The Video Game Research

The Structure of the Video Game Industry is quite simple;

- Developer
- Publisher
- Marketer
- Distributor
- Hardware
- Retail
- Consumer

I got this structure from this website:
http://www.slideshare.net/cigdemkalem/the-games-industry-industry-structure

Another website that explains a bit more in the fields of Computer Game Publishers, Computer Game Developers, Distributors and the Hardware Manufacturers is:
http://www.obscure.co.uk/articles-2/industry-overview/


The 5 most important games ever

Wii Sports is a sports game developed and published by Nintendo as a launch title for the Wii video game console (and the first title for this console), and part of the Touch! Generations. The game was first released in North America along with the Wii on November 19, 2006, and was released in Japan, Australia, and Europe the following month. It was included as a pack-in game with the Wii console in all territories except Japan, making it the first game included with the launch of a Nintendo system since Mario's Tennis for the Virtual Boy in 1995. Wii Sports is now available on its own as part of the Nintendo Selects collection of games and is no longer a pack-in game for the Wii. Overall, Wii Sports has been well received by critics and received awards from the gaming press and entertainment community. It is the best-selling video game of all time as of 2009, having outsold the previous best-seller, Super Mario Bros., also published by Nintendo. As of March 2012, 79.60 million copies of the game had been sold worldwide. The game has become a popular means for social gatherings and competitions among players of varying ages. It was followed by a sequel, Wii Sports Resort, in 2009.

The Sims is a strategic life-simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual persons ("Sims") in a suburban household near SimCity. In 2002, The Sims became the top-selling PC game in history. As of February 7, 2005, the game has shipped 16 million copies worldwide. Critics praised it with positive reviews. It has been a success in many ways - attracting casual gamers and female gamers (the latter making up almost 60% of players). Open-ended gameplay has been done before in games, such as the farming-based simulation series Harvest Moon, but The Sims has certainly gained popularity for this particular style of gameplay. In March 2009, Electronic Arts announced that The Sims, as a franchise, has sold more than 110 million copies.

Space Invaders is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to defeat waves of aliens with a laser cannon to earn as many points as possible. It was one of the forerunners of modern video gaming and helped expand the video game industry from a novelty to a global industry. When first released, Space Invaders was very successful. Following its release, the game caused a temporary shortage of 100-yen coins in Japan and grossed US $2 billion worldwide by 1982. The game has been the inspiration for other video games, re-released on numerous platforms, and led to several sequels. The 1980 Atari 2600 version quadrupled the system's sales and became the first "killer app" for video game consoles. Space Invaders has been referenced and parodied in multiple television shows, and been a part of several video game and cultural exhibitions. The pixelated enemy alien has become a pop culture icon, often used as a synecdoche representing video games as a whole.

Call of Duty is a first-person and third-person shooter video game series franchise. The series began on the PC, and later expanded to consoles and handhelds. Several spin-off games have also been released. The earlier games in the series are set primarily in World War II. They then move on to Modern Warfare, set in modern times. The series has shifted focus away from World War II. “Modern Warfare” was followed by “Modern Warfare 2”, set in modern times, and “Black Ops”, set during the Cold War. The Call of Duty games are published and owned by Activision and published for Apple OS X by Aspyr Media. Most have been developed primarily by Infinity Ward and Treyarch. As of November 11, 2011, the Call Of Duty series have sold over 100 million copies. As of March 31, 2012 there are 40 million monthly active players across all of the Call of Duty titles, with 10 million “Call of Duty: Elite” users and 2 million paying annual members. Over 1.6 billion hours of online gameplay have been logged in the latest game in the series, “Modern Warfare 3.”

Grand Theft Auto (commonly abbreviated GTA) is a video game series created in the United Kingdom by David Jones and Mike Dailly then later by brothers Dan and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by British developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) and published by Rockstar Games. The name of the series is derived from grand theft auto, a term referring to motor vehicle theft. The series has won multiple awards. The series is set in fictional locales heavily modelled on American cities, while an expansion for the original was based in London. Gameplay focuses on an open world where the player can choose missions to progress an overall story, as well as engaging in side activities, all consisting of action-adventure, driving, occasional role-playing, stealth, and racing elements. The subject of the games is usually a comedic satire of American culture, but the series has gained controversy for its adult nature and violent themes. The series focuses around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, although their motives for doing so vary in each game. The antagonists are commonly characters who have betrayed the protagonist or his organisation, or characters who have the most impact impeding the protagonist's progress.

One upcoming game for around Christmas; Halo 4

Halo 4 is the fourth direct sequel into the Halo series with multiple spin-off's being made.

343 Industries, who have taken over development of the main Halo series from creators Bungie, have described Halo 4 as being darker and more story-driven than other games in the series. It sees Master Chief and Cortana crashing on a mysterious Forerunner planet and battling against mechanical enemies known as the Prometheans. These guys can toss back plasma grenades, protect themselves with hardlight shields, and deploy turrets. After years of fighting the Covenant, it'll be good to test our Halo skills against a new foe. Much of the story is shrouded in mystery, but the antagonist is rumoured to be Didact, a great Forerunner general that fans of Halo's expanded universe may remember from Halo Legends.


