The raging debate on parent censorship in gaming

http://ezinearticles.com/?Stop-Blaming-Video-Games---What-Happened-To-Parental-Accountability?&id=501362This is a great article which gives view points on the role that gaming has in violence and obesity amongst gamers and society."As a parent or guardian, do you not have the power to turn off the console, take away the potato chips, and simply order your child to go outside and play???"Very good point"Too often in today’s society we want to push the blame elsewhere, and not accept personal responsibility for those things over which we can have a great deal, if not full, control. All this finger pointing may make us feel better about ourselves, but it does precious little to solve any real problems."What Tim Whiston is saying in this article is so very true. Ok we may want to blame other things and shift the blame elsewhere but people have got to take responsibility for themseleves and even thought people like finger point the main fact is that this finger pointing is not solving any problems and nothing will get done if society dint start acting upon it. Ok people may blame else where but parents then still let their children play games 4 hours on end. Public need to start thinking do they want their children turning into sumo's and axe waving maniacs, well if not then reduce gaming time and get outside and play. Take the game outside even at least kids will get fresh air.There have been steps by game manufacturers taken to reduce this violence and obesity even though i do not belive they are to blame for these issues.See Above

how is the gaming industry finding new ways of making money out of the audience?

• Online gaming such as "Second Life", as well as free interfaces such as the PS3's "Home" facility, has opened up a whole new world in which money can be made by practically anyone. In "Home", spaces are available for advertising for up-coming new releases of games and movies, through which the institution can make money beause this advertising space will be popular as it will reach its target audience of gamers straight away. A similar advertising service is available in "Second Life", but here there is also another way of making money. People have now begun to actually live their real life jobs through "Second Life". By purchasing houses and shops etc. in game, users are now selling and exchanging property and items for real money, and a comfortable living can be made out of it.

• Institutions are now selling us "home entertainment systems", not just games consoles, so more people will want to buy one. They are effectively aiming to create a machine which will be able to cater for all of the audience's technological needs, and have a number of customers who are currently loyal to their products so they know that they will be able to sell them when they finally develop the technology. They can then seriously jack up the prices of the games on the market because they know that they will sell to the millions of people who have bought this box which can do everything.

• Add-ons for games are becoming more and more popular, especially with the release of the new PS3, which has a Playstation Store in the main menu in which the user can purchase extra levels and chapters for games, extra characters, locations and weapons etc. For the core gamer who has bought the PS3 in the first place, this is the kind of service which they want, and they will buy into it as it will enable them to get the full experience out of the technology.

Limitation to convergence in the gaming industry

There are major problems with the copyright laws and licensing when companies in the gaming industry want to make a product that ‘does everything’. Also having less pieces of hardware in the house could cause conflicts of interest (when one person wants to use the gadget for one use and another wants to use it for a different reason, when if they were individual items there would be no problem). This is a quality website for general info on gaming. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/convergence/

Stats

Company Oct. 2004/Y-to-Y Change YTD 2004, Y-to-Y Change
Activision 166% 77%
Atari -13% -27%
Electronic Arts -4% 25%
Microsoft 19% 38%
Midway 522% 71%
Nintendo 38% 5%
Sony -48% -26%
Take-Two 586% 83%
THQ -39% -4%
Source: NDP Data and Piper Jaffrey Estimates
While Take-Two is enjoying the predicted spike from GTA: San Andreas this year, and its ESPN success, it remains unclear whether the publisher can execute a portfolio outside of the GTA franchise. Likewise, Midway's Mortal Kombat bump may be short-lived. Activision, on the other hand, demonstrates a solid rise in title quality and library depth. The small decline at EA sales in October is evidence of the downward pricing pressure from the ESPN challenge, while overall EA remains on a solid growth track. The jury is out on THQ, since many of its major releases are coming in November, but clearly the company has not succeeded in breaking from its reputation as a provider of second-rate licensed property. Spectrum Warrior was a noble try at establishing itself as a AAA publisher that made only a mild ripple

Virtual me

EA and Endemol have announced that they will be realing a game called virtual me mixing the ideas of big brother with games like the sims.It allows gamers to create an avatar and compete in games like deal or no deal, fame academy and 100s of others.

Case Study

1. Write a list of general terms related to NMT.
2. Write a list of key terminology related to your chosen technology.
3. From your blog, select 10 statements (stats, quotations) that you have found during your research which relate to debates on audiences' changing experiences, institutions response to technology, the future etc. NAME ANY SOURCES

Interactivity – encourages the audience to be less passive and to engage with the media rather than just consuming e.g. red button on Sky. NOTE: non linear experience.

Democratisation – the ability to communicate your opinions and ideas, or share your creative output e.g. blogging.

Personalisation – the ability to offer users a personalised experience e.g. Sky+ allows users to pause live television and record their favourite programmes.

Convergence - The process in which multiple technologies form together to form a new product i.e. VCR/DVD/CD players.

Digitisation - the material, whether picture, text or film can be reproduced by computers digitally in a very long sequence of 0's and 1's. This means the information can be sent digitally through computerised systems, for instance Sky+, and becase the square wave can only be a 0 or a 1, no where in between, there is barely any interference.

Linear/Non Linear - a linear experience is one that starts, goes in a straight line until it finishes e.g. a film at the cinema, you start watching at the start of the film and stop watching at the end of the film. Non linear is different, when someone uses interactive television, they can choose a variety of different extras e.g. alternative voiceover, extra video footage or explanitory text. this will give the viewer a unique experience to that narrative, and is controlled when they hit the red button. This experience then can be described as non linear.

2. MMORP - Mass multiplayer online role playing game.

2b

The internet is used by all different types of media in an attempt to maintain their profits. Newspapers and magazines all now have additional websites in conjunction with their high-street products in order to try and maintain and increase their audiences. An example could be the Guardian which has its own website where all the articles in the paper can be found and searched on the webpage and there are also stories exclusive to the internet. Audiences would be attracted by the different ways to keep up-to-date with the news which are only available on the internet.Television is also available on demand online. An example could be channel E4 which has recently lanuched 4OD, television on demand where users can watch a programme they missed whenever they want up to a week after it was aired. Moreover, audiences can use online technology for more uses than a television can offer and a wider variety and personal preference. Internet users are able to watch films, music videos, documentaries and sketches on the Internet. Also in order to match the demands of their audience, television shows and music artists also have their own websites and information pages so they can keep fans interested and gain a strong following.The impact of blogging is also evident aas they allow anyone to write and publish anything they want and other internet users can view them and make comments. Overall it is clear that broadband has democratised the media world and gives audiences a choice of what they can do. In addition to this, it is likely that the internet will gain dominance of many markets in terms of shopping and researching for products in the near future.