If you're a parent, chances are in the past six months you've been nagged about Fortnite, an apolcalyptic survival video game which has attracted legions of fans and controversy in equal measure. The free multiplayer spans Windows and Mac, Xbox and PlayStation platforms, and pits players against 99 others in a frantic fight for survival on an island where the last gamer standing is the winner. Its bright, cartoon-like graphics prevent it from descending into bloody violence, but parents and politicians have voiced concerns over its effect on young children. Fortnite is rendered in a bright, cartoon-like style. What's the point of Fortnite? Originally released in July 2017, the game comes in two versions: Fortnite: Save the World (previously known as just Fortnite, which you have to pay for), and the free Fortnite: Battle Royale - the most popular one that more than 40m people have downloaded. It does, however, contain in-game purchases to buy outfits, weapons and other helpful items. The aim of Fornite is to stay alive, playing as an individual or as part of a team with people across the globe to ward off hordes of enemy monsters, build forts and defend the island's survivors. Each game lasts around 20 minutes, providing you don't get killed. The game's new Playground mode is being taken offline on 12 July to allow developers Epic to add a host of new features, including aim assist, team selection and traps which affect teammates and enemies. Who's playing it? The game has attracted a wide legion of fans, from eight year old school children to Tottenham footballer Dele Alli, who treated fans to a Fortnite dance while celebrating his goal against Watford back in May. The England team have also been bonding over Fornite in moments of downtime during their World Cup campaign, with Alli boasting he's the most talented gamer having won over 100 games. "We've brought [Fortnite] here. I play and I'm better than Eric [Dier]! I have to say that I'm the best in the England squad," he told the BBC. "Just now we played me, Harry Kane, John Stones and Jamie Vardy against Harry Maguire, Nick Pope, Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier. "It was the first to three wins and my team won." Rapper Drake recently streamed himself playing Fortnite with popular gamer Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins on video game streaming site Twitch, attracting more than 635,000 viewers. Dele Alli: a well-known Fornite fan (Getty Images) Kyle Jackson from Kent recently became the youngest ever professional Fortnite player, aged 13, but told the BBC while he played all day during his holidays, he still kept on top of his schoolwork. Why has the game caused so much controversy? The official age rating the Video Standards council have given it is 12, for "frequent scenes of mild violence," but while the game is violent by nature, it's not gory. Parents have complained about how the fiendish difficulty of staying alive to the bitter end has made it highly-addictive, leaving their children feeling tired and withdrawn after playing it for hours on end, while some have racked up significant bills buying add-ons their parents have had to pay off. Fortnite requires players to come up with increasingly-inventive ways to kill off their enemies (Photo: Epic Games) Culture Secretary Matt Hancock is concerned that too much time spent playing games like Fortnite could have a "damaging impact on our children's lives." "Whether it's social media or video games, children should enjoy them safely and as part of a lifestyle that includes exercise and socialising in the real world," he told the Daily Telegraph. Should I let my child play it? The National Crime Agency's Safer Internet Centre has encouraged parents to play the game with their children in order to better understand it, and to have open and honest conversations about the strangers they may be playing with and talking to online while playing. Setting sensible screen time limits and using the parental controls available on the given platform can also help to provide peace of mind. More from i Violent video games have no long-term effect on adult aggression, study finds What video games can teach us about philosophy Sexist Ready Player One trolls proved my point: Mansplainers hold culture hostage.
League of Legends in 2014 League of Legends in 2018 Summoner's Rift in 2014 (top) and in 2018 (bottom). League of Legends is a 3D, third-person multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game. The game consists of 3 current running game modes: Summoner's Rift, Twisted Treeline, and Howling Abyss. Another game mode, The Crystal Scar, has since been removed. Players compete in matches, lasting anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes on average. In each game mode teams work together to achieve a victory condition, typically destroying the core building (called the Nexus) in the enemy team's base after bypassing a line of defensive structures called turrets, or towers. In all game modes, players control characters called champions, chosen or assigned every match, who each have a set of unique abilities. Champions begin every match at a low level, and then gain experience over the course of the match to achieve a maximum level of 18. Gaining champion levels in matches allows players to unlock their champion's special abilities and augment them in a number of ways unique to each character. If a champion loses all their health, they are defeated, but are automatically revived in their base after enough time passes. Players also begin each match with a low amount of gold, and can earn additional gold throughout the match in a variety of ways: by killing non-player characters known as minions and monsters; by killing or helping to kill enemy players; by destroying enemy structures; passively over time; and through unique item interactions or champion abilities. This gold can then be spent throughout the match to buy in-game items that further augment each champion's abilities and game play in a variety of ways. Champion experience, gold earned, and items bought are specific to each match and do not carry over to subsequent matches. Thus, all players begin each match on more-or-less equal footing relative to their opposing team. Across matches, players also earn rewards that are applied to their account. Player accounts begin at level one and progress onward with games played. Player level is separate from character level; both a level 30 account and a level 5 account would begin at character level 1 at the start of a new game. From 2009-2017, the maximum account level was 30, and as players progressed, they unlocked additional content and abilities. This system was reworked in November 2017, with the removal of the level 30 limit and removal of a Runes / Masteries system that gave progressive bonuses to players based on their account level. Playing matches and leveling up provides "Blue Essence" (called "Influence Points" (IP) from 2009-2017), a currency that can be used in lieu of "real money" to access certain locked features. Accounts are given rankings based on the Elo rating system, with proprietary adjustments.[18] These ratings are used in automated matchmaking to make games with players of comparable skill level on each team.
