Opinion/entertainment
Battle for Your Money: Star Wars Battlefront II Written by David Carroll
Recently, Star Wars BattleFront 2, a $60 video game by EA released on November 17th, was critically panned for its intrusive microtransactions unleashing a massive backlash of angry consumers. According toInternational Gaming News (IGN), the game’s microtransactions would allow players to buy randomized loot boxes, thereby giving players more resources and better battle equipment, effectively making it a “pay-to-win” game. Additionally, many popular Star Wars characters were locked at the start of the game. They then could either be unlocked by spending a large sum of actual money or by playing the game normally. It was “... discovered it could take upwards of 40 hours of online play to unlock hero characters like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. To unlock everything in the game, one player estimated it could take 4,528 hours.” According to Business Insider, a business news site, “ EA's comment respond-
ing to the backlash became the most-disliked comment in Reddit history, with over 600,000 ‘downvoting’ it.” IGN also reports that “Bob Iger, Disney's chief executive, was ‘alarmed’ by the backlash from fans...” resulting in the temporary removal of the microtransaction system from BattleFront 2. Additionally, similar issues with randomized loot boxes appear in many other major games, resulting in the Belgium Gaming Commision concluding that paying for loot boxes is considered gambling. The Commission is pushing to ban this game mechanic across the entire European Union. The developer, EA, is also partially to blame for the unpopular microtransactions. According to Polygon, a technology news site, EA was voted worst company in America three times in a row between 2012 and 2014 in the Consumerist's Worst Company in America poll due to their anti-consumer practices. Ironically, if the game had no microtrans-
actions, more copies would have sold, and EA could have made more money than they actually did. Ultimately, pay to win microtransactions hurt $60 games and EA and other companies need to reform their practices to gain the trust of the consumer back.
Below: Matthew Bukowski ‘21, Sean Manson ‘21, and Isaiah Harris ‘18 think that Battlefront II is better than the first game, but don’t enjoy the microtransactions.
Thrilling Return: Sam Smith Written by Gabriella Mata
Sam Smith is arguably one of the most famous singers in the music industry. When you think of Sam Smith, the first thing that comes to mind is passion. His songs, whether it be upbeat or slow tempoed, seem to always touch the listener’s heart. In his latest album “The Thrill Of It All,” Sam Smith strips his soul for his listeners in a collection of songs that speak of passion, love, and not surprisingly, heartbreak. After being MIA for what seems to be a lifetime for Sam Smith fans, Smith doesn’t disappoint. “The Thrill Of It All” opens up with one of the most well known songs out of the album, which is “Too Good At Goodbyes.” We are told about the speaker’s strength after an intense breakup. Even though the stereotypical heartbreak love song may be out of date, Smith’s soulful tone in his voice gives us something to relate to. Songs like “Burning,” which he admitted was “the
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most personal song [he had] written in [his] life” and “Pray,” which is inspired by his time spent in Mosul in Iraq with the charity, ‘War Child,’ Smith has taken advantage of his time off of music to really get to know who he is and live life to the fullest. There are no words to express how amazing this album is. Sam Smith still remains to be a thing of wonder even after coming out of the shadows.
Right: Edward Bozeman ‘18 is a big Sam Smith fan and regularly sings his songs during class.