By: David Meyer

Nearly four years ago, the Nintendo Switch was released and received amazing reviews immediately, and within the first six months the console had sold over 20 million units. The console has continued to grow since then and has accumulated over 60 million units sold, with nearly half of the sales being within the past fiscal year. And although about 10 million of these sales were within the holiday season, the overall rate of the sales of the Switch has increased on average by over 200 percent: the best year of sales, of the Nintendo Switch, over three years after its release.

A large part of the Switch that attracts many customers is the wide range of games you can play on the console, with popular titles such as ‘The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ and ‘Super Mario Odyssey.’

However, as quarantine started to become a necessity to slow the spread of COVID-19, a new game from a series nearly 20 years old was released: ‘Animal Crossing (New Horizons).’ For many casual gamers, this was a big deal because the previous main series title was released almost a decade earlier. However, this game significantly started to attract newcomers as well, being a sandbox style game that has a very small learning curve with nearly endless hours of playtime. This, coupled with the fact that many people would be staying in their homes for long periods of time, made both the sales of the game, the Nintendo Switch, and the Nintendo Switch Lite skyrocket.

The Nintendo Switch Lite was released by Nintendo in late 2019 as a way to get more customers interested in the Switch and the games that come with the console (although, many people that ended up buying the new console already had a Nintendo Switch). But, with the lowered price of the newer console, and many people eager to try out ‘Animal Crossing’ during quarantine, this console’s popularity grew and its sales followed suit.

Going forward, the Switch announced some very large titles recently, including ‘Super Mario 3D All-Stars’; a collection of the three first 3D Mario games to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros’ initial release. This collection includes three of the highest rated games of all time, all having a score of 97 or above out of 100 on Metacritic which is a very respected source on the popularity of video games.

Additionally, these games are all dated, and especially with one of them, ‘Super Mario Sunshine,’ being nearly two decades old. This made many Mario fans ecstatic, and resulted in the game being sold out for pre-orders within the first three days worldwide. And although the limited time release of the game is partly to blame for this rush, the dramatic sales of this series of nostalgic games for so many will no doubt continue to increase the sales of the Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite in the near future.

Persona 5 Royal is an Japanese role playing game (JRPG). Persona 5 Royal is basically a remastered, and rethought with more extra plot, version of the original game Persona 5. This fixes a lot of the problems in Persona 5 making Persona 5 Royal a great JRPG. Even though Person 5 Royal is taken from the original game, it did not just address its flaws; it develops more plot and flows very smoothly.

When I first got this game I thought it would be ok, but I was mistaken and it’s now one of my favorite video games I have played.

In Persona 5 Royal, you play as a teenage boy in Japan who is falsely accused of a crime and ends up with a criminal record. You make friends with other kids who have been screwed over by evil adults, and they discover the power to make those evil adults feel remorse and confess their crimes.

They can do this by stealing their heart’s desire, or also known as a treasure. They use a place called Mementos to find where the evil adults are, but Mementos is the public’s overall heart.

Palaces are the evil adults’ distorted hearts that have been corrupted by their selfish actions. You fight monsters through these palaces to get to their treasure and steal it to make them confess their crimes. Also, there are hidden ‘will seeds’ through palaces and if you find all three they turn into a help tool you can use. 

While you are going through palaces you have a normal life as a student. Meaning you have to manage your time to study, interact, have a job, and more.

The time span of Persona 5 Royal is one year that you have to manage your time correctly, so it is easier to complete the game. While you go about your daily life you can interact with the world around you, talk to people and buy items to help you in your battles.

Overall this is one of the best games that you can find and play, from its art styles to its music, and even its unique combat style. If you are looking for a new game to play on your PS4, this is the game I would recommend.

By: Courtney Smith

I would definitely recommend this game for people looking for adventure and combat. Anyone
familiar with the game DayZ will find this similar but not as difficult. It can also be compared to a
game on Roblox named Apocalypse Rising.

The game modes are easy, medium, and hard. Those determine how many zombies there will be, how strong they are, how much supplies there will be, and other commodities. This game can be played in multiplayer or single player.

This review is based on the single player gameplay experience.

