When writing my blogs posts for my Social Journalism class I noticed my posts and tweets did not receive a ton of impressions or engagements. For my WordPress I discovered that I would receive the most amount of visitors the day of or after I had published my blog post. This was most likely due to me posting about them on my Twitter and Facebook. My top visited story was about Bit Burger where it received 5 views. This is not a huge number, but was nonetheless my most viewed post. Almost all of my web traffic was coming from the USA which makes me think that only friends or classmates visited my blog.
When it came to my twitter there was a lot more engagement. My top twitter post was the results of a twitter poll on is UT students were planning on getting vaccinated. I believe this post had a lot of engagements because it was a graphic of results from a previous poll. People received the information in one simple image instead of reading.
My most liked and shared tweets were not even about my beat which was video games, they were centered around COVID. This was due to the group project where in a group we worked on a singular story with multiple aspects about COVID and what the new normal is. While in the group I was in charge of promoting and group members helped promote the posts I made about our story to help increase engagement. Without this I don’t think my tweets would have received as much engagement.
In the end I realized I need to grow on social media and post more frequently. I am no longer receiving new followers, but I intend to by making a steady stream of posts to share on twitter with the use of graphics and videos which seem to increase engagement significantly.
In my group’s story we covered what the “new normal” is in a post-pandemic world. Through it we used Twitter and Instagram to heavily promote our story with pictures, videos, and graphics. While working on this our blog titled “The New Normal: COVID Edition” we found that social media was a very effective way to drive traffic to our post. Social media is an essential tool in journalism today and without it stories wouldn’t get as many hits and would cause advertisers to pull funding for stories. It’s close to impossible to get attention to things these days without some form of social media tied to it. Working on “The New Normal: COVID Edition’ has helped me learn how multi-talented modern journalists need to be just to post one story. They need to be a writer, photographer, editor and social media wizard to put forth and effective story. So much work is put into a single aspect of a story, even with a group as big as ours there were still struggles and to think one person is usually responsible for all parts is baffling. Being a journalists is not an easy job with it requiring so many multiple high levels of skills to be a great and well rounded journalist. In the end it helped show me how much I need to grow in all areas of journalism.
Video Montage of Bit Burger, Video By: Gene Hevron
Want a throwback to times that were simpler? Where movies like Back to the Future and The Goonies were on top? Bit Burger is the place for you. Not only is Bit Burger an amazing place to get burgers and enjoy the unique 80’s/90’s themed atmosphere, it is also a place where food and video games meet in a delicious combo. Bit Burger is adorned with memorabilia of these great decades from toys, posters, and controllers. You name a movie or game from these eras and you will mostly likely find it represented on the walls of Bit Burger.
Bit Burger’s menu is simple clean and to the point. It’s simple back and front page menu makes ordering easy and you are welcome with a friendly face at the counter. Most items on the menu are named after retro video game characters or are video game themes such as the name Bit Burger. For example there are Red Chocobo Wings named after the flightless mount that is in the popular video game series Final Fantasy which are buffalo wings or The Bleu Bomber a bleu cheeseburger named after the classic video game character Mega-Man.
Bit Burger is full of arcade cabinets which a multitude of games on them including BurgerTime, Pac-Man, Rampage, Star Wars, and Galaga. All of these games operate without the need for coins making it a great place to take your family to enjoy some great food and some killer retro games. While dining you are met with music from the 80’s and even music from classic video games such as Mega-Man II. There is also a t that constantly plays a live stream of someone playing video games.
Memorabilia for the 80’s/90’s such as Castle Greyskull in the top middle from He-Man and the Master’s of the Universe, Photo: By Gene Hevron
Bit Burger is also extremely conscience of health safety as social distancing is in effect with tables in-between not available for use and workers always wearing masks. So, if you are looking for a place to enjoy a great burger and some classic video games come on by to Bit Burger at 151 N Seven Oaks Dr, Knoxville, Tennessee for a truly unique and exciting dining experiences.
Well it’s official, E3 has been cancelled for the second time in a row due to the coronavirus. While it was cancelled in 2020 physically and digitally they had plans to host a digital even this summer for E3 which has now also been cancelled. This doesn’t bode well for the yearly event held in Los Angeles as it has slowly been losing developers to showcase at the event with PlayStation not attending in 2019 which in turn lead to fewer attendees for the event. PlayStation instead has been focusing on it’s own digital events called State of Play which showcases their upcoming games to audiences online. E3 is still planning to host the yearly event in some capacity for 2022 and 2023. Hopefully the big three game developers like Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo will attend. These companies have all been hosting their own digital events to big turn out with less money spent than attending E3, so only time will tell.
Published 03/04/2021 10:12PMEST
How Gaming Has Helped People Stay Connected During The Pandemic
Animal Crossing Screenshot on Nintendo Switch Photo By: Gene Hevron
In March 2020 the United States went into lock down and stay at home order were put into place across the country. This was the beginning of a long hardship filled year. With this people weren’t able to hangout as normal and had to find ways to stay connected virtually. Luckily this was able to be done through video chat, texting and finally video games.
Video game sales rose to an all time high during 2020 even though many had lost their jobs. This hobby/pastime was an easy and fun way to stay connected with friends. One of the biggest games to take hold was Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Switch. In this game you are able to build your own island chalked full of island visitor for you to make your neighbors. The online component made so players could visit each other and hangout on each others island simulating the feeling of being in person. It was the prefect game for the pandemic and lead to Animal Crossing being the 3rd best selling game of 2020. Thanks to video game people were able to spend time with each other virtually and make the horrible year of 2020 just a little bit better.
Published 03/05/2021 5:44PM EST
Gaming an Escape for 2020
With the pandemic occurring in 2020 many people escaped to another world through the means of gaming. This helped people escape for just a brief moment from the terrifying and uncertain future. Currently the pandemic is still going in 2021 and gaming has still been there during this time. Games sale went up by 27% according to NPD (National Purchase Diary Panel Inc.) even though unemployment was at an all time low. With the extra time at home, video games became a highly sought after at home hobby in 2020.
I asked several people how video games helped them through the pandemic and this were their responses. “Gaming helped me by giving me an escape from quarantine. I could be free in a different world and for a few hours things weren’t so bad.” said Zack Dillon an employee at Best Buy. Another person Dylan Vaughn said, “Video games have been on e of the most important sources of enjoyment during the pandemic and have been a huge stress relief. Not to mention I’ve bee able to play with new friends and stay connected with my homies.” It’s evident that gaming helped people find some sort of relief during the pandemic and according to the sales numbers it’s not going anywhere.
Bencin Studios the small game and app development company out of Smyrna, Tennessee who has developed several mobile games for the iOS and Android devices. Bencin Studios has published six different apps and have completed 40 different projects.
Bencin Studios produced it’s first studio game called Tetrablaster in 2018 on Android and iOS devices. The game itself pays homage to the classic and revolutionary game Tetris where the objective is to complete lines of blocks by rotating different shaped pieces into place. What sets Tetrablaster apart is the ability to shoot the blocks and change their shape entirely. This creates a new and fresh way to complete rows while simultaneously opening endless possibilities of combinations of block.
Getting top score in the world on Tetrablaster, Photo By: Gene Hevron
The game also features several incentives to keep playing such as gems. Gems are an in game currency which you can purchase for real money or every 24 hours you are granted free gems. With these you can complete purchases for in game rewards such as different themes. The themes range from different colored blocks, to wood, or note-booked themed. Each theme ranges from 100-1600 gem with gems either being earned daily for free or being purchased for 99 cents for 1600 gems, $1.99 for 2000 gems, $2.99 for 7000 gems and finally for $3.99 you receive 16000 gems. There is also option to pay for unlimited play, all themes and no ads for $9.99, but with the most recent update there is no longer an ads or restrictions on daily plays.
Another game from Nanovation and developed by Bencin Studios is one called Octav for iOS and Android devices. In this game there is a stack of octagonal blocks are in a vertical row. You play as a hammer that must swing and knock an octagonal block out of place while avoiding knocking over the whole stack. Each hammer swing is brought about with a xylophonic noise accompanied by soothing and satisfying sounds as the blocks hit one another back into a row. As the you progress the hammer moves more quickly and blocks drop at a faster rate. Occasionally there are blocks that flash white and offer more points. The goal is to gain the highest score and bragging rights with friends.
A screenshot of gameplay of Octav, Photo By: Gene Hevron
Bencin Studios is also working on an upcoming game titled Six Shooter which seems to be their most ambitious project yet. Six Shooter is inspired by Megaman the legendary game developed by Capcom. Six Shooter will be a 2D platformer where you play as a cowboy given a gun by God and must save the world from demons who have taken over the world. To check out more on this upcoming title check out Bencin Studios webpage on Six Shooter for a more in depth explanation and concept art.
Bencin Studios is a promising game development studio with a lot of promise. If you want to check out Tetrablaster and Octav you can download them for free from the iOS and Android store.
A lot has changed since humans began to write on paper and convey news. Journalism has progressed leaps and bounds ever since it’s conception. With each year bringing more sophisticated ways to distribute news in a more efficient manner. From the printing press to the modern computer technology has progressed rapidly at distributing news and information that news is now consumed at an instant.
