Gaming During COVID-19: Video Game Industry Sees Massive Increase In Demand During Pandemic
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - This has been a banner year for the video game industry as people stuck at home have turned even more to gaming to fill the time.
Gaming and tech expert Carley Knobloch says the industry has risen to the challenge by upping the visual game.
"You know, Assassin's Creed Valhalla is definitely going to be the game of the year," she said. "It's basically you're playing as a Bor who's a legendary Viking warrior and you're going to lead a clan of Norseman across the icy seas to the rich lands of England to establish a home there's so many twists and turns along the way it's going to keep gamers and history buffs alike, really fully immersed in this beautiful world."
Far from alone, Assassin's Creed is joined by games like Mario Kart Life: Home Circuit, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and so many more go beyond entertaining the player.
"They're also appealing to the people that want to even just watch they have these beautiful sweeping VISTAs and these cinematic soundtracks and these rich storylines so it's almost like watching your favorite big-budget movie," said Knobloch.
A search of top video games will find you a load of lists that are as varied as the opinions of those putting them together.
But looking at those lists, the sports games from the professional leagues, like Madden, are consistently listed.
After that these show up on almost all the lists:
Knobloch says as you give your child one of these games it needs to come with some understanding that it can't be all-consuming.
WATCH: New Gaming Consoles In High Demand
"You really want to use them in partnership with your kid, you want to talk to them about what's appropriate and what's not and really it's about supervision and conversation, keeping those lines of communication open really hearing your kids about what their friends are doing, you know appreciating that it's it's tough for kids to have access to this technology but have limits on the access and at the same time it's important for them to have those limits," she said.
But she also adds video games, even if you don't understand them, are an opportunity to connect with your child.
"It's just about asking and I, I've had conversations with my son where he starts going off in a direction and my eyes kind of glaze over but I'm trying to follow because it's something that he's really passionate about so he'll tell me about a game he'll tell me about the levels will tell me about the badges they'll tell me about the milestones and the arc of the story, and it's very interesting to him and so I'm really trying to follow along," she said. "I think it's just about showing an interest. So that your kids feel like you can loop them in."
The biggest challenge of this year's holiday video game shopping will be getting your hands on one of the new systems like PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Most importantly, make sure the game you choose is compatible with the system it's going to be played on.
