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Video GamesThe revision Bible

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Your ExamSection A Section BTextual Analysis and representation

TV Drama

Mr Raymond

Institutions and Audiences

Video Games

Ms Paul

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Institutions and Audiences This exam tests you on your understanding of

the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;

the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing;

the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange;

the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;

the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;

the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions;

the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.

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MIGRAINMedia language

Media words and terminologyInstitution

The companies that produce, distribute and marketGenre

How do video games work with genre conventionsRepresentation

How do they represent people, ideas and reality?Audiences

Who do they attract with and how do they respond to them?Ideology

What theories and ideas are surrounded by the media text.Narrative

What are the structures and themes?

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What is an institution? A media institution is a company

who is involved in producing, distributing and marketing the media.

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What is a video game?

Electronic Human players (interactivity) Video device Platforms Input devices

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Platforms Platforms are the electronic systems that you

play video games on Mainframe computers

Personal computersVideo game consolesArcade

Handheld devicesPhones MP4sCamera

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Input devices A piece of hardware you use to control the

data and signals to the processing system: The game controller.

This changes depending on which platform you use.GamepadJoystickSteering wheelTouch screenMotion sensingKeyboardTrackball

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Video Game Production Companies Sony Microsoft Nintendo Sega

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What is an institution? A media institution is a company

who is involved in producing, distributing and marketing the media.

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Institution What they do

Developers Games are created by development studios comprised of software engineers, artists and programmers who write the code, create the structure and animate the game making them playable for gamers. It’s these developers that are perceived as the ‘talent’ in the industry.

Publishers These are companies that are responsible for the marketing and distribution of the game.

Console Manufacturers

The companies that make the hardware, e.g. games consoles, that games are played on –specifically Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and, now that mobile phone based platforms are emerging, companies such as Nokia.

Distributor A distributor works with retailers (shops, online) to make product available for the consumers to purchase. In the games industry the Publisher usually handles the distribution.

Consumer Or ‘the audience’ - anyone that buys, plays, downloads games.

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Global MarketingAdvantages Disadvantages

Lots of money: profit Cross media marketing World wide audiences PR and Marketing Money on graphics Media convergence:

Stars Brand Graphics

Pressure Timings Technological issues Controversy, worldwide

media panic Individuality Brainwashing Lots of money on promotion

and marketing High expectations

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National MarketingAdvantages Disadvantages

Long term Sustained consumers DLC No hardware costs (?) Game as art Wider audiences

Casual games New breed of gamers

Experimental No expectations

Underdogs Competing with global Marketing campaigns Graphics Recognition Less profit

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SynergySynergy is when business deals are created between media institutions.

It can occur between two or many more companies.

It essentially means that multiple companies contribute to the same product.

It allows them to reach the same audience and both profit.

It can be through tie-ins (a partnership) or product placement (one company pays another to advertise in their game)

It can also be through a co-production, where companies work together to produce one product.

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Synergy: Prince of Persia The film is based on

the Prince of Persia games series from Ubisoft (developers).

The game is based on the reboot of series Prince of Persia: Sands of Time which came out in 2003

So rather than create a sequel to the 2008 game Ubisoft have released a sequel to their 2003 game - theSands of Time, with similar gameplay.

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Production synergy issues: Compatibility

There is pressure on the developers to complete a game for simultaneous release on different consoles.

Rockstar were under pressure to make the same game for 3 different formats: PC, PS3, Xbox 360, each with their different problems. It was rumoured that the reason for GTA 4’s delay was that Rockstar were struggling to perfect the PS3 version.

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Production synergy issues: Time

If games are released to coincide with the release of a film/TV show, this brings its own problems: a strict deadline that can’t be avoided. You can’t have the Harry Potter game coming out six months after the film.

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HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL INTEGRATION

CONSOLE MANUFACTU

RER

Often a single parent company will own multiple companies in the games industry.

This is divided into two types of ownership:HORIZONTAL

The parent company owns multiple companies at the same stage of the game industry. A smaller company, owned by the parent is a subsidiary.

