Video Games

Tuesday 5th November 2024

In 2024 global market revenue for games was 187.7 billion US dollars.

1970's - Space invaders was created in 1978. Caused a shortage of 100 yen coins. A games where you attacked aliens. Within a year 60,000 space invaders were sold.

1980's - In 1981 Nintendo created donkey kong. Mario was first shown. Became world famous. Characters must get past donkey kong and to the top. 

• Graphics
• Far more realistic and quicker
• Differences in consoles

1. PlayStation, Xbox, Pc, Phones, Laptops and Ipads

2. Easier to access and a lot cheaper.

3. It would've increased

4. Adverts, in game purchases.

5. Mixed with real life like includes elements of real life. 

Friday 8th November 2024

Do now:

1. Graphics and speed  

2. An interactive technology that combines the real world with computer generated content. 

3. Through multiplayer

4. Relating to a character or situation; aspiring to be like a character

5. Entertainment

Case Study: Fortnite

LO: To research the case study and explore the context of video games.

1. Epic games

2. 7 years

3. Over 26 billion

4. Rocket racing, save the world, battle royale and lego Fortnite

5. The players go into a battle royale full of 100 players and they have to fight until one is left

6. Battle royale

7. On twitch, TikTok, youtube and kick

8. Multiplayer and cross-platform  

9. Promotion, other players making content and just because it was a fun game back in the day

10. Entertainment, social interaction, personal identity

Epic Games:

• Created by Tim Sweeney
• They used an operating system called unreal engine to design Fortnite
• In 2014 the Guinness book of records named unreal engine the most successful video engine
• Tencent bought a 42% stake in epic in 2012 

Exploring context:

Do violent video games make people more violent?    

Worries about addiction occur and the certain amount of screen time that is healthy for the human body. 

Tuesday 12th November 2024

Do now:

1. Epic games

2. Battle royale

3. Unreal engine

4. A moral panic is widespread feeling of fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society

5. The act of controlling something

Regulation

LO: To explore how video games are regulated.

PEGI 3

• Suitable for all ages, and should not contain anything that might frighten young children 

   
• PEGI 7

  Suitable for young children, and may contain some frightening scenes or sounds, or mild, non-realistic violence 

   
• PEGI 12

  Suitable for children aged 12 and over, and may contain violence towards fantasy characters, non-realistic violence towards human-like characters, sexual innuendo or posturing, and mild bad language 

   
• PEGI 16

  Suitable for children aged 16 and over, and may contain violence or sex that looks realistic, or erotic nudity or sexual intercourse without visible genitals 

   
• PEGI 18

  Only suitable for adults, and may contain gross violence, apparently motiveless killing, or violence towards defenceless characters, or explicit sexual activity 

Fortnite has a PEGI rating of 12 as it has frequent scenes of mild violence.

The Fortnite video game industry is regulated by PEGI. The different rating are aged 3, aged 7, aged 12, aged 16 and aged 18. Fortnite's PEGI rating is 12 and this is due to the games frequent scenes of mild violence.

In the UK the GRA (games rating authority) rates games and uses the PEGI systems to rate them.

Technology:

One of the things to make the game so popular is the ability access the game from many different consoles and devices. Fortnite is a good example of a cross media convergence. Fortnite is the most viewed game on youtube and also has many other streaming platforms like twitch to broadcast live competitions. 

Cross media convergence - Appears on multiple social media platforms 

Technological convergence - Being able to access the game across many different platforms

Fortnite collaborations:

Star Wars, Dragon ball, Nike, Ralph Lauren and LEGO.

Synergy:

In collaboration with Marvel studios, there was special avengers infinity war segment and a tie in with Godzilla. Epic games have a good relationship with a various number of non-gaming celebrities such as Drake and basketball star Ben Simmons. 

Dyer star theory:

Star theory refers to the idea that celebrities are commodities manufactured by institutions. Dyer believes that celebrities are constructed to represent real people experiencing real emotions in order to relate to audiences. 

Convergence benefits the Fortnite brand because it is very easy to access as it is free and can be played on all devices. This benefits them as it means they can have a larger playing audience which means more money. Another reason is that is appears all over many social media platforms and is the most viewed game on youtube ever. This benefits Epic games as it shows everyone the game and entices players who don't currently play the game, to play the game. The last reason is that these content pages get used by Epic games broadcast live games of the best players going head to head. This will benefit the as people will watch which will give the company money and entice people to the game as well. Synergy benefits Fortnite's brand as many people who see the famous celebrities being put into the game may not have played before but now that they are in the game it may entice fans to play. It also brings money along with it as they put the skins and accessories into the item shop and the people who play the game will buy it if they like the celebrity. Anther reason why synergy is good for Fortnite is because it will create the celebrity a larger fanbase like Eminem which will entice Fortnite players to go listen to his music and also it will intrigue other celebrities to collaborate with them. 

