Gaming industry enters a new level

Gaming industry enters a new level

Gaming is good for you???

Gaming is good for you???

• Computer games are good for you, say researchers who studied the complex social interactions in the popular shoot-em-up Counter-Strike.
• "It gives people an option of actively participating in some kind of fantasy role they could not do in real life".
  Professor Talmadge Wright, Loyola University.

Which console is best?

Best high-end gaming console.Reviews agree that the PlayStation 3 is technologically superior to the Xbox 360 -- at least on paper. However, the same experts also say that it's going to take months or even years for game developers to really take advantage of the PS3's horsepower. Right now, reviews say graphics quality and realism for PS3 and Xbox 360 are equally excellent. But because Xbox had a 12-month head start over PS3, it has a much larger library of games. Both systems can play games in high-def if you have an HDTV. The Xbox also has better-integrated online gaming

Virtual Big Brother

Virtual Big Brother

• Three dimensional worlds such as Second Life, which allow people to create online versions of themselves, have built up a large following.
  Virtual Me will allow these avatars to compete in online versions of Deal or No Deal, Fame Academy and Big Brother.
• Bosses at the two firms said it was a concept that bridged the divide between traditional TV and video games.
• "With Virtual Me we are at the forefront of a new, hybrid form of entertainment that takes gaming beyond the console," said Gerhard Florin, Executive Vice President and General Manager of EA International.
• "Endemol is a great partner to help us bring together the best of TV and video games for an offering that can appeal to mass market audiences and change the face of entertainment."

My Hypothesis

1. Comparing of the game consoles. Which are better and why?
2. What are the audience views and responses to the consoles? ie. price, offers to users (add-ons) etc
3. What are the social consequences of the gaming industry?
4. Online gaming its development and issues.
5. What does the future hold for gaming ie the development of online gaming, the complete package etc.

Microsoft Unites Xbox, PC Instant Messaging

Microsoft Unites Xbox, PC Instant Messaging (April 9th 2007)

• Microsoft says it will expand instant messaging on its Xbox 360 game console so that players can chat with others running Windows Live Messenger.
• Microsoft promised that within four weeks it will expand instant messaging on its Xbox 360 game console so that players can chat with others running Windows Live Messenger on their PCs and mobile phones.
• This will become available with a free update on sale the week of May 7th.
• "Bringing the largest IM community in the world, Windows Live Messenger, to Xbox 360 makes sense, as Xbox Live has really become the largest social network on television," Jerry Johnson, product manager for the network, said in a statement.

Console sale figures

PS3
America - 1.37m out of 3m
Japan - 870,500 out of 3m
Europe - 920,000 out of 1m
Australia - 27,000 out of 1m
figures correct up till April 1st

Wii
America - 2.1m
Japan - 2m
Europe - 2m
Australia - 68,000

How will the PS3 fare when it finally reaches Europe?

How will the PS3 fare when it finally reaches Europe?

• Sony left struggling in competition in USA with Xbox and Wii.
• In the USA Xbox 360 came out on top in the ranking, coming out narrowly ahead of the Wii (of which sold 1.8m in 2 month period from late November). In comparison PS3 sold just 750,000 units in the same week it hit the shelfs as the Wii.
• Even in Japan where Microsoft has no market share the PS3 is still behind the Wii in popularity out selling 3 to 1 in December.
• PS2 is still the most popular console being sold in the world today!

Issues of Gaming

Youngsters in danger of becoming 'couch potatoes'

• 20% of day spent staring at TVs and computer screens or playing on a game console.
• Dieticians urge children to become more active.
• Children are on average spending 2 1/2 months a year staring at screens.
• British Medical Association research say that there estimates are that, if current trends continue, one-fifth of boys and one-third of girls will be obese by 2020.

Feedback on research #1

Well done Nick, this is an excellent start. You have responded to all the key areas. You now need to add depth to your study by backing up observations with quotations and statistics. We will be looking at gaming in class this week so you will get some ideas there.

Key areas will be Wii and PS3 and how the gaming industry, target audience is changing - more social interaction?