VERTICAL

The parent company owns multiple companies across different stages of the game industry.GAMES

PUBLISHER

GAMES DEVELOP

ERFor example Sony owns:

•SCE (Console Manufacturer)

•16 ‘in-house’ studios worldwide (Games Developer)

•It also has synergous relationships with over 30 other developers (Games Developer)

•SCEE (European Publisher)

CONSOLE MANUFACTU

RER

CONSOLE MANUFACTU

RER

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Synergy and cross media convergence Synergy: production companies that

come together to produce the product Cross media convergence: various

types of media companies that come together to market the product

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Rockstar Licensed music

Kanye WestIce cube

Tv channels Ricky GervaisKatt Williams

Vice city and Andreas

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Technological convergence Various forms of media technologies

come together to distribute the product.

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New market Home entertainment system

Blu-rayInternetDLCMusicFamily entertainmentSocial activity

Wii sports Mario kart Rock band Kinect

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*Important* The most significant part of

technological convergence is fact that all these consoles are online which allows for:Online playOnline sharing of ideasDownloading new content and new

games Also it allows for most of the

media convergence

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Proliferation A rapid increase in the number of a

certain type of product. Lots and lots of the same product,

usually because of a certain product becoming popular

Change in technology

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I-Phone BIG Hit All companies produce touch screen Android Lots of android that look the same Touch screen Capitalising on success

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Game developers/publishers can create content for numerous media

DLC Phone Hand held

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Proliferation positives Innovation for video game consoles Different types of game

Games on phone Handheld devices Different types of games (bigger

audiences) Complete with the bigger institutions

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Negative Proliferation Spend more on marketing and

advertising Competition Pressure to sell: ‘Playing it safe’

Giving the public what they already knowLess innovation

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Negative Proliferation Different types of games for different

machinesGTA4, GTA9 different versions of FIFA 11

Don’t make a Wii versionExcluding a large part of the potential

market

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Proliferation: Positive for Consumers More choice Competitions keeps price down Can play games where ever you want

Home, phone, facebook etc…

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Negatives for consumers Confusion- what to buy?

Motion controller, wii, kinect, ps3 motionConsumers loose interest

Have to buy several machines to get all the different games

Can lead to less variety of choiceClones of gamesGTA or CoD

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Media Ownership Who owns what in video games?

LicenceBrandsTechnology; software, hardware Intellectual property (IP)

End User Licensing Agreement (EULA)Governing video games

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Ownership Rockstar create the characters

themselves They have their own game

software called rage Licence for Euphoria: animation

engine Bullet: open source physics

engine

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Ownership

Rockstar had to licence all the songs in their games

Approx $5000/song Licence the TV footage Ricky Gervais’ comedy

show

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Ownership Microsoft paid $50 Million

for the exclusive rights for the GTA 4 DLC

Obtaining media ownership can be used to sell consoles

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Media Ownership Publishers pay for licenses from other intellectual properties (Exclusive

rights) E.g. Fiilms

Bond Xmen Spider man

Sport stars Rooney, tiger Woods

Events Fifa

Car designs Gran Turismo

Tv shows X-factor

Songs Guitar hero

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Ownership

Apple allow developers to use the App software development kit (SDK) for free

Apps for Iphone Earn 30% revenue

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Issues with ownership Money = less development Synergy Who owns the game? Who gets credit for the game? DLC: Piracy Social Networking Phones Recognition

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What is Audience?Groups of people, large or small, that

consume media texts

Audiences can differ in a number of waysso

these groups may consist of subgroupsBut

how do we categorise audiences into subgroups?

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Grouping people Demographics

AgeGenderRaceNational identitySocioeconomic group

PsychographicsHobbies/tastesInterestsSpending power Education/ability

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SOCIO-ECONOMIC SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUPSGROUPS

Socio-economic grouping is a more advanced way of looking at social class.

It considers the jobs people do, the level of training they have, and how society views their profession.

There are six categories:

A- Higher managerial, high level professional e.g. Chief executive, senior civil servant, surgeon

B – Middle management, professional e.g. bank manager, teacher C1- White Collar, junior manager, skilled e.g. shop floor

supervisor, bank clerk, sales person C2 - Skilled manual workers, blue collar e.g. electrician, carpenter D- Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers e.g. assembly line

worker, retailE – No private income e.g. students, pensioners without private

pensions and anyone living on basic benefits

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Media Panics Video games influence behaviour

Video games effect young children

Video games degrade women

Video games promote violence

Video games are a bad influence on young children

Do we know the difference between fantasy and reality?

