Tag Archives: Fortnite

Fortnite Overview @ Games In Libraries

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Another library-centric overview of Fortnite, the new “Battle Royale” shooter from Epic Games, has popped up on the Games In Libraries blog:

Everyone and their brother (and sister) lately has been on about Fortnite, the new free-to-play “battle royale” game from Epic Games. Originally launched as a “survival” game akin to Minecraft with a heavy building component in 2017, Fortnite added a “battle royale” mode that September based on the model created by “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” – one hundred players parachute onto a battlefield, with the last one standing the winner. Since then, it has grown into a billion-dollar juggernaut due to the profits it rakes in over optional elements like skins, outfits and dance moves.

Whether you’re looking at the Games In Libraries blog (or Teen Services Underground or School Library Journal), they all agree that Fortnite is extremely popular with younger players, and that it’s colorful (and downright wacky) presentation makes it the perfect addition to your game programming lineup.

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.

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.