Minecraft is a sandbox construction game created by Mojang AB founder Markus "Notch" Persson, inspired by Infiniminer, Dwarf Fortress, Dungeon Keeper, and Notch's past games Legend of the Chambered and RubyDung. Gameplay involves players interacting with the game world by placing and breaking various types of blocks in a three-dimensional environment. In this environment, players can build creative structures, creations, and artwork on multiplayer servers and singleplayer worlds across multiple game modes. Minecraft: Java Edition is available for €23.95 (US$26.95, £17.95). When purchased, singleplayer and multiplayer game modes can be played using the downloadable stand-alone launcher. The official demo is free, but has a time limit. Minecraft development started around May 10, 2009, and pre-orders for the full game were accepted starting from June 13, 2009. Minecraft's official release date was November 18, 2011. On September 20, 2014, Java Edition became the best-selling PC game of all time and has reached 28 million sales as of March 26, 2018. On August 16, 2011, Minecraft: Pocket Edition, the first edition to use the Bedrock Edition codebase, was released for the Sony Xperia Play gaming smartphone. After its exclusivity with Sony expired, it was released for Android devices on October 7, 2011, iOS devices on November 17, 2011, Fire OS devices on September 13, 2012, and Windows Phone 8.1 on December 10, 2014 for US$6.99. Bedrock Edition was then ported to non-mobile platforms for the first time, starting with Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition on July 29, 2015, and followed by Minecraft: Gear VR Edition on April 27, 2016, and Minecraft: Apple TV Edition and Minecraft: Fire TV Edition on December 19, 2016. On December 1, 2016, Pocket Edition reached 40 million sales. On December 19, 2016, Pocket Edition for Windows Phone 8.1 was officially discontinued. It was replaced by Pocket Edition for Windows 10 Mobile on February 22, 2017. On May 9, 2012, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition was released for the Xbox 360 on Xbox Live Arcade for US$19.99, where it subsequently broke every previous sales record. Xbox 360 Edition was the first version to use the codebase known as Legacy Console Edition. It was followed by Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition on December 17, 2013, Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition on September 4, 2014, Minecraft: Xbox One Edition on September 5, 2014, Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition on October 14, 2014, Minecraft: Wii U Edition on December 17, 2015, and Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition on May 11, 2017. On February 11, 2013, Minecraft: Pi Edition was released for the Raspberry Pi. The Pi Edition was intended as an educational tool for novice programmers and users were encouraged to open and change the game's code using its API. There were never any subsequent updates and the edition is now officially discontinued. On September 15, 2014, Mojang AB and all of its assets (including Minecraft) were purchased by Microsoft for US$2.5 billion. Minecraft China was released on September 29, 2015 for Xbox One, January 9, 2017 for Playstation 4, September 5, 2017 for iOS, August 8, 2017 for PC, and October 12, 2017 for Android. The gameplay is the same as the normal Bedrock Edition and Java Edition, but it is free to play on iOS, PC, and Android versions. After a beta testing period, Minecraft: Education Edition was released on November 1, 2016 for US$5 per user per year. The Education Edition contains features that make Minecraft more accessible and effective in a classroom setting. On September 13, 2017, Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition was released for the New Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS XL, and New Nintendo 2DS XL. On September 18, 2017, the original version of Minecraft was renamed to Minecraft: Java Edition. Shortly thereafter, on September 20, 2017, the Better Together Update for Bedrock Edition was released on Android, iOS, Fire OS, Windows 10, Samsung Gear VR, and Fire TV, and the editions Pocket Edition, Windows 10 Edition, Gear VR Edition, and Fire TV Edition were then renamed to have the single title Minecraft with no edition name. A port of Bedrock Edition to the Xbox One platform was released that day, discontinuing and replacing the original Xbox One Edition, and a port of Bedrock to the Nintendo Switch platform was released June 21, 2018, discontinuing and replacing the original Nintendo Switch Edition. As of January 20, 2018, Minecraft has sold 144 million copies across all platforms, making it the second best-selling video game of all time, and the ninth best-selling video game franchise of all time.
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