Well done

Area of Technology 5: The Future

• Games like 'Second Life' are merging reality and virtual reality together. It is felt that in the future interactivity will reach new levels with games becoming virtual reality and that we are actually in the games ourselves and will be able to control what we do in these virtual worlds is this a glimpse of the future and will it happen? only time can tell.

Area of Technology 4: Issues

There are many issues being formed in the world of gaming and they are:

• Obesity - Many children are now spending hours in front of TV and PC screens playing on the games consoles instead of experiencing the real world both socially and actively through exercise. Gaming is it encouraging children to stay inside and play on their new PS3 or x-box 360 and interating online rather than going out and interacting with real people and more importantly getting exercise while doing so it is a major issues concerning gaming.
• Does the new technology encourage illegal activity? Will people do anything to get their hands on the new "must have" game consoles and games, will they resort to anything to get them? This is a major issue to consider in gaming.
• Violence - is now one of the key issues in regards to gaming. Games such as Grand Theft Auto, Hitman and Manhunt have come under scrutiny for being too violent the later of which was banned in the UK and the US. Many are asking the question are video games too violent and too easy to get a hold of by younger children. Are they responsible for the increase in violence and attacks by children. It is a key issue that still being debated.
• Gender specific - Most games feature the strong male character e.g GTA, Splinter cell and Metal Gear Solid. These are pushing the fact that males are the stronger and more dominant of the genders as well as showing them in heroic status. However the game Tomb Raider which was a breakthrough in the gaming industry as the heroic character was not a male but a female. Lara Croft was a first for gaming in that it was a heroine character that "saved the day". However there are still critics over the way heroines in video games are depicted with the "beauty" image of the female characters which are made to be sexy which is also open for criticism.

Area of Technology 3: Audience

• Gaming is now becoming fashionable in the new market. For instance it is now seen fashionable to have the latest mobile phone with games playing on the way to work or school or to own a portable console to play on. These are now becoming regular activities and seem perfectly normal to us now but would not be 5 or 10 years ago.
• Gaming of course does have an effect on the audience. People stay inside to play on games and in some games like Second Life (see previous post) people actually live their lives by working, raising families, doing everyday activities on the internet in a 3D game form rather than experience their lives actually living instead of doing it in the form of a virtual them.
• Gaming therefore is not a hobby or something to do it is a way of life something that they are completlty devoted to at the launch of the new PS3 there were mile long queues of people waiting for the release it has almost become a religion for some in the audience that they are willing to live their lives virtually instead of in reality.

Area of Study 2: Institiutions

• ?

Area of study 1: Technology

• Gaming has undergone significant development in the last few years. Not only with new game consoles being introduced to the market but the new technology installed in them. For instance consoles are not just a one dimensional product that just plays games they now also play music, play DVDs and now can connect to network gaming online.
• Gaming is aimed mainly at a young male audience between the ages of 16-34 however it is now expanding with the type of games being introduced e.g. interactive online gaming is now tapping into the female audience which is widening the appeal of gaming.
• Gaming is a new media that is developing fast with the improvement of technology and the rate at which the industry is developing could lead to even more impressive and multi-compatible consoles in the future. The skys the limit for gaming.
• The market is genrally controlled by 3 major companies and there are currently 3 main consoles on the market. The companies are Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo who produces the PlayStation 3, X-box 360 and the Wii respectivly. However Nintendo and Sony are tapping into the portable consoles with Nintendo producing the DS and Sony the PSP.

Sony unveils a 3D MySpace with games

Sony unveils a 3D MySpace with games

• Ps3 can be used to connect online where people can meet and talk with other online gamers
• Development of consoles that they are no longer just about games that the ability to connect online is the future of consoles

Online Gaming

One of the most popular on-line games is 'Second Life'. This game is a virtual real world that almost 5.5million people currently play. People contol themselves in this virtual 3D world and live their lives building houses, going to work and even making money.
What is second life?
What is the world of Second Life?
Virtual land!
Finding friends!
Make real money!!

Second Life really is a world of its own and shows the development of online gaming as well as how strange some people can be!

Information on Major Games Consoles

Two's competition, three's a crowd
All three games console makers are fighting each other in what has become a very competitive market. The companies are targeting males in the 18-34 age group and are appealing to this audience with designed games. The gaming industry is now far more difficult to control and while Sony are favourites to win the market the Nintendo and 360 are fighting hard to make it a lot harder for Sony to have control of the market.