Band 3 (9 marks)

WWW: Accurate knowledge of synergy and convergence and good references to Fortnite.

EBI: Better use of media terminology to boost my answer.

Friday 15th November 2024

Do now:

1. Synergy

2. The process of combining different technologies into a single unit to create new products or offerings

3. PEGI

4. Games rating authority

5 The act of controlling something 

How do video games make money

LO: To explore how the gaming industry is funded.

• Selling the game 
• In game purchases
• Collaborations with brands/ companies which will promote their stuff to the games players
• Adverts
• Microtransactions 
• Exclusive offers
• Subscriptions
• Merchandise

How does Fortnite make money:

• In game purchases
• Merchandise sales
• Fortnite crew subscriptions
• Engagement payouts
• Support a creator programme
• Microtransactions
• Collaborations

The launch and success of Fortnite

• The promotional campaign targeted existing gamers
• The campaign reached 150 millions users across different gaming sites
• It had a cinematic trailer - they had one to entice more people to pay the game using the trailer as its different to other games and they make it look very fun. Shows its a shooting game but its a 12 although parents were happy to let children play as there was no graphical violence.
• 10 million players in the first two weeks from its launch
• It is still very successful

Why so successful?

• 650 million registered players
• Generates 5.5 billion us dollars annually
• 30 million daily users on average per day in 2024

Collaborations:

• One factor in its success is the integration of characters from other successful franchises
• For example the avengers infinity gauntlet limited time mode generated 1.2 million mention on social media in the first two days
• This buzz raised awareness of the game amongst audience who are not existing gamers

Cobra Kai and Stranger Things are two examples of tv shows/ movies that fortnite have collaborated with.

Esports and events:

• The fortnite world cup. was first held in 2019 and all the attention was laid on it.
• Epic now employs many professional gamers to keep the game at the forefront of the online conversation
• Celebrity players also help raise the profile of the game
• Fortnite has also hosted a lot of event like festival and in game concerts 

Bugha won the fortnite 2019 world cup

Snoop dog recently collaborated with Fortnite

Fortnite Rift Tour:

• Likely to bring in Ariana Grande fans to play the game and watch her tour on the game
• They were showing her shows in the game 
• They used teaser trailers, posts on twitter and more socials
• There were rift tour rewards from quests
• In game purchases like the Ariana Grande costume and emotes
• News item on the website explaining how to play 

Tuesday 19th November

Do now:

1. In game purchases and collaborations

2. Money and new players

3. Snoop dog and ice spice

4. Adverts and social media posts

5. Uses and gratifications are personal identity, entertainment, social interaction and information.

Audiences 

LO: To explore the appeal of video games and how the industry targets different audiences.

1. Features of the game

2. All of the game modes and new items out in the item shops including new events in the future

3. Ice spice, snoop dog, ninja

4. Battle royale, ranked and rocket racing

5. They can sign in and have an account, play games and buy stuff

6. Show off more aspects of the game

• Bright, animated graphics
• Use of imperatives and exclamations
• Range of posts and highlights
• Some posts further address the audience by dressing them in role

The target audience demographic is 78% male, 22% female, 53%are 10-25, and 42% are under full employment.

• Unrealistic violence and cartoon style graphics, along with the emphasis on construction as much as killing 
• The rise of esports lead many people to become celebrities
• Role models for audiences
• Rumours and gossip for future seasons and hype

Applying audience theory:

• They mainly work on the idea that audiences can be active or passive 
• Active audience - is an audience that engages with media messages by interpreting, evaluating and responding to them.
• Passive audience - is an audience that accepts media messages without question and is more likely to affect them 

Fortnite audiences are active by playing the game as they are deciding what they are doing so you cannot play a video game and not be active and cannot be passive. Creative is a different format that allows even more creativity as you can design skins, emotes and landscapes. 

Entertainment as it is a fun fast paced game against others so it can be entertaining

Social identity as you can play with your friends and against other players. 

Friday 22nd November 2024

Do now:

1. Bright animated graphics, imperatives, all new features highlighted and merchandise

2. More males, half 10-25, half older

3. Emphasis on construction and killing 

4. Passive

5. Personal identity

Video games exam preparation:

LO: To explore the possible exam questions for video games.   

Industry:

Audience: