Royal Purple

Issue date: 11/7/07 Section: Arts & Lifestyle

Media Credit: Mike Rybicki (Left to right) Senior Chris Becker, junior Lucas Disabato and senior Allison Becker play Madden '08 together on a school night.

It seems like more and more students at UW-Whitewater can't stop talking about their favorite video games. They play anything, from a classic like Pac-Man, to the new batch of games like Grand Theft Auto and Madden '08.

"The entire campus is playing Halo 3," sophomore Andrew Litterer said. "It's mine and my friends' favorite game, and we sometimes play it for hours a day."

Video game play has become so popular that even the Student Entertainment Awareness League has even tried to set up a game night.

"We were going to have a Madden '08 tournament at Esker Hall ... but enough people didn't sign up in time," senior Chris Becker said. "I think it was just too busy of a week with Halloween and everything. Also, this is becoming the time of year when students really start to crack down on studying."

But the game night hasn't been called off for good.

"We just decided to postpone the game night until next semester, where hopefully we will be able to get a big theater room in the new [University Center]," Becker said. "We'll still have a tournament prize for the winner or winners; however the night goes, we will probably be giving away an iPod."

With video games becoming more popular, they are starting to effect students day-to-day schedules.

"I get done with class, get home, do my homework and then play Madden," sophomore Brian Kuklinski said. "I play for hours, like from eight at night to three in the morning sometimes. I am still getting most of my homework done, but you could say I'm losing a little sleep every once and a while."

And with systems like Play Station 3 and X-BOX 360 going online, it makes it possible for gamers to play somebody whenever they want.

"Online is probably the greatest thing to ever happen to the gaming world," Kuklinski said. "You get to play people from all over the world. There is always someone on with you, and it just makes it so much more challenging. You don't have to just play your friends now, who probably suck at video games, you get to play people who have the same skill level or are even better then you."

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools