by Cliff Carpenello, staff writer

The year is ending with a bang with the arrival of three big name video game releases:  “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” “Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary” and “Battlefield 3.”

This is going to be a very busy end of the year for die-hard gamers around the world.

“Modern Warfare 3” is the eighth addition to the “Call of Duty” first person shooting franchise.

The scheduled release date for the game is Tuesday. The story line picks up right where the second game left off in the heated pursuit to find Vladimir Makarov, a terrorist for the Ultranationalist rebels. But there have also been a few new features added to the game.

A lot of the features in “Modern Warfare” are more advanced than the previous two games. This makes playing much more intense for hooked-in gamers.

“‘Modern Warfare 3’ has great graphics and is very realistic to a real war experience,” said junior Julian Thomas.

Players will be able to be in control of many new characters as well as characters from previous games.  But the big excitement is over the “Redemption” single player trailer, which is filled with huge explosions and intense, fighting sequences.

“Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary” is the remake of the very first Halo in celebration of the game’s 10-year anniversary. This game includes seven of the most popular multi-player maps from all of the previous “Halo” games and an abundance of new features never before seen in the past games.

Gamers can expect to get their hands on the new “Halo” on Nov. 15.

“There’s really nothing to expect because it’s just like the first one,” said junior Mitchell Srimongkol.

The most advertised game this year by far is the release of “Battlefield 3,” which made its debut on Oct 25.

The game’s trailer gives gamers a small taste of what they can experience during real game play. This is one of EA’s best selling games right next to the Madden franchise.

“It’s probably going to be worse,” said senior Daulton Howick.

The most noticeable differences in the game are the effects on the battlefield. The graphics during game play have become so detailed, gamers can actually see every single spec of dirt that flies through the air after an explosion, providing a very realistic look.

“Battlefield 3” is expected to offer more then the new “Call of Duty.”

There is no question that each game release is going to be a big deal in the gaming world. With each game offering all new features and better graphics, it’s going to be hard to say which game will finish on top.