Time to play
SPECIAL SEC TION
ARTS & EN TERTAINMEN T
BY STEVEN L. KENT
BASKETBALL, RACING, SOCCER—this
year’s video game Christmas list sounds
like an ESPN commercial. Here’s a
roundup, in time for your holiday shopping.
FIFA ;;: Ronaldo Edition.
Football with pads, helmets
and huddles may be the biggest sport in the United
States, but the football that
Americans call “soccer” is the
most popular sport in the world.
Madden NFL has long been the
best-selling sports game in the United
States, but FIFA is the most popular sports
game in the world. Newly powered by Real
Player Motion Technology, FIFA ;; not
only looks real, it plays real. The physics of
motion, the passes, the plays—everything
is stamped with authenticity. (Xbox One,
PC, PlayStation ;)
NBA ;K;; Legend Edition. When it
comes to improved gameplay options, all
you can say about NBA ;K;; is “My, my,
my,” as in the MyLEAGUE, MyGM and
MyCAREER modes. These modes trans-
form ;K;; from a basketball game to an
NBA simulation. In MyLEAGUE, players
put their virtual skills to the test in leagues
of up to ;; players. In MyGM, players
guide a retired player who returns to the
NBA to manage a team. In MyCAREER,
players create and guide a star through-
out, well, his career. ;K;; also has an
innovative “The Neighborhood” fea-
ture that lets players visit virtual
parks to participate in pickup
games or join a local pro-am
circuit. (Xbox One, Switch,
PC, PlayStation ;)
Gran Turismo Sport. The
Gran Turismo series has long
been the elite smorgasbord of
ultra-realistic racing. GT Sport
maintains that tradition. It comes
with ;;; cars that can be raced on ;;
tracks in three different modes. Tapping
into the Sony Network’s massive online
presence, Sport offers two all-new cham-
pionship tournaments in which players
can represent nations or auto manufac-
turers in web-wide competitions. It also
features traditional Campaign and
Arcade modes for players who don’t
want to take on the world.
(PlayStation ;)
Star Wars: Battlefront
II. Tagged as a contender
for game of the year, this
latest battle simulation
from a faraway, long-ago
galaxy offers sweeping multiplayer mayhem and a much-needed single-player campaign
set in the days before The Force
Awakens. For Padwans who enjoy giving
other Jedis ulcers, Battlefront II supports
massive battles with up to ;; players on
foot and in many classes of vehicles. The
arenas include iconic Star Wars locations
A CONTROLLER AT
YOUR FINGERTIPS
EVERYBODY HAS ONE: That friend who
constantly gets in your way. Whether
you’re playing Pac-Man, catching
Pokémon or throwing darts, this guy
always gets between you and the
action at the worst time. That friend
is your hand.
Portable and always connected,
phones and tablets make great entertainment centers, but their touch-screen controls work better for dialing
and surfing than for playing games.
Enter Gamevice (available for Android,
iPhone and iPad), a peripheral that
clips onto your phone or tablet, giving
it console-like buttons, direction pads
and grips.
Gamevice doesn’t work with every
game, but its 1,000-game library is
large and growing. Atari, Nintendo,
Sony and Sega learned this lesson long
ago: Games are more fun when you
keep your eyes on the screen!—SLK
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from all of the movies, including the pre-
quels. (Xbox One, PC, PlayStation ;)
Call of Duty: WWII—Dog Tag bundle.
Before its forays into Modern and Advanced
warfare, the Call of Duty series was a World
War II simulation. With Call of Duty:
WWII, the series returns to its roots. In the
single-player and cooperative campaigns,
players experience the European theater
from Normandy to Berlin. Of course,
this wouldn’t qualify as a Call of Duty
game if it didn’t include a prolifer-
ation of multiplayer arenas and
battles. And, yes, the zombies
have returned. Once you’ve lib-
erated Europe, you can test your
survival skills against the Third
Reich’s wave-based zombie inva-
sion. A portion of this bundle is
donated to the COD Endowment,
which assists veterans looking for jobs.
(Xbox One, PC, PlayStation ;) C
Steven L. Kent, author of The Ultimate
History of Video Games, lives in the
Seattle area.
NBA 2K18
Legend Edition
CALL OF
DU TY: WWII
THECOSTCOCONNECTION
You’ll ;nd these games and the new
Gamevice controller this holiday season at
your local Costco and online at Costco.com.
OUR DIGITAL EDITIONS
Click here to watch a sample
of NBA 2K18 Legend Edition.
(See page 9 for details.)
HOT VIDEO GAMES FOR HOLIDAY GIVING
