Ethnic stereotypes within tv drama

Downton Abbey

The character of 'Tom' is a very typical Irish republican, who is very political, and believes that Ireland should be an independant republic. He is very prepared to use violence to fight for his cause, and was even involved in a violent incident in Ireland. He was affectionately named a 'tame revolutionary' by Lord Robert Crawley. He represents the steroetypical hatred for the British aristocracy and establishment, in some episodes, even towards the Crawley family.

Eastenders

In Eastenders, the 'Masood' family are also quite stereotypical of a Pakistani family within Britain. They own the Indian 'Argee Bhajee' restaurant, speak with stereotypical accents and are over religious. The representation of the family was even criticised by actor Deepak Verma (who played Sanjay Kapoor between 1993 and 1998). He said that EastEnders had 'failed to portray Asian families in a realistic manner, branding the family "two-dimensional and ill-conceived"'.
Dr Who
However, some tv dramas have managed to get the portrayal of ethnic characters right, such as the character of Martha Jones in Dr Who. She was an aspiring doctor who lived in London, and she did not fall under any stereotypes throughout the sereis that her characrter was in.

The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audience, specifically British, by international or global institutions

In the games industry today, most games target a national audience, but localise their games, depending on what country it is being sold in. Due to the popularity of gaming increasing throughout the world, localisation has become much more important in the production of games and more sales can now be made from a product that has been altered to suit a particular country. This means that people from certain countries who may be offended by the games original content can now play the games without concern.

 

Nationally, there are some issues with gaming products, which means that they have to be changed, in order for them to sell in other countries. One of the most well known examples of this is due to the games console ban in China, that has been in place since the year 2000. The Chinese government deemed games consoles bad for the young people of China (claiming they 'corrupted the minds of the teenage generation,') meaning that no games consoles were sold. However, recently, the 'China Quality Certification Centre' website showed two models of the PlayStation 3, labelled 'computer entertainment system' received approval from the government this July. This shows how the console itself had to be modified in production to be sold in another country.

However, many games do not have to be completely changed to be sold, but just 'localised' to suit certain nationalities' cultures. Localisation is the alteration of games, to suit countries' linguistic, cultural, hardware/software, legal differences, their consoles' graphic capability and even musical differences. Even though this allows more games to be sold world wide, there are some issues surrounding this. An example of this can be seen with the release of the localised versions of 'Final Fantasy VII'. After its Japanese release in 1997, it took 7 months for it to be released in the US, and another 2 months for it to be released in the UK and Europe. This was due to the fact that the game had to be fully translated and loacalised before it could be sold in other countries.

As I mentioned before, not just languages need to be changed for games to be sold internationally, some game content is considered unfit for certain national audiences. For example, in Germany, no swastika references are allowed at all in games, (obviously due to the events of ww2), which meant that the zombies in 'Call of Duty - Black Ops', which displayed swastikas had to be removed from the game in the German localised versions. Also, in the SNES game 'Wolfenstein 3D', the character  Hitler was changed to 'the Staatmeister', and the dogs replaced with giant rats. An example of a cultural change that had to be made can be seen in the Chinese version of 'Wizard 101', in which all skeletal characters in the game had to be removed as it is inappropriate to depict bones in Chinese culture.

In conclusion, due to the fact that most countries now have access to the internet, (where people are exposed to the tabooed subjects that had been removed from games anyway) I believe that the localisation of games according to culture etc, is not as important as it used to be in most countries. Obviously, in places like China, where censorship is still in place, the localisation would still be a major thing to consider, but maybe in many European countries, it's not as bad. However, liguistic localising is still very important, even today, as people still need to be able to understand the game to play it!

Just Dance Regional TV adverts

For most game advertisements on television, they have to be altered slightly according to which country they are promoting the game in. An example of this can be seen in the 'Just Dance 4' game adverts, which are broadcast in countries such as the UK, the US, Australia, China etc. In the US advert, we are taken through a house to the song 'Good Feeling' by the American artist Flo Rida, who also appears at the end of the advert. Another American celebrity, Shane Dawson, (a famous Youtube vlogger) also leads the camera for a couple of seconds of the advert - it is those American celebrity appearances differentiate this advert from the British one. In the UK version, the advert features more actual gameplay, and also shows some implications of a British audience, for example, the Union Jack print leggings on the game character, and an promotion for the Sainsburies supermarket at the end.

The UK Retail Market: Today and the Future

Today, the retail market for games in the UK is still going strong, with many shops such as GAME, HMV and even supermarkets like Asda selling video games across the country. However, over the past year, it is clear that the gaming retailers are having some issues.

On the 14th of September 2012, it was announced that the 122 Gamestation's across the UK would be closing down and being renamed under the Game brand. This could illustrate the decreasing demand in hard copies of video games due to the increase in sales of downloadable versions of the games (on online stores such as the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live).

Mike Jervis, joint administrator at PwC (powerhouse of a commercial enterprise) said "The group has faced serious cashflow and profit issues over the recent past. It also has suffered from high fixed costs, an ambitious international roll-out and fluctuating working capital requirements. Despite these challenges, we believe that there is room for a specialist game retailer in the territories in which it operates, including its biggest one - the UK. As a result we are hopeful that a going-concern sale of the business is achievable."

From this major event, we can see  that the UK game retailers are having a slight struggle with selling their games, and this trend may continue in the future. It is a worrying thought for the retailers, however, it is conceivable - could all games become digital, therefore putting the UK Retail market out of business?...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/277-of-game-and-gamestation-stores-to-close-772654
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamestation

Advantage Distribution

Advantage Distribution distributes games from many of the world’s leading publishers such as Nintendo, Bethesda, easy interactive etc. Advantage was established in February 2003 and delivers to both retailers and publishers within the interactive entertainment industry. They provide stocks for retailers including supermarkets and has allowed them to build partnerships with well known distributors such as Littlewoods, Very, Argos & Express Gifts. Advantage distributes games to such well known retailers as they can deliver stocks to stores in bulk.

