

On the day of its launch, Call of Duty managed to compile an impressive $550 million throughout the weekend. While this was an impressive feat, the Treyarch game was not competing with another title like the next two contenders.

Fallout 4

The game, with all of the hype built up for seven years, brought in a staggering $750 million dollars. This is remarkable considering Fallout 4 came out a mere four days after Call of Duty and had to compete with Tomb Raider from the same sales.

Tomb Raider

Third, we have Tomb Raider with possibly one of the stupidest publisher decisions in this gaming season. He knew of the looming competition with Fallout 4’s release being on the same day, yet he still went along with it. Due to this bull headed leadership, Rise of Tomb Raider sold less than 63,000 at launch. This was a complete flop, considering the debut game sold 180,000+ copies. When asking Jake Freudiger and Sam Middendorf about the release of Tomb Raider on the same day as Fallout 4. Middendorf responded, “I didn’t know that Tomb Raider was released…” While Jake said that when a big game like Fallout comes out other games don’t get as much publicity. People are talking more about Fallout and it is likely to remain that way for a while.

Star Wars Battlefront

When you have a fan base that represents a cult there is no way you can go wrong. Star Wars Battlefront sold 13 million copies totaling a gigantic $780 million. When I asked Kelton if the influence of the upcoming movie effected sales he replied, people are anticipating the movie and trying to get their Star Wars fix, they just want to add to the excitement.

Student voice their thoughts

Rise of Tomb Raider

After searching for hours I finally found a student who admitted to playing Tomb Raider, Jake “Freddy” Freudiger. Freddy vaguely stated, “There are some good and bad parts. However, it is very similar to its predecessor, the graphics are great.” Jake then continued, saying how the game seemed to be cluttered and hard to focus on one task at a time, adding overall it’s just “Ok.” Jake first got into Tomb Raider when his cousin bought the game and quickly got bored of it, giving it to him. Also Freddy’s nephew scratched his Madden so he decided to give it a try. Currently Jake will play it every so often but is contemplating selling it to buy a new game. Freddy’s overall rating is 7.5/10; however, he did recommend for people to try it, warning them that it is very unique.

Fallout 4

I went to find one of the most avid supporters of Fallout 4, after waiting two whole days for him to finish his work-out, I was able to meet up with Brandon Meyer. When I asked Brandon about the game his eyes went misty, and in a serious tone he said, “I haven’t been able to buy it yet. However, I have read up on the game, what would you like to know?” When I asked about his overall impression of the game Brandon said it seemed to be completely different in amazing ways. He continued “The combat is more fluid, more realistic, when you use the V.A.T.S. thing continue to move slowly.” In the old games when you would use the V.A.T.S. everything would completely freeze allowing you to save yourself from any situation. Brandon also added that Fallout 4 seems to be more of a modern first person shooter while maintaining the its role playing game feel. Brandon pointed me in the direction of the video editing master, Sam Middendorf, who has the game and loves it. Sam said that “Fallout exceeded my expectations.” He said that he got into the Fallout series back in grade school playing Fallout 3, he fell in love and has bought every game since. Their rating for the games were similar bother very high. Meyer giving it an 8.7, while Middendorf said “I’d give it a 9, actually a 9.5. Both said they would recommend it, Meyers saying, “It’s something anyone would play!” Middendorf said that he would recommend it especially on a next gen. console, saying “I would suggest PS4.”

Call of Duty

I went in search of a casual Call of Duty gamer who really personifies the whole Elder student body, Nick Burgasser. He said that he thinks Black Ops 3 is the best of the Black Ops series, however Modern Warfare 2 still reigns supreme as the best Call of Duty of all time. “Black Ops 3 has some of the best game play, with great maps for Search and Destroy. It also has a very interesting mechanics because you can swim, run on walls, and they have great new perks and kill streaks.” He continued saying that he would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the Call of Duty series, rating it 6.5 maybe 7 out of 10.

Star Wars Battlefront

Lastly I interview one of the Juniors Elite, a master of the English language Kelton Ashe. His overall opinion said “. It has some fun game play, looks fantastic, pretty casual, if you’re looking for good time.”  He continued saying that the game is an easy 8.9 out of 10, and that he recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the Star Wars franchise, looking for a fun gaming experience, while not being too competitive.