This game’s scene is set post zombie apocalypse, where NPCs are the main predators. These
coded zombies attack you and deal damage to your in-game character. There are many types
of zombies. There are firemen, police officers, farmers, mafia members, lumberjacks, campers,
and chefs.

Those zombies can also come in different forms. Sprinter zombies run on all fours, they are extremely fast, super difficult, and my least favorite! Some zombies crawl and some walk.

When a zombie is killed it may drop supplies, for example if it’s a farmer zombie, it can drop a straw hat or pitchfork.

There are multiple maps in which you can play on, this includes: Washington (home to the
Seattle Space Needle), Russia, Hawaii, and many more regions. This scene diversity makes the
game more interesting; you can find different structures and supplies. For example, in the
Russia map there are mafia houses and in Washington, the famous Space Needle.

Defeating a zombie will give you skill points. You can use skill points to upgrade your characters
expertise. The upgrades include: stamina/speed, attack speed/damage, agricultural skills, and
many more! I enjoy this because if you don’t have the equipment to protect yourself, you can
upgrade the character to fight, farm, and run better.

The object of the game is to explore and collect supplies to aid you in your travels. There is
clothing and backpacks which can be salvaged for their components, or used to increase the
player’s inventory. Weapons, camping gear, hunting equipment, and many more items are
found all over the areas.

You have a radiation bar on your screen, if it reaches zero your character slowly loses health, same with your thirst and hunger bars. To maintain health, you need to search for food! Food can lower your radiation bar if it’s damaged. Finding medicine is key to keep your radiation and health safe.

Structures can include houses, barns, stables, warehouses, apartments, pharmacies, hospitals,
fire departments, police stations, jails, military bases, and many more.

There is a lot to find in this game and to experience; you can even craft, repair, and build items.

My favorite part about this game is the diversity you find all around, it’s extremely creative with the environment.

In finding out if old video games are just as good as new video games, we have to cover many video games.

There are many points of view on this topic, and with evidence, this agreement could go either way depending on the game or even the system it is played on.

In what I have seen, I think old video games are just as good as new video games. This revolves around nostalgia; it is a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past. Even though old video games have worse graphics and other flaws, nostalgia fills in those flaws by having good memories about that game.

Also, old video games can be just as good as current games because of the characters, plot, or even they’re just as fun to play. And, according to a non-scientific study, old video games are actually slightly better.

There will always be good and bad video games, and older isn’t really better or worse than current video games.

In the end, it depends on how you determine “better or good.” Do you want better graphics? Do you want an interesting game play? Want tactical combat? These are only some of the things you can base your opinion around.

In my opinion, old video games are just as good as new video games.

By: Vivian S

During this time of social distancing, many things have changed and new services have gained notice and importance. One new company that has become well-known is Zoom.

Zoom is an app/website that can be used for video conferencing, which has become much more important now that nearly all meetings have to be held from home using a computer. While all of us are social distancing, many people have turned to Zoom to continue holding classes, seminars, and meetings.

You might notice that Highland Park Senior High is not one of those places using Zoom, and Self Service does not even allow you to download Zoom, so you may not have used Zoom yet.

As Zoom grew more popular, misuse of the app grew as well. People took to intruding into the meetings of others, and messing with the meeting. Some people even posted passwords to the meetings online so that more people would join in. These disruptions have been termed “Zoom-bombing” and they are probably the reason that SPPS is not using Zoom.

Zoom-bombing has become so popular and well-known that there is a Wikipedia page about it, which I was not expecting to find during my research.

Zoom has responded to these mass-disruptions and has been working to further secure meetings. On their website, you can find a list of tips of how to secure you meetings.

It seems like many video conferencing apps have been struggling under the weight of all the new users using video conferencing, and while Zoom is one of the most popular, other apps are also experiencing problems and are working to address them.

While more and more security issues are being fixed, we all just have to be aware of any possible security risks (such as a meeting being public – allowing someone uninvited to enter, or a password being shared on the internet) and take steps to minimize those risks with the services these apps are offering and improving.

If you want to hold a Zoom meeting, please read the security guide they provide here: https://zoom.us/docs/doc/Securing%20Your%20Zoom%20Meetings.pdf.