Games Your Students Will be Playing This Fall

There are so many things to look forward to as fall approaches. Leaves changing, cooler weather, school starting. But, much like the summer of movies that preceded it, most game companies choose to release their big AAA titles or blockbusters in the fall. Which is great for us teachers. Students are starting to settle into routines and then all of a sudden, here comes three or four more new distractions. Today, I'd like to take you through the games with a higher profile that are coming out this fall in my new post: Games Your Students Will be Playing This Fall.

Before I begin going through the list, I would like to make clear that I firmly support and advocate adherence to the rating system provided by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board or ESRB. I think they have a pretty good understanding and base for how to rate games that are coming out. However, as we all know sometimes parents are a little less informed and buy their children games that are too mature for them. So, if you have a student that is playing these games, you should have an idea of what you, their parents and the student are in for.

September 2011

Let's start with the game I'm most excited for this fall; Gears of War 3. In this game, you take control of Marcus Fenix, a veteran of the COG wars on the planet Sera. In it, you fight your way through hordes of enemies known as Locusts in a battle til the end. This is the third in the series and is an Xbox 360 exclusive. It is very gory, but the developers were kind enough to throw in the option to disable blood and profanity.
Trademark: Chainsawing your enemies in half with a weapon known as the "Lancer".
Rating: I hope you don't have to guess, but this one is rated M for Mature.

October 2011

Starting its history with a long line of PC games (Battlefields 1, 2, 1942, 2142 and Heroes) and eventually bringing their games to a console market (Battlefield Bad Company 1, 2, 1943), this next iteration looks to have learned and grown from all of its predecessors to create an amazing new experience. Housing new technology dubbed Frostbite 2.0, this game will enable players to demolish entire buildings to create new pathways or take out a pesky sniper. This is a traditional military based First Person Shooter or FPS, so you can expect blood and profanity.
Trademark: Team based multiplayer with destructive environments.
Rating: Not official yet, but expect an M for Mature.


       November 2011
 
       Fourth in this inventive series, the player takes the reigns once more of Desmond Miles/Ezio Auditore. This game will most likely be layered like the previous versions in that you spend some time playing as Desmond Miles, the contemporary counterpart of Ezio Auditore. In the first game, Desmond links up with a corporate version of the Templars who use him to abstract information about his ancestor (Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad) who was an assassin during the Crusades. Assassin's Creed II takes you to the Renaissance which I personally enjoyed much more, and there these characters have stayed. Lot of story in these games, too much in fact. But it is enjoyable and you would able to tie it in with history lessons.

Trademark: Fully scalable environments, beautiful renditions of historic locales.
Rating: Expect an M for Mature with this one. It is about assassins after all.


       November 2011

       Ah, yes. The perennial fan favorite returns. With this game, expect your students to have sleepless weekends, get togethers and general resentment towards anything shaped like a controller. This game makes number seven in the Call of Duty franchise and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. Always a strong seller, this game has taken almost a world dominance as the multiplayer game of choice for a very wide demographic. Boys, girls, athletes, straight-A students, band nerds, popular, unpopular. You name it, and they have at least played some iteration of a Call of Duty game. This game marks the return of the characters in the previous Modern Warfare title aptly named Modern Warfare 2 in a world deep in world war. The trailer invokes images of 9/11 as buildings in New York are brought down by missiles. The single player will no doubt play like an interactive Michael Bay inspired movie, and expect tens and possibly hundreds of hours of your students time to be sunk into this game. It will be huge.

Trademark: Addictive multiplayer, movie-esque single player experience.
Rating: Expect an M for Mature, but also expect that it will find its way into your students' hands.

There are some other games that are coming out this fall that look amazing. The sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum called Batman: Arkham City and the massive, MASSIVE Role-Playing Game named The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are both coming out, but I wanted to give you the games that will probably receive the most airtime and publicity. If you have any questions or thoughts on these games, tell me in the comments below!

Until next time-

Gamer:Teacher