With social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook where news can be shared in an instant journalism has had to adapt. Now there is more of a precedent on who posted the story first over how accurate the story is. Although there are huge benefits to being able to share news at such a fast rate, the downsides are that information is not filtered enough to portray information that is 100% accurate.
Through the use of social media misinformation can be spread at an alarming rate. Individuals share news that is not properly vetted and helps perpetuate lies that may be harmful to others. For example social has been used as an echo chamber for some groups of people that wish to harm others. This can be seen with things such as the insurrection that happened January 6th 2021. Through social media, lies about the results of the election were used to insight violence on the capital.
Journalists today are seen more as individuals than just the newspaper or website they work for. Social media has made the world smaller and you are now able to follow specific journalist and know more about the people writing these news stories.
A major change to journalism from new technology is how multitalented a journalist now needs to be. It is not simply about writing. One needs to be able to write, film, photograph, record, and edit all of their work. Something that would once require multiple people to produce a single news story is now up to one individual.
Although technology has made it easier for journalists to release news at a more rapid pace we now have to make a conscious effort of what type of news we are consuming and sharing. With these skill we can stop the spread of misinformation and help others become more informed.
EA sports recently announced in a tweet the NCAA football will finally return in video games. This means the ability to play as the Tennessee Vols on the latest console generation. The last NCAA football game to come out was NCAA Football 14 in July 2013 and was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Since the release there have been two new console generations with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X coming out last year in November. After nearly a decade without these games fans are hungry for the return of this series.
The NCAA games published by EA SPORTS originally stopped producing the games after there was massive pushback from the players and a lawsuit ensued as the players received no compensation for their likeness. Although EA didn’t use the names of the players they did use the same numbers and likeness of the players.
The lawsuit in question was O’Bannon v. NCAA. In the lawsuit former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon filed against the NCAA for using the likeness, numbers and names of players past graduation with no compensation. The lawsuit was settled on August 08, 2014 in O’Bannon’s favor as the NCAA was ruled to have been violating the antitrust laws and now has to provide student athletes with additional aid up to $5000 more a year as included with their scholarship packages.
Screenshot of NCAA Football 2005 on PlayStation 2 by; Gene Hevron
The new EA Sports College Football game announced it will not use any likeness of the current players, so for people that attend the University of Tennessee Knoxville, you won’t see current players such as Harrison Bailey and Josh Palmer. The game will how ever feature the stadiums, uniforms and over 100 different NCAA-affiliated sports teams through the Collegiate Licensing Company. This means we will see the Neyland Stadium in all its glory
No information has been received if other sports in the NCAA will receive the same treatment and come back. EA Sports College Football is expected to release in 2023 on home consoles and pc.
This is Turn 1 Gaming a local card hobby/gaming shop in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. They hold events every week from Pokemon, Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh. Turn 1 Gaming has fostered and enriched a community of gamers while supply a safe and friendly environment for all ages.
The manager Travis is a kind and friendly man who helps run the Pokemon tournaments every Sunday. He is always willing to teach others any games they are interested and helps to keep the store a family friendly environment. The store which is a part of Level Up Games and Hobbies a local Knoxville store.
Turn 1 Gaming Store Front/ Photo by Gene Hevron
Turn 1 Gaming is a recently new store as it opened in August 2018. They have been building a big following shortly after with daily events and games to be played. There are prizes readily available to those who win and the buy in is completely optional. Experience isn’t need to join as the people are friendly and always open to teach individuals how to play.
To get into the hobby of these card games the price to start is relatively cheap with the option to buy a starter deck. These are generally around the $20 range and is a low cost to learn if you will enjoy the game. The main aspect that Turn 1 Gaming provides is an outlet for individuals to nurture friendships with a similar passion.
Photo by Gene Hevron
There are also cool and inventive ways to play these games for longtime fans looking to switch up their game and learn new strategies. This is known as a draft where new packs of cards are opened right on the spot and individuals take turns choosing cards to build a deck right there. This opens up a large amount of strategy that is need to succeed in the game.
The store isn’t just about card and board games though as they also provide a plethora of used games and movies available to purchase. These range from classics such as the Super Nintendo all the way to modern consoles and games such as the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.
So come on down to Turn 1 Gaming and have fun learning a new and exciting hobby or just come and make a few new friends. As Travis said, “The main thing is to have fun.”
Hello, my name is Gene and I am starting this site to build a portfolio of gaming related stories to one day obtain my dream job which is to be a gaming journalist. I hope to cover all things related to games from video games, board games, card games and more. I would love to connect with someone who writes about games professionally for a website or newspaper. I hope through Good Game Gene I will be able to gain the necessary skills to be considered one day a true journalist.
Good Game Gene 