Video games are addictive

Video games cause antisocial behaviour

War games train gamers to kill

Video games desensitise gamers to violence

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Uses and gratification Researchers Blulmer & Katz developed this idea

and published their theory in 1974, stating that individuals might choose and use a text for the following purposes:

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Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that information is absorbed into the human brain without thought.

Vulnerable from consuming media texts

Easily manipulated by producers.

We accept dominant ideologies as the norm.

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Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet analysed the voters' decision-making processes during a 1940 presidential election campaign and published their results in a paper called The People's Choice.

Their findings suggested that the information does not flow directly from the text into the minds of its audience unmediated but is filtered through "opinion leaders" who then communicate it to their less active associates, over whom they have influence

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Reception Theory: Thirty years ago, research was conducted on how

individuals received and interpreted a media text, and whether their individual circumstances (age, gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality) affected their reading.

Producers ‘box audience in categories.

Stuart Hall addressed this concluding that audiences take on their own readings of a text people are all different and have ideologies

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Pro: Empathy Dr. Kourosh Dini argues that video games can teach us empathy.

“One of the big things about many games is you’re interacting with other people in such a way that you have to actively think about what the other people are doing or thinking in order to either play against them or play them cooperatively. Either way you’ve got to be engaged in trying to think of how is this person learning and what’s this person going to be doing next.”

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Pro: Cognitive health Arthur Kramer from University of Illinois

recently found that Big Huge Games’ Rise of Nations strategy game improved specific cognitive skills (such as short-term memory) in adults in their 60s and 70s under lab conditions.

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Pro: Better than TV “Video gamers present as brighter, livelier and

more interesting people than the average “couch potato.””- says Russel Dawson, who is a teacher and a parent also.

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Pro: Better mood Studies have shown, that games  help alleviate

common stress that we feel every day. PopCap-endorsed study by East Carolina University’s Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies in 2008 found that casual games can improve players’ moods.

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Pro: Hand and eye co-ordinationThere was one interesting but small study by

doctors at Beth Israel Medical Center, New York noticed a link between gaming and improved performance in laparoscopic surgery. 

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Pro: Remedy for intense Pain Dr. Catherine Butz told the publication, “Research shows a very

strong connection between anxiety and pain. Distraction does a great job in decreasing any kind of anxiety that might be associated with the anticipated procedures”There are also media reports about hospitals using video games to help patients undergoing chemotherapy.

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Pro: Distraction from overeating RealGames after questioning 2,700 respondents found that

playing video games was  a positive distraction from snacking or overeating for 59 percent of respondents, while 42 percent of smokers among the group said casual gaming helped them light up less frequently.

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Pro: New way of teaching “The learning processes behind play, I think, are

undervalued,” says psychologist Dr. Kourosh Dini . “When a person is engaged in play, they seem to learn better. … There’s this feeling of mastery that can happen that sometimes kids don’t get to achieve otherwise.”

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Pro: Imagination Boost Sims creator Will Wright once wrote, “…The gamers’

mindset—the fact that they are learning in a totally new way—means they’ll treat the world as a place for creation, not consumption. This is the true impact video games will have on our culture.”

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1. Explain how the industry you have studied is exploiting new technology in the areas of production, marketing and exchange

2. Account for recent changes in consumption and production in the industry you have studied.

3. To what extent are media audiences the agents, beneficiaries or victims of change?

4. Explain the significance cross media convergence and synergy, in production, distribution and marketing; the industry you have studied

5. How does your own experience of consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour the industry you have studied?

6. What impact does media ownership have on the industry you have studied?

7. How are audiences effectively targeted in the industry you have chosen?8. How do institutions in your industry meet the needs and expectations of

the audience?9. What are the issues raised when targeting audiences in your chosen

industry?10. Discuss the issues raised by institutions’ need to target specific

audiences within a media industry which you have studied.11. Discuss the issues raised by media ownership within a media industry

which you have studied.