The changing of the Video Game Industry

The video game industry is changing due to new advances in technology; Instead of being purely console based, the video game industry is changing as around 50% of people prefer playing on their mobile devices using games on app stores such as Apple or Android.

This website explains the changing of the video game industry as described above;
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/video-game-industry-continues-shift-122000746.html

Mock Exam - Worst Paragraph Improvements

In contrast to the high pitch music representing the homosexual women, when we are shown clips of the heterosexual man, a low pitch music is played with drum beats which creates a sense of masculinity of the man, This non-diegetic sound has the connotation that homosexuality is a feminine trait both in lesbians and gays and not at all masculine

First Mock Exam Improvements

In the first scene of the clip there is a loud part of music played over the clip as they are walking to the arena, this music is played at a very low pitch with drum beats and a trombone and it creates the effect that they are forced to walk to their own death. This is a great connotation of their class and status as it shows the fighters are just another possession of the rich people and makes the fighters seem a slave like status. This music is then followed by two pieces of music which are juxtaposed to each other, one is extremely tense and loud as the final two fighters are fighting which creates a sense of danger and fright for the fighters but allows the viewer to sympathise with those, this music is then contrasted with a more upbeat and melodic piece that is played quietly while we watch the rich people chat amongst themselves during the fight. These music pieces contrasted with each other emphasise the fact that the fighters are such a low class and status that they are just the possessions of the rich who are just using them for their entertainment.

There are a wide variety of camera shots used in this extract of the film. One of these is a camera shot from up behind the higher class looking down on the fight which may represent the class and status divides between the two because the rich are looking down on the lower class. During the final fight in the clip we see many different camera shots; each with different connotations.One camera shot was at a low angle looking up towards the fighters showing their masculinity and strength but in the same shot you can also see the higher class in the background looking down at them which shows that although the fighters may be strong, they are still a lower class than the higher class. Within the fighters there are different levels of status too, camera shots clearly show this because towards the end of the fight, the black fighter is shot at a low angle looking up at him while the white fighter is shot at a high angle looking down at him, this shows his power and superiority over the other fighter. There is one shot in this extract which is particularly good at showing the class divides, this shot is at ground level inside the box the fighters are held inside looking through the door, at the bottom of the screen we can see the fighters being shown as the lowest class, in the middle of the screen we can see the guards and their leader which may represent the middle class of people but then above those we have the higher class looking down on both of them being shown as the highest class.

Mise-en-Scene is also used to great effect in this extract of film because although the black fighter is shown as a higher status than the other fighters, gestures given by the higher class show that he is still of a low status and class. Towards the end of the fight when the black fighter has the opportunity to kill the other, he hesitates for a while, then one of the higher class women sticks her thumb down which gestures for the fighter to "kill him", this shows again her authority over the fighter and her role as his "owner". Another part of the behaviour and gestures shown of the upper class emphasising the class divide is during the fight, When the men are fighting for their lives below, the higher class are passing around food and the higher class men are discussing something completely irrelevant to the fight, this shows that for the higher class this is just another form of entertainment, this again reinforces the class and status of both sets of people. Towards the end the black fighter rebels against the hierarchy by not obeying the higher class orders to kill him but instead throwing the trident towards them and then running and climbing up the wall towards them, this symbolises him climbing up the class and status ladder.

The setting of the clip also shows the representation of class and status. In the first scene we see the men walking from their cages towards the arena, The setting of this scene is all dull using only deep browns and greys which suggests the lower class people. As they leave their cells and walk towards the arena there is a shot from behind the cage which shows the fighters as "trapped". Once the men enter the arena they are forced into another small box like cage like a caged animal, this suggests that the fighters are seen as such a low class to the higher class people that they are treated only as well as wild animals are. As the main fight begins we see the viewing platform raised above the arena in which the higher class are observing the fight from. This connotates the fact that they are higher above the fighters not only literally but figuratively too.

The clothing of each set of people is different, In the opening scene of the extract the fighters are seen wearing grey/brown rags suggesting the low class and status of them. In contrast to the fighters set of clothing we see them directly contrasted with the guards clothes who are the middle class in the scene, they are seen wearing some browns but also some red which shows their status above the fighters. Finally the clothing of the higher class is all bright colours like red and white, this connotates their hierarchy by showing them in royal colours such as red. The red in their clothing may also represent danger and the danger that they are to the lower class fighters in the extract by making them fight to their death. When the fighters enter the arena to fight they are made to take off the grey rags they have exposing only a very small piece of armour, this connotates the vulnerability of the fighters as they are fighting with exposed flesh.

Media Film Coursework

Today in Media Studies we showed the class our final edited draft of the short film we have created. First the class were shown one viewing of the film, then they were shown a second viewing during which they had to take notes on the successes and failures of the film; Those notes are listed below;

Successes;
-The music was synced very well to the actual clip (particularly the start of the clip).
-All of the camera shots were used to a good level.
-Good use of colour in the scenes (Mise-en-Scene) during the locker room scenes and the general running as the background of the locker room is red as well as the hoodie worn by the actor is red, this shows clear representation of danger within the film.

Failures;
-Continuity error as in one scene the sleeves of the actor are rolled up but in the next they are rolled down.
-The running as to find the murderer was too long and lost some of the suspense.
-The storyline was unclear as you couldn't work out why the actor was running around.