“Battlefield 1” - A Belated Review

The most depressing cover art...

  At this time the “Battlefield 1” announcement trailer is the most liked video game trailer on YouTube. This is indicative of the popularity of the franchise and the rarity of games about World War I. It also showed gamers the comeback of mechanics that have been missing in the storied 12-game franchise since “Battlefield: Bad Company 2”. Battlefield’s formulaic large-scale cooperative-based warfare is as powerful as ever, this time painted against the backdrop of the horrors of “The War to End All Wars.”

Gamer Altruism Defeats Stereotypes about Gaming

The Video Game Industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the U.S. Economy. From 2009 to 2012, the industry grew at a rate of 10%, with overall U.S. economy only growing by 2.4% during the same period. Today there are more gamers than ever, with more than 150 million Americans playing video games. However, even now some people continue to insinuate that playing games causes violent crimes, perpetuating unfounded stereotypes. The stereotypical gamer is an awkward boy who never grew up, never contributed to life in a meaningful way. Facts easily dispel these stereotypes: the average gamer is 35 years old, nearly half (41%) of them are female. A new survey commissioned by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) found that more than 80% of gamers said they anticipate voting in 2016, in comparison to 75% of non-gamers. In the 2012 presidential election, gamers voted 10% more than the general public.