Distributors for our case study games...

The ditributor for GTA V is Take Two Interactive, for Skylanders Giants, the distributor is XPEC Entertainment and for the original iphone Angry Birds app, the distributor was Chillingo. Take Two interactive being the distributor for GTA V shows how, because it is such a successful franchise, vertical integration takes place in order to sell the game. Take Two and Rockstar own the distributors for GTA, so they can use their own company to distribute their game. Whereas Chllingo was an outside distributor for Angry Birds. This was because when the game was first introduced, it was not as successful as it was today and they did not have the money to use a company distributor. Chillingo had to be sourced in order for them to sell the game.

The difference between COD and GTA...

The GTA and COD franchises are very different in the fact that they are released at different times - COD has an annual release, whereas GTA is released when ever the next game has been created and perfected. This means that many people consider the GTA games to be more 'special', because each game is anticipated, whereas COD always has a release each year, and so it is not as anticipated. Zelnik (the head of Take Two interactive - the parent company of Rockstar), stated that the most recent game in the COD series, 'Black Ops II' looks likely to fall short of the sales numbers that the previous game had reached. He then added: "That's never been the case with one of ours. Ours do better each time. Our view is it's hard to make permanent intellectual properties if you annualize it, with the exception of sports titles. So far that's proven to be the case. IP that is annualised eventually seems to hit the wall and we don't want our IP to hit the wall." This suggests that because the games are not released annually, it gives the game creators time to perfect the game, and make it better for the consumer. This means that the consumers feel that the GTA series is more of a rarity, and so the wait for the release of the game makes it much better than if they were released each year like the game in the COD franchise.

UGC

UGC is the acronym for 'User Generated Content'. In terms of games, this means game content that is created by consumers, which could be in the form of creating game levels etc. Examples of this in the gaming world can be seen in games such as 'Little Big Planet'. This game is based entirely on he players imagination and their creation of different levels. Another example of UGC is 'Minecraft'. This game is a 'sandbox' game, which means players have almost unlimited freedom to do or create anything they want. Again, it is based entirely on the gamer's creations, and each person's Minecraft world is different. UGC can have a large impact on the gaming market, as it means there is no need for DLC, as players create their own levels etc anyway. However, because it allows player freedom, it means that the games are very popular, and usually have large sales and profits. Also, because the games can be constantly updated by consumers, it can prolong the game life, as it does not get boring, and each level can be different.

Video Game Regulation and Ratings Systems

PEGI is acronym for 'Pan European Game Information', and is the gaming rating system in place within Europe. It decides whether the content of a game, is suitable for certain age groups, and rates it accordingly. Before PEGI, there were many different age rating systems, and from April 2003, PEGI replaced those with a single system for the whole of Europe.  The BBFC played a joint role in the rating of games previously. There are five age categories that PEGI places on games; 3, 7, 12, 16 and 18.

The ratings on the games are decided by the amount of the content above. For example, a game that is rated 18, will contain all of the above, where as a game rated 3 will only contain mild violence. From June 2009, PEGI introduced the coloured rating system, after the 'dual classification system and two sets of symbols often made things confusing for the consumer'.

From the 30th of July 2012, the PEGI rating system became legally enforceable in the UK, meaning that retailers that sell video games to children who are under the age rating can now be prosecuted or fined. This is due to the governments plan to 'crack down on violent and unsuitable content'. Before this, it was not illegal to sell games to people who are under the '12' age limit, and apparently, according to 'culture minister', Ed Vaizey, "Today's simplification of the ratings system benefits both industry and consumers and will help ensure that the millions of games sold in the UK each year are being played by the audiences they were intended for." Previously, it was illegal to sell games to children under the 16 and 18 categories, but the new law means that now, it is illegal to sell games with a 12 rating to children under 12. Obviously, this could be potentially dangerous for retailers, as they have to be very careful about who they sell their games to, and this could have an effect on their profit, as now they can not sell the games to the children. Retailers could be fined up to £5,000 if they are caught selling games to children under the age of the games rating.

As well as this becoming a legality, the new system means that the BBFC will no longer play a role in the rating of games as they did before this new law came into place. All video games will now be rated under the PEGI system by the 'Video Standards Council', apart from if the game may require an 'R18' rating, when the BBFC would be called to classify it.

Also, this new law might alter the way publishers and developers wish to make their games - will they have to reduce their games violent/ sexual/ gambling/ drug content in order to be able to sell more and make a larger profit? Even though it will be illegal to sell the games to the children themselves, there is still nothing stopping their parents going out and buying it for them... This system merely helps parents to decide whether or not to let their children play these games. 

MMORPG - Runescape

Runescape is a fantasy based Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, which was released in January 2001 and is still a very popular game today. With over 200 million accounts created and is recognised by the Guinness World Book of Records as the world's largest free MMORPG.

The game is free to play, however you can become a member for as little as $5 (£3) a month, which enables you access to more gameplay and content that is not offered to non-members.

RuneScape does not follow a singular storyline and players choose set their own goals and objectives to follow, and which ones they don't want to pursue. Players can choose to fight monsters, complete quests, or increase their experience in the different skills that players can develop. Players can interact with each other by trading goods, chatting, or playing mini-games. Some of these are competitive or involve combat, while others allow players to cooperate to complete the task. The game was designed by Paul Gower and Andrew Gower and developed and published by Jagex Games Studio.

According to figures of 2011, there are 139 English servers of Runescape, including; the UK, the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, Mexico, France, Lithuania, and India. However, there are 2 servers translated into French, 5 that are translated into German, and 6 servers which translate into Brazilian Portuguese. The image below shows the server locations.