Articles on PS3

PlayStation 3 launched in UK
The sale of the Sony PlayStation 3 in shops in the UK for £425 with 220,000 consoles sold across the whole of the UK. Sony say that it is the best ever console to go on sale. There were also many problems with the console and the release of it had to be put back several times before the release.

Shops unlikely to sell out of PlayStation 3 at launch
Retailers feel they are unlikely to run out of the new PS3 console. 1 in 12 shops have sold out of the console. Sony say that the reason it was delayed so long is so that the retailers do not run out of stock.

Blogging the future?

Googlezon-The future of blogging? The Epic Movie states that Google and Amazon will join together to form Googlezon in 2008 to provide custom news for every user. There are a few matters to discuss in the 'future of blogging' The news we are given by computers.

1. The fact that computers are deciding what we receive as news is a concern. If a human is writing and providing the stories we understand their news agenda which a computer of course does not possess.
2. Is copyright defunct in the digital age? The fact that people already download music and videos illegally for their own benefit instead of paying mean that companies like Google cannot just copy articles from other sites and use their stories instead of writing their own.
3. The positive of Googlezon is that it gives a indepth comprehensive detail of the world in regards to new stories. However there is a negative side to this form of supplying news to every person in the world. The fact that they decide what people's interests are and they send them the news that they feel that they would be most interested in and therefore they would have a very nallow and shallow recieving of news.

Journalism

We're all reporters in the digital democracy

• The audience once passive is now making themselves heard in the democratisiation of media.
• Almost second nature to the audience when caught in news event to record is on digital equipment (e.g. 7/7).
• Always been audience reporting in local paper but now growing into national mainstream media like the guardian blogs.
• Mainstream media now has to incorporate the user-generated content into their own work.
• Fear that soon users will ask for payment for images
• Professional journalist can always be better in their reporting than audience journalism is no longer true with the growth of user-generated media.

Conclusion

Journalists are becoming under increasing threats now that the audience can now report just as well if not better than traditional journalists with the improved digital technology and are fast becoming heard in the mainstream media who fear being 'outdone' by the user-generated media.

Bloggers and Journalism

Writers who work for nothing: it's a licence to print money

• Images taken using a cameraphone is an example of user-generated content. e.g. train crash images sent via mobile phone network.
• After the 7/7 bombings there were too many areas needing coverage for the locations so images became available using cameraphones led to media understanding what user-generated media meant.
• Now world over blogging, photographing and making videos published on the web.
• In a year enough digital info was sent that in an equivalent set of books it would stretch for the earth to the sun.
• Prediction for 2010 is 70% of digital content will be user-generated.
• Cynics ask who will pay for the amount of bandwidth required to sustain the growin number of user-generated content on the web.
• Mainstream media is wising up to user-generated content and just require 'monetising it'.

Conclusion

The number of people using the internet for user-generated content is growing and the traditional mainstream media are sceptics asking who will pay for this while others are trying to 'monetise' the user-generated industry.

5 areas of study

Technology
What the technology allows audiences and institutions to do that they couldn’t do before.

Convergence – The process of multiple technologies being brought together to forma a new product.
Linear/Non-linear – Linear experiences are those that move in a straight line from start to finish.

Digitisation
Material can be reproduced perfectly by computer and be transported effectively across the internet

Institutions
Consider how media institutions are converging media interests to increase profits.

Interactivity - Is a two way communication and in the contexts of NMTs means content that is reactive to the audience's choices.

Audience
What are the audiences doing with their new media technologies? How are traditional experiences of the media changing? You will carry out audience research, asking opinions and investigating consumption patterns.
Personalisation – Ability to offer users a personalised experience. E.g. Sky+
Linear/Non-linear - Linear experiences are those that move in a straight line from start to finish.

Issues
Does the new media technology encourage illegal activity, or increased spending, or harm children? Will shops close or people lose jobs as a result of the media technology?

The future
If the technology is extended, what could happen? How could media practices be different in the future, based on the potential of current technologies?

Democratisation

The ability to communicate your opinions and ideas, or share your creaive output has never been easier thanks to new media technologies.

Set up

What a great blog this is!!