Dark Horse Will Publish a Prequel Comic for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Zombies Mode

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Last week, Dark Horse announced that they’re working on another Call of Duty Zombies comic series, which will serve as a prequel to the Zombies Mode set to be included in this Fall’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

The new Call of Duty Zombies comic will once again be written by Justin Jordan, with interior artwork by Andres Ponce and Mauro Vargas, cover artwork by E.M. Gist, and colors by Dan Jackson. According to the Dark Horse Newsfeed, we know that Issue #1 will be available in stores on September 5 (with a collected edition sure to follow sometime in the future):

In Call of Duty Zombies, pieces are set in motion that shadowy forces have long been putting into place. They believe what comes next cannot be stopped. Little do they know an unlikely group from around the globe is about to be assembled.

Dark Horse Comics and Activision invite fans to meet the brand-new cast of characters from this year’s game!

Gist will sit down for a signing session at Dark Horse’s Comic-Con booth tomorrow, July 19, at 3:00 PM (Pacific Time). He’ll be joined by Treyarch’s Jason Blundell and Craig Houston.

Register Now for International Games Week 2018 @ Games In Libraries

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The ALA’s Games In Libraries blog has announced that registration is now open for International Games Week 2018:

International Games Week 2018 is from November 4th through 10th. Libraries can choose to host one event or several.

Donation information: This year some donations will be available during registration but others will be available through the Games in Libraries blog. In order to receive updates about this year’s donations, resources, and information on running a successful event, subscribe to the blog. You can subscribe to the blog here.

Donations are available while supplies last.

If you’re hosting a gaming event at your library this November, registering for International Games Week is a great idea.

Best of E3 2018 Winners Selected by Game Critics Awards

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e3Every year, the Game Critics Awards, a collection of editors from more than 50 major publications that cover the video game industry, get together to choose the best games at the E3 Expo.

While all of these titles are still in development, you should keep them in mind when you add games to your collection this Fall and into 2019.

Capcom’s Resident Evil 2 remake was named “Best of Show,” and the full list of winners and nominees can be found below. Continue reading →

“Fortnite is a Win for Librarians Looking to Boost Teen Attendance” @ School Library Journal

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Looks like we’re talking about Fortnite and “Battle Royale” games again.

Fortnite is available as a free download for the PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and mobile devices, and tech writer Brian Seto McGrath recently penned an excellent argument for why the wildly colorful shooter should be available at your library in School Library Journal:

For the uninitiated, Fortnite is one of the new breed of “battle royale” games, in which up to a hundred players descend onto an island to build fortifications while battling it out with rifles until one person is left standing—think Minecraft meets The Hunger Games.

Public librarians are taking up the challenge, and they’re finding the library can be the perfect place for Fortnite. Several libraries around the country are holding Fortnite game nights this summer. It’s a strategy to get kids in the door who may also become regular visitors to other teen programs.

Librarians say that Fortnite events they’ve hosted have drawn more kids to their libraries’ programs than ever before. For the teen and tween librarians who organized the events, the real success is measured by positive interactions the kids are having with the game—and with each other.

I shared my own thoughts about Fortnite with McGrath for the article, and I definitely think the idea of including Fortnite in a library’s game offerings is the right call: “They’re playing together and they’re talking, and they’re extremely good about making sure everyone gets a turn and feels included. [And they] can scream and shout because it’s their space. No one is going to shush them. This kind of group dynamic is just fun.”

And don’t forget about the great “Battle Royale” genre overview that Teen Services Underground did a few weeks ago.

2018 Games For Change Festival Scheduled for June 28-30

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Games For Change, a non-profit organization dedicated to using games for social change, will host the 2018 Games For Change Festival in New York City later this month from June 28th through the 30th. The Festival includes tracks focusing on “Civics & Social Issues” and “Neurogaming & Health,” as well as several panels and talks about games for learning:

Beyond Gaming: How Assassin’s Creed Expanded for Learning — Keynote with Maxime Durand, Marc-Andre Ethier, David Lefrancois
Join Maxime Durand as he discusses his work as Franchise Historian of the Assassin’s Creed series at Ubisoft Montreal. Maxime will guide us through the development of Discovery Tour by Assassin’s Creed: Ancient Egypt, a new educational mode of Assassin’s Creed Origins which allows players to explore and learn about the historic landmarks featured in the game.

From Apps to Nordic Schools: How DragonBox created a full math curriculum with games, toys and storytelling
For the last 2 years, DragonBox worked with Norwegian, Finnish and French teachers to pilot a play-based solution that covers the full math curriculum and involved 1300 school students. This talk will describe the challenges that involved creating a research-based pedagogical design that took into account the needs of students, teachers and administrators (spoiler: it was not easy). DragonBox School is a hybrid solution: games are complemented with multiple printed textbooks and story books: we’ll also analyze why we reached that format rather than going all-digital. We recommend this talk for game creators interested in making real impact in schools.

Beyond Blocks: How Minecraft is Helping Transform STEM Learning
Meenoo Rami, Manager at Microsoft, will moderate a panel of school leaders who will share how Minecraft Education is empowering educators to engage their students in immersive STEM learning.

Tickets for the 2018 Games For Change Festival can be purchased from their official website. And all main stage events will be livestreamed on Facebook.

Preview of Gaming Events at 2018 ALA Conference @ Games In Libraries

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This year’s ALA Annual Conference is coming up fast, and June 21-26 will be here before you know it. This year’s conference will be held in New Orleans, and the Games and Gaming Roundtable (GameRT) has plenty of activities planned for the week. Here’s just a small taste of the gaming events happening at the 2018 ALA Conference:

On the Exhibit Floor
GameRT is back with a booth and Gaming Lounge on the exhibit floor. Come by booths 436 and 437 to learn about the benefits of membership in the Games and Gaming Roundtable (GameRT) and network with librarians interested in games and play in libraries.

ALA Play
ALA Play starts off the conference with an open gaming event on Friday, June 22, from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm at the Hilton Riverside, Grand Salon A.

Saturday Session
On Saturday, June 23, from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm GameRT will be hosting the Chair’s Program: Safe-T Corp – An Information Literacy Escape Experience in the Morial Convention Center (Rm 284). This session gives participants a chance to go through an escape experience built around information literacy skills.

Sunday Session
GameRT Sharing Sessions are on Sunday, June 24, from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. These sessions allow librarians to showcase what they are doing in their libraries.

A full rundown of activities is available at the Games In Libraries blog.

International Games Week 2018 Update @ Games In Libraries

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The ALA’s Games In Libraries blog has provided an update about this year’s International Games Week event.

International Games Week 2018 will begin on November 4th and run through the 10th. Registration for libraries hosting events during International Games Week is slated to open the week of July 9th, and all registered libraries will receive a package of donated games from this year’s sponsors.

The ALA’s Games In Libraries blog is also looking for volunteers to help with the lead-up to International Games Week 2018:

As you know, this is a volunteer-run event. If you are interested in helping to make the blog great again this year with a post or series, let us know by filling out the contact form. We are excited for all of the great games, sponsors, and events that await us at this year’s International Games Week!

Battle Royale Games: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite @ Teen Services Underground

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Combining the gameplay style from third-person shooters like Uncharted and Tomb Raider with the “Kill or Be Killed” rules from The Hunger Games, “Battle Royale” games are all the rage among video game players these days.

If your patrons have been asking for these games and you feel left out of the loop, don’t worry, Programming Librarian Dustan Archer has published a great overview of the genre’s two biggest titles, Fortnite: Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, at Teen Services Underground:

Battle Royale is, at its heart, a last person standing survival game. In most games of this genre, players have to acquire weapons, armor, healing kits and other items in order to eliminate other players and survive other players’ attacks, all while staying within the ever-shrinking ‘safe zone’. This ‘safe zone’ shrinks over the duration of the game to encourage players to come into contact with each other and force combat to occur, rather than allow players to ‘camp’ – or stay in one place – and wait for an enemy to show up without the risk of revealing their own position. In many of these games, players can stay outside of the safe zone for a brief period of time but will lose health steadily until they re-enter the safe zone.

I’ve played about a dozen rounds of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and even in its unfinished state (“PUBG” is currently available as an “Early Access” title), the game is incredibly well done. The action is intense, and being able to survive against 99 other players feels like a real achievement.

Like Dustan, I think that both “Battle Royale” games would make an excellent addition to the game collection of any library.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds can be purchased for the PC and Xbox One for $19.99 (but only as a downloadable game). Fortnite: Battle Royale is also only available as a downloadable game, but it can be downloaded for free on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.