Runescape has a very devoted following, with many fan sites and forums dedicated solely to the game. Jagex even have a 'Fansite Support Programme', which ranks fan sites into bronze, silver, gold and platinum. This system means that Jagex support these sites through things like, advertising support, allowing exclusive staff interviews, invitations to Jagex events and recognition as an official Runescape fan site. This shows the level at which people devote their time to Runescape...

RuneZone

On this fan site, there are a large range of things to look at. There are a lot of forums, discussing topics from updates and Runescape news, to help and advice and user guides. On these forums and message boards, people have to register themselves, and can choose an icon and a name to display themselves by. Their Runescape names and medals are also displayed next to their forum names. According to the forum statistics, which are displayed at the bottom of the homepage, the RuneZone message board has 239,950 posts, there are a total of 7,746 registered members, the newest registered member is Valerie and the most users ever online was 1,446 on Oct 23 2012 at 7:51 PM. The website has many links to things such as fan blogs, quest guides, databases and even RuneTV and RuneRadio.

Runewise.net

Runewise.net is a golden Runescape fan site. On thier 'About us' page, it says, 'RuneWise is highly compatible with other Runescape sites, which focus on guides and calculators, as it's rather unique as a tool site. In addition to tracking how much xp you need to your goal, RuneWise also offers suggestions on how to train, and achievements, and a score system to drive you to that goal, not mentioning the experience deviation system that finds your average levelled skills, and the Exp. Tracking system that counts how much xp you've gotten since your last visit.' It has a very large link page, on which it links its many partners, other Runescape related blogs and forums, and even game clans. It offers quizzes, and polls and information on Runescape News.

GTA V trailer analysis

After almost a 2 week delay (due to hurricane Sandy) Rockstar released their well anticipated 2nd trailer for GTA V on the 14th of November. As expected from Rockstar, their new trailer has a film-like feel to it, with opening credits and sweeping establishing shots, showing the skyline of Los Santos. We can see from this screen shot how the usual distance fog that appears in games does not appear here - the graphics seem superior, which makes it seem more than a game (which was definitely one of Rockstar's intentions). The natural lighting and bright colours contrast with that of the darkness of GTA IV, however, there are some clues that there will be aspects of GTA V that have been in previous games.

The trailer opens with the Stevie Wonder song 'Skeletons' which may be symbolic, as many of GTA's song choices are. It may reinforce the violent content of the game, which will inevitably end with many deaths (skeletons  symbolise death). After the initial establishing shot, the credits appear, and we are introduced to the first of GTA V's protagonists. This scene shows his lavish and luxurious life style, with shots of his mansion and a low angled shot of his very expensive car - a grey F9 (Audi R8 Spider). All of these shots expose the amazing amount of detail that Rockstar have put into this game. It also begins with some dialogue, some diagetic dialogue from the first character's family, and also some non-diagetic narration from the character himself. Dialogue throughout this trailer allows it to flow properly as a film trailer would, with characters almost explaining the scene as it is portrayed on the screen.

After several more establishing shots of the city, we are introduced to the second protagonist, who seems to have a fiery temper. The camera edits speed up to show the difference in his personality from the first man, and shots are shown of him slamming another man's head against the bar, and even him blowing up a house. These are all shown in quick jump cuts to show the typical fast paced and action based content that is expected of GTA games.

Then, the last protagonist is introduced. After a quick jump cut of him and his girlfriend arguing, even more jump cuts are shown of high speed car chases, a scene where a bank robbery is involved, a train scene and even a scene with a dog is shown (animals have never been in previous GTA games, which caused a lot of discussion in on line chats about the trailer). A scene is shown with a quad bike and motorbike chase, and a scene which could have been from a Hollywood movie is shown, where a Jeep falls from a plane and is seen falling towards Earth. We can tell from this trailer that Rockstar definitely wants this to seem more than a game. All the while, the music is getting louder and more fast paced, again, following the speed of the edits and action in the frames. Near the end, all 3 characters come together, and after a quick introduction and more jump cuts of action from a nightime helicopter/jet chase, they seem to form the pose of the three wise monkeys - see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil. Again, this is very symbolic.

GTA V so far...

The Grand Theft Auto series is an extremely popular and well established franchise, published by Rockstar and developed by Rockstar North. The first GTA game of the series was created in 1997, and 14 titles followed this, the most recent being Grand Theft Auto V, which is set to be released in the Spring of 2013. The first GTA game set out to found the new 'Sandbox' format of games, involving violence, organised crime, theft and many other subjects that other games had been reluctant to include before. The games have proved to be very controversial, but also very successful, and the publicity that has surrounded news on GTA V suggests that the new game in the franchise is set to be a huge triumph for Rockstar. 

Rockstar has been drip feeding the press news on GTA V for quite a while now, however not a lot is known about the gameplay and production of the game. Rockstar have told us that GTA V 'evolves every mechanic' that was included in every other game of the series,  and that the world that game is set in is bigger than the worlds of Red Dead Redemption, San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto IV combined. We also know a bit about that characters in the game - Michael, Trevor and Franklin are the 3 main protagonists (as shown in the image below) and are criminals, whose stories intertwine as they complete missions together. According to the GTA V wikipedia page, "Michael is a retired former bank robber in his early forties who lives with his dysfunctional family on the proceeds of his former life in the upper-class suburb of Rockford Hills, based on Beverley Hills. Trevor lives alone in a trailer in the desert of Blaine County, his reckless and psychopathic behaviours being fuelled by a drug addiction. Franklin makes a living in Vespucci Beach — based on Venice Beach — as a repo man for an unscrupulous car dealership." The three acquaintances are drawn into Los Santos' criminal underworld in the "pursuit of the almighty American dollar". As in all GTA games, the open world of Los Santos (based on Los Angeles) can be fully explored. The GTA world is totally interactive, and players can interact with people with in the game and even pursue hobbies such as scuba diving and base jumping.

 

On the 2nd of November 2011, Rockstar released the trailer for GTA V, which stimulated a lot of discussion on line. This is an example of how Rockstar virally marketed the game. Rockstar had scheduled to release a second trailer on the 2nd of November of this year, however Hurricane Sandy delayed this, and it is now set to be released on the 14th of November instead. The picture above is a screenshot from the first trailer, which shows a sign, obviously based on the Hollywood sign in LA. The trailer also contaioned footage of a jet aeroplane and many people have concluded that there may be opportunities to actually fly jets in the game. From the 20th to the 24th of August, Rockstar also released a series of screenshots from the game, which also caused a stir on the internet - they provided hints as to what the gameplay will consist of. It's Rockstar's consistant, but scarce marketing strategies mean that publicity is built up, and a lot of 'knowledge' that people have about the game is just speculation. This creates an aura of excitement about GTA V.

 



 

We now know for sure that the new GTA game will only be available on PS3 and Xbox, not the new Wii U. The more complicated controllers of the Playstation and Xbox consoles suggest that GTA V will be aimed at core gamers, and the violent content of the game (and also one of the cover art pieces showing a woman in a bikini) suggest a male target audience. Now available for gamers to pre order, it is for sale in the UK in shops such as GAME, Play.com, Zavvi, HMV, Amazon and Tesco. This may mean that Rockstar may have a place in the top 10 gaming charts several months before the game is even released.

 

MVC Top 20 game chart

From this table, we can see the top 20 video games from this week. In the top 10, there are 3 games that have been published by EA games (Fifa 13, Need For Speed and Medal of Honour) which shows how successful it is as a publisher. There are 3 games that are solely available to DS platforms, one game that is only available for PC and one game that is only available for Xbox 360. These are all first party games which are also all established franchises. This suggests that most first party games that are successful today tend to have very well known IPs. Also in the top 20, we can see that there are no Sony first party games. This shows how Sony are more successful with their third party games. All the rest of the games are available across many platforms, Fifa 13 is available across the most platforms, even the PS2 (which is a contributing factor for its position as number 2 in the gaming charts as more people can play it across different consoles). The reason for this is that many countries, e.g. Brazil and India, the PS2 is still a very popular console, and Fifa is a very popular game in these countries. Out of all of the games in the top 20, only one is a new IP - Dishonoured, published by Bethesda Softworks. This shows how most publishers are more comfortable creating games from an established and well known franchise (to ensure success) rather than create a new IP and risk it not being a success. Assassin's Creed being number one is evidence of this - it is a very popular and well known franchise. Most of the games in the top 20 are also for an older audience, for example the violence in Assassin's Creed and Medal of Honour may be unsuitable for a younger audience. This suggests that the gaming audience is increasing in age, as more games are aimed at older audiences. However, there are a few games that are aimed for younger audiences such as Moshi  Monsters and Skylanders, which implies that a young gaming audience is still catered for.

Symbiosis - Halo and Mountain Dew

 

This is an example of how video games use other products (through symbiosis) for promotion. In this case, Mountain Dew has paired with the new Halo 4 game, to promote both of their products. There is a link between the energy drink and the game - many people spend many continuous hours on video games, and so the energy drinks allow them to keep relatively awake to play the game. This is a good partnership that would hopefully increase the sales of both products.

Conglomerate Map for Grand Theft Auto IV

Conglomerate model for Skylanders

Zynga in the news

In the third quarter of the gaming year, Zynga has been through a lot of events which reflect the state of the social gaming market today. Zynga's daily active users have increased from 54-million in the third quarter of 2011 to 60-million in the third quarter of 2012, which shows an increase of 10%, and their monthly active users have increased from 227-million in the third quarter of 2011 to 311-million in the third quarter of 2012, an increase of 37%. This suggests that the popularity of social gaming is increasing, however, when we look at the statistics from other types of gamers, things for Zynga have not been too good. 'Monthly Unique Payers' for (gamers who pay for 'credits' on games) decreased from 4.1-million in the second quarter of 2012 to 3-million in the third quarter of 2012, down 28%. This shows that although social games are popular, the percentage of gamers who actually contribute to Zynga's profit is decreasing. This might imply that monthly gamers who pay for social games may be decreasing across all social games. However, even though Zynga had lost ome of their monthly paying gamers, Zynga launched four games during the third quarter of 2012, including two titles on web-based platforms: ChefVille, a social 'farmville-style' cooking game, FarmVille 2, Zynga’s next-generation game built entirely in 3D and the new chapter in its FarmVille legacy, and two titles on mobile platforms: Gems With Friends (the sixth title in the 'With Friends franchise'), and Montopia, a role-playing game in which players have to collect monsters through an adventure. This suggests that even if their monthly payers are decreasing, the social gamers still want more to play, meaning social games are still  very popular today.

 

This graph shows how at the second quarter of 2011, many people believed that the amount of Zynga's monthly active users could not increase - they thought that there may be a cap on the amount of users it could have. However, as I mentioned before, in the third quarter of this year, the number of Zynga's MAU's has increased to 311 million, clearly surpassing people's estimates. This implies social gaming may be on the increase.

Farmville 2

 

Since its release date on the 5th of September 2012, Zynga's sequel to 'Farmville', 'Farmville 2' has had over 60 million monthly users. This week, there has been an increase of 6,300,000 users - 64,700,000 people now play Farmville  every month. Zynga has marketed Farmville 2 mostly using viral marketing techniques and channels, where it promotes the game to its existing users. Also, naming it 'Farmville 2' was a simple marketing technique as Tim LeTourneau, vice president of games at Zynga states, "What you're really looking at is the brand equity of FarmVille. In all of our testing, even though we tested different names for the game players, even seeing it and knowing the differences, consistently came back and said that FarmVille 2 was their favorite name because I think FarmVille for this audience, which is not the same as a hardcore gamer audience, you know, this is a broad audience that thinks more in terms of movie sequels than they do in game sequels. I think for them the brand that they know is FarmVille, and this is a farming game coming from Zynga, and so the logical name is FarmVille 2. We saw players over and over again resonate with that name more than any other. That was the reason the we decided to go with FarmVille 2." Naming it Farmville 2 attracted many existing gamers, and advertising it virally, on the likes of Facebook (which sponsers the game) where original Farmville players can see the title, means that many of the people who see it will recognise the franchise.

 

Zynga Games

Zynga is a gaming company that develops games for mobile phone platforms like Apple iOS and Android, as well as developing games for social networking sites such as Facebook, which are free to play. Zynga's profit comes from two sources: debit/ credit card payments and business partnerships. A lot of Zynga games require a charcter to replenish 'energy levels' after they have completed levels/ missions. Between waiting for energy levels to replenish, Zynga games are linked to offers from several partners. This is when players can take surveys, accept credit card offers or even buy services from Zynga's partners in order to obtain game credits. These credits can then be used to replenish the character's energy levels, or buy currency that can be used in the game to buy goods. These microtransactions supply Zynga with part of their profit. As well as this, Zynga also sell advertising sponserships within games, such as movie tie-ins and other brands. For example, in February 2012, it was announced that Zynga and Hasbro had partnered to produce products based on Zynga brands. These are predicted to be up for sale in the autumn of 2012.

Skylanders Giants

Released on the 19 of October 2012 in Europe, Skylanders Giants is the second game of the Skylanders series, following the first game ‘Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure’, which was named the number 1 children’s game of 2011. The game was developed by ‘Toys for Bob’, ‘n-Space’ (for 3DS development) and ‘Vicarious Visions’ (for development for the new Wii U) and published by ‘Activision’. It is available for the Nintendo Wii, the new Wii U (available from the 18 of November 2012), Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3.

The game is very unique in its game play; it can be played on line, at home on games consoles and there are even Skylanders Giants apps for both apple and android phones. Skylanders is a game aimed for a younger audience. To play the game, several things are needed before you can access all the game has to offer. On the Skylanders Giants website, it tells you all that you need before you can ‘Start your adventure’. A Starter pack includes a hard copy of the game, several toy figures; ‘Tree Rex’, ‘Jet-Vac’, and ‘Cynder’ (toy figures are necessary for game play) and the ‘portal of power’.  This portal is essential for ‘Bringing the toys to life’ – when you place the toys on the portal, it ‘teleports’ them into the game, where you can play as that character – 48 toy figures are available in total. This is a very unique concept which is exclusive to the Skylanders series. Also included in the starter pack are universal codes that can be used to unlock characters and play games on line (Skylanders: Universe). Trading cards are also included, as well as stickers and posters. This unique way of gaming has attracted many children since the series’ release in 2011, and has been given many positive reviews so far. The Telegraph rated the game 4/5 saying, ‘Despite some unnecessary convolutions with its action-figures, Skylanders Giants is a refinement of the hit video game and toy line hybrid’. Skylanders Giants is anticipated to be even more successful than its series predecessor, which gathered an enormous profit of £350 million in its year of release.  

The collecting aspect of this game is a clever marketing ploy, as each character posses different powers and encourages children to own them all and build up a collection of all the figures that you can buy seperately from the game. On Amazon, a single figure (in this example, Crusher) costs £18.48 - a steep price for one single toy, considering the price that the starter pack costs. However, many children today are prepared to pay this, as you have to buy certain figures to complete certain tasks, in order to complete the game. This is an example of symbiosis - the figurines and game combination mean that the toys can be used with the 'portal', and also out of the game as action figures. Skylanders Giants has been marketed

In the UK, the game is available across a wide variety of shops and websites, including; Amazon, Argos, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Game, HMV, Toys R Us, play.com, and Smyths. The prices across the major platforms are all very similar – a starter pack costing around £52.47 and a booster pack costing between £36.99 - £39.99 on the Wii, PS3 and Xbox, and a starter pack around £49.99 on the Nintendo 3DS and a battle pack costing £24.99 across all platforms.

Synergy and symbiosis in the Games industry

L.A. Noire (developed by Rockstar Leeds) used both synergy and symbiosis in their marketing campaigns. On the 17th of May 2011, the 'Rockstar Games' label released the soundtrack for L.A. Noire. There was even a remix of the soundtrack released on the same date by Rockstar Games, featuring six classic jazz songs from the 40s (when L.A. Noire was set) remixed by modern DJs. A sixty minute long film was also created and previewed on the 25th April 2011 based on L.A. Noire. These are examples of how Rockstar used synergy in the promotion of their game.

Rockstar also used synergy and symbiosis in their marketing campaigns for Grand Theft Auto. Using synergy, Rockstar also released the soundtrack for Grand Theft Auto, featuring many modern songs from a range of genres. As well as this, Rockstar released a lot of merchandise for the game including; a mug with the GTA logo and knuckle duster handle, a GTA basketball with the logo on it, t-shirts also displaying the logo, and even an action figure of the character 'Claude' for GTA III. All of these products are examples of how Rockstar have used symbiosis on their promotion of the GTA series'.

Synergy and Symbiosis

Synergy - Synergy is when two or more parts of the same organisation work together to promote and produce outcomes for a product for a profit. In marketing, an example of this could be when Disney released High School Musical - a film soundtrack was released on CD, the film was released on DVD and a game was also created based on the film (all promoted by Disney).

Symbiosis - Symbiosis is when different companies work together to promote and produce a range of related products. Again, using an example of High School Musical, McDonalds could make High School Musical toys to put in their Happy Meals, and other products such as bedcovers, Easter Eggs and dolls could be created to advertise the film.

The Rockstar Family

Rockstar Japan  - Set up in 2005, Rockstar Japan is the Japanese version of Rockstar. They work in conjunction with 'Capcom' to produce versions of the original games for the Asian market.  

Rockstar North - This branch (set up in 2002) was formerly named 'DMA Design ltd', and is currently based in Edinburgh, Scotland. This branch is the one known for creating Rockstar's most famous games including Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings.

Rockstar Leeds - Rebranded from 'Mobius Entertainment' in 2004, this branch of Rockstar is based in Leeds, Yorkshire (as the name suggests). Rockstar Leeds is well known for publishing handheld games for the Game Boy Color  and Game Boy Advance. It is also known  developing Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition and the Grand Theft Auto Stories games for the PSP.

Rockstar San Diego - Formerly 'Angel Studios', Rockstar San Diego was the leading studio for creating 'open world racing games' such as 'Midtown Madness' for PC in 1999. This branch of Rockstar is also responsible for creating the 'Red Dead' series of games (starting with 'Red Dead Revolver' in 2004 for PS2 and Xbox).

Rockstar Vancouver - Situated in the Canadian city of Vancouver and previously known as 'Barking Dog' studios, this branch of Rockstar has released many titles including the controversial game 'Bully' in 2006. They also created the third game in the 'Max Pyne' series earlier this year. Over the next 6 months, Rockstar Vancouver will be merging with a neighbouring branch - Rockstar Toronto.

'Reality Is Broken' by Jane McGonigal - Gaming Facts

• Globally, the online gamer community - including console, PC, and mobile phone gaming - counts more than 4 million gamers in the Middle East, 10 million in Russia, Mexico and Vietnam, 13 million in Central and South America, 15 million in Austrailia, 17 million in South Korea, 100 million in Europe,105 million in India, and 200 million in China.
• There are more than 6 million people in China who spend at least 22 hours a week gaming (the equivalent of a part time job).
• More than 10 million 'hard core' gamers in the UK, France and Germany spend at least 20 hours a week playing and more than 5 million 'extreme' gamers in the US play on average 45 hours a week playing games.
• The gaming industry is expected to have a profit of $68 billion per year by the end of this year.
•  69% of all heads of household and 97% of young people play computer and video games.
• 40% of all gamers are women.
• 1 out of every 4 is out of the age of 50.
• The average gamer is 35 years old and has been playing for 12 years.
• The scientific journal 'Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking' reported in 2009 that 61% of surveyed CEos, CFOs and other senior executives say they take daily game breaks at work. 

'Indie' games

Independent games (more commonly known as 'indie games') are games that are created by small teams or sometimes even individuals without financial support of publishers - they often rely on digital distribution for their funding and marketing. In contrast to more mainstream developers, indie developers do not have creative limitations and don't require approval from publishers. This means that indie games are known for their creativity and artistic experimentation. Indie games tend to be less expensive to develop, as they don't need to pay license fees. For example, to develop for Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, or PlayStation 3 there is a  license fee of between $2,000 and $10,000 (in addition to yearly developer fees and profit cuts). However, development for Xbox Live Indie Games only requires $99 per year.

The creaters of Indie games usually have a significantly smaller budget than more mainstream 'Blockbuster' games, however, the teams who create them are smaller, so less money has to be spent paying a huge team. Over the past few years, many Indie games have become very popular, some of the most successful being; Braid, Fez, World of Goo and Minecraft...

Minecraft

Developed and published by mojang,  Minecraft was created by two Swedish designers - Markus "Notch" Persson Jens "Jeb" Bergenstenis - as a first-person 'sandbox' (open world) game, focused on creativity, and the building and developing of your own, in-game world. The game allows players to roam an open world, which allows them to do anything they choose and interact with anything they like. It requires players to maintain their health, build shelter, survive attacks from mobs (creepers, zombies, skeletons etc) and mine the resources that are available in their world. This world is composed of 3D blocks which are made of materials that the players can use to their advantage. Several different modes of Minecraft exist, of which most have different aims;

Survival - In this mode, the players have a health bar  which is depleted by attacks from monsters, falls, environmental damage, drowning, or falling into lava and a hunger bar, which must be maintained by eating food. By mining resources, tools and items can be crafted which can help players through out the game. Villager mobs are also in this mode, which players can trade items with. A multiplayer server can also be set up.

Classic - This mode is free, but is no longer updated. Players have access to all the unlimited resources. It functions similar to creative mode, allowing players to build and destroy any and all parts of the world either alone or in a multiplayer server. There are no computer creatures in this mode, and environmental hazards such as lava will not damage players. However, some blocks function differently since their behaviour was later changed during development.

Creative - In Creative mode, players have access to unlimited resources or items through the inventory menu, and can place or remove them instantly. Players also do not take environmental or mob damage, is not affected by hunger, and can fly freely around the game world; they can only die by breaking through bedrock and falling into the void.

Adventure - In Adventure mode, the gameplay is similar to survival mode except players are unable to break or place any blocks. The players can still interact with items, such as chests, and mechanics, such as buttons.

 

The game was originally available for the PC, but more recently the game has been released on platforms like Xbox 360, and even Android and iOS. As of the 25th of May, 2012, the game has sold over six million copies on PC and over nine million copies across all platforms, proving it to be one of the most successful 'indie' games so far, and this number is increasing at a large rate. Minecraft was released as a developmental "alpha" release on the 17th of May, 2009, with a beta version on the 20th of December, 2010. The game is only available for digital download. Official versions for iOS and Android have been released and the full version of the PC game was released on November 18, 2011 at 'MineCon' 2011. This convention was specifically titled 'MineCon' and was dedicated to Minecraft alone, showing how passionate people are about the game.

 

In December 2010, Good Game selected Minecraft as their choice for "Best Downloadable Game of 2010" title,Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year as well as the eighth best indie game of the year, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun named it the game of the year. Indie DB awarded the game the 2010 "Indie of the Year" award as chosen by voters, in addition to two out of five Editor's Choice awards for "Most Innovative" and "Best Singleplayer Indie". All of these awards and positive reviews prove how successful Minecraft has become.

 

 

Modes of Game Development

There are many ways you can make video games, rather than the ways Rockstar make their games...

The 'Tent Pole' business model - This way of making games is similar to the business model of a lot of Hollywood studios; the idea is that the publisher release one 'blockbuster' game with heavy marketing and investment. Then the money made from this supports the development of other 'riskier' and potentially more creative games. E.g. GTA brings in a lot of income for Rockstar, which allows them to invest in smaller games such as 'Bully' and 'L.A. Noire'. However problems can occur with this: the company gamble with the game being aq hit, and sometimes this doesn't happen.

The Hollywood model - This idea is to contract out parts of the games design (art, car physics, assurance etc.) to other companies in order to lower development costs. So, instead of having a permanent 'in-house' team of 50+ people, the developer can have a team of just 10-20 piecing the work together undertaken by specialist external teams.

Independant Game Development - Until recently, creating games was a very expensive business, usually requiring a publishing contract in order to pay for development and a license fee required to develop the game for a particular console. However, more recently, the 'Indie Game' market had grown. Open source softwares such as Apple's App store and Xbox Live Marketplace have allowed small teams and even individuals to create games and get them distributed to make money. New technology, convergence and new ways of distribution means that more abstract games are now being developed.

Modding

The 'Hot Coffee' mod (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas)
After the release of a mod for 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' for the PC in 2005, a formerly inaccessible minigame was discovered. The minigame caused a lot of controversy, as it included adult content which would mean that the game would have to be re-rated. Previously, the minigame was completely disabled, however, by the 9th of June 2005, people found ways to enable it using hacking tools. On the 20th of July  2005, the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) announced that it was changing the rating  from 'Mature' to 18+ . Rockstar stated that it would discontinue the current version of San Andreas, and produce a new version that would not include the the Hot Coffee mod, allowing it to be re-rated as 17+. There was a massive recall on all GTA: SA games that had been released, and this affected the retailers, and Rockstar alike. On the 21st of July, the day after the rating change, North American chain stores and retailers, (which accounted for every major retailer in the United States and approximately 85% of the game's market in the country) removed the PC and console versions of the game from their store shelves, either restickering the box with the new rating, or returning it to the Publishers and Developers (Take Two Intertive). There was less of a reaction in the EU however. In Europe, the game was already an 18+ before the discovery of the mod. Unlike the US, many European nations operate the same classification as they do to films - it is a criminal offence to sell adult-only games to people below the age of the rating. In December 2005 after the huge issue that this mod had stirred up, Senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh introduced the 'Family Entertainment Protection Act', which called for a 'federal mandate enforcement of the ESRB ratings system in order to protect children from inappropriate content'. This reaction proved how huge of a problem this mod had become - the government were even involved.

Digital Distribution - Will everything become digital in the future?

For many years, the gaming industry has played an important role in many people’s lives, and throughout the past decade, this industry has grown, developed and advanced in many ways (examples include the improvement of superior graphics within games, the evolution of a new generation of gaming and the conversion of some games to digital distribution). Most of these ways have allowed the industry to accelerate its progress, and as we approach the eighth generation of games, a burning question has surfaced – will the entire gaming industry become digital in the future?

The gaming industry has now progressed to a point where some games are fully downloadable and available to play, without any need for a physical disc or hard copy. These can be bought from online stores such as Xbox Live Arcade, the Wii Shop Channel, PlayStation Network, and the App Store. There are many advantages to the total transfer to digital format, and a lot of people have concluded that digital distribution is the way forward in gaming technology. One of the largest arguments in favour of this is that digital purchasing of a game is much more convenient. There is no need to physically get up and travel all the way to a shop such as Game to actually buy your game, and the transaction can be made within your own home (even from the comfort of your couch!). This appeals to a lot of gamers, as purchases can be made at any time of the day (shops have restrict this because of their closing times), the games will never be ‘sold out’, and there will be no need to wait in ridiculously long queues on release day outside the shop in the freezing cold.  Another advantage to digital distribution is that there will be no need to have own physical discs. Owning the actual discs can present many problems; game boxes can clutter a gaming area, discs can become scratched and useless if not taken care of properly, and gamers can even loose discs. All of these problems would disappear if games were all downloaded digitally. Of course, a digital takeover would immediately benefit the platform holders, developers and publishers involved in the release of a game and any add-on content that is released at a later date, not only the gamers themselves. Everyone included in the business end of gaming would probably be pleased with games becoming 100% digital. Games publisher ‘Paradox Interactive’ says it no longer needs retailers as the vast majority of the company's revenue is now derived from digital distribution sales, meanwhile, ‘Bohemia Interactive’ claims if it wasn't for digital distribution its PC game development would cease. Chief Executive Officer of Paradox Interactive, Fredrik Wester, told PC Gamer "We don't really need retailers any more". This is because, according to the company, 90% of their revenue now comes from titles sold on digital distribution platforms such as Steam and Gamersgate. This shows how the computer gaming industry is already gaining from the growing amount of fully downloadable digital games available for PCs.

Despite all of the advantages to this, there are a lot of drawbacks. For a lot of people today, playing games has been a pastime for them throughout their whole lives, and the sentimental value of going to game stores, queuing up on release day, or even pre-ordering the game and physically owning the box and disc played a huge role in what gaming means to people. Removing this sentiment may affect people’s love for games, and ruin the anticipation of waiting to own the disc themselves. This seems to be the most popular argument against a digital revolution. However, there are more serious problems associated with the gaming industry going completely digital. Major concerns have been raised about the issue that internet capabilities are just not strong enough to support a total digital switch over. In June 2012, a survey revealed that the average UK internet download speed was 15.286Mbps - this would not be nearly powerful enough to support everyone in the UK to be digitally downloading a new game release at the same time. This would not only affect the gamers, but it may also cause huge problems for the internet in general for many people throughout the world. Also, the consoles themselves may not be physically able of containing so much digital downloads. A new range of consoles may have to be produced, with much larger hard drives, capable of storing vast amounts of data. This would cost the industry a lot of money, but it may all be worth it if the profits increase (as many people may be more tempted to make more impulsive transactions which would increase profits made on games).

In the future, I can see the majority of games becoming digital, but I doubt that the gaming industry will make a full modification. Looking at other industries such as the music industry, although most music purchases are now made digitally, some stores, such as HMV and even record shops such as Probe Records in Liverpool (where I have bought vinyl records from!) still sell CDs and vinyl records. I honestly doubt that peoples love for physically going to shops and buying the games will ever go away, as although it may be more convenient, core gamers and maybe even older generations of gamers may feel more sentiment towards the original ways of gaming – by owning the physical copies of the games, as they did when they were younger.

The Wii U

The Wii U is an upcoming video game console from Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. The system was unveiled during Nintendo's press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 on June 7, 2011, and is scheduled for released on November 18, 2012 in North America, November 30, 2012 in Europe and Australia, and December 8, 2012 in Japan. It will be the first entry in the eighth generation of video game consoles.

Nintendo stated that the Wii U supports 1080p graphics and has 2 GB of memory; 1 GB as system memory and the same for game memory. This is more than 20 times the memory of the Wii. The console will be released in two versions; a basic white version with 8 GB of internal storage, and a premium black version with 32 GB of internal storage, which includes stand and docks. An HDMI cable will be included with both versions. The Wii U features a new controller, called the Wii U GamePad, with an embedded touchscreen. The controller allows a player to continue playing games by displaying the game even when the television is off.

The system will be backward compatible with Wii, and Wii U games can support compatibility with Wii peripherals, such as the Wii Remote Plus and the Nunchuk. It will not be backward compatible with Nintendo GameCube discs or peripherals, although games will become available for purchase and downloaded from Nintendo's Virtual Console service.

The console was first conceived in 2008, after Nintendo recognised several limitations and challenges with the Wii, such as the general public perception that the system catered primarily for a "casual" audience. With Wii U, Nintendo explicitly wishes to lure "core" gamers back. Game designer Shigeru Miyamoto admitted that the lack of HD and limited network infrastructure for the Wii also contributed to the system being regarded in a separate class to its competitors' systems, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Nintendo is working with Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and YouTube to bring streaming digital movie and television content to the Wii U. Nintendo has demonstrated that simple gestures can be used on the Wii U GamePad to transfer video content from the GamePad to the television screen. Users will also have the ability to switch from the television screen to the Wii U GamePad when watching videos.

The Wii U GamePad can also be used as a universal television remote with a built in guide, even when the Wii U is off. Nintendo also announced a free television based service called Nintendo TVii. Nintendo TVii will allow users to find programs on Hulu Plus, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and on their cable network; users will then be able select the source of the program they wish to watch and watch that program on their television or on the Wii U Gamepad. Users can also use the Gamepad screen to get information on the show they are watching, this information is recevied from Wikipedia, IMDb, as well as individual source services. The information provided on the Gamepad for each show can range from reviews, screenshots, player positions updated in realtime (in sports broadcasts), cast lists, trailers, and general information about the show. Users can then interact with the information as well as share and comment on the information on social networks such as Miiverse, Facebook, and Twitter through the Gamepad while they watch their show on the TV screen.

Games like ZombiU, a first-person shooter survival horror video game from Ubisoft Montpellier, are to be released exclusively for the new Nintendo's Wii U console. In ZombiU the player can assume the roles of various survivors during the game. The game is a reboot of Ubisoft's first commercial game, Zombi. This seems to imply that Nintendo are aiming for a new audience - an older audience that Nintendo has failed to attract so far. The Wii is associated with a younger audience, with more family orientated games. However, after the reconsideration of the challenges of the first wii console, Nintendo have decided to try to win over older gamers that would be more used to playing platforms like xbox and PlayStation.

Grand Theft Auto IV

Grand Theft Auto IV was released in 2008 published by Rockstar Games, and developed by UK game developer Rockstar North. It has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and for the Windows operating system. Overall, Grand Theft Auto IV took over 1000 people and more than three and a half years to complete, with a total cost estimated at approximately $100 million, making it one of the most expensive games ever developed. GTA IV was distributed on both digital and physical formats.

The Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess

The Legend of Zelda, Twilight princess was developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development, and published by Nintendo for the GameCube and Wii video game consoles. Released on the 19th of November, 2006, it became available on Nintendo platforms only (wii and game cube). Twilight Princess was only distributed physically by Nintendo.

My Gaming History...

Hi, my name is Zoe Radford and I have been playing video games ever since I was young... When I was little I used to spend a lot of time with my best friend Ashleigh trying to complete levels on Alex Kidd and Sonic, on an old Sega mega drive retro games console from the fourth generation of gaming. I'm not sure how I came to own one, but at the time it was amazing! The 2D platform games soon became addictive, but me and Ashleigh could never get past level 5... When I was slightly older, I decided to try some games on my old PC (it was ancient and died recently) which included unreal tournement and an old pac-man game. At Ashleigh's house, we spent many hours on her PS2 - which was new at the time - playing games such as Crash Bandicoot, Lara Croft, and still spend time more recently on games like minecraft on her laptop, and The Walking Dead game and Limbo on her PS3. Personally, over the last couple of years, I have played more games on consoles like the nintendo ds and the nintendo wii, with games from the Mario and Zelda series being particular favourites of mine. Lately, I haven't had much time to play video games at home, but they still provide fond childhood memories for me and I will always remember the time I spent on all of my games consoles when I was little.