BA7 - CS

For all my work i mainly used a reflective journal/note book to write down and explore ideas - this most definitely being the case for Contextual Studies.  So i have scanned the pages i have used for exploring ideas for my work.  As well as researching and completing my Research Report, i frequently sent my work to my tutors and got feedback to work from.  Hopefully you can read whats on the scans, but i will explain whats happening with ideas, thought process and decisions made.

The first post i have done!  I was not sure what topic to write about and at the early stages.  I started off thinking about writing about either 'The Brain on Games' or about 'Human and Non-Human Companions in Games'.  I decided to choose 'Human and Non-Human Companions in Games.', so i went and bullet pointed the main aspects of the subject i wanted to explore.  I chose that topic because it was easier to try and achieve than the other one and it also relates closer to my Studio Work.

Continuing my research for 'Human and Non-Human Companions in Games', i was curious as to the psychology of companionship in both human and non-human relationships.  So i started by gathering some information by reading a book called Psychology: The Science of the Mind and Behavior by Richard Gross.  I went ahead and made notes!

I completed 250 word plan of what i waned to do for the 'Human and Non-Human Companions in Games' topic, but then soon scrapped it.  I wasn't completely settled on that topic to write about; i felt like it wouldn't work out.  So, i changed my topic!  After researching ideas for my Studio Work, i came up with the topic 'Symbolism in Games'.  Here i went ahead and explored the idea, noting down games that use symbolism in its game design and story.

Here, i am roughly structuring and planning out the topic to see if it would work and if i was settled on it.

I then went to the University Library to do some research.  I went ahead and noted down some books that could be useful.  Only 2 were which are circled.  I went ahead and read as much as i could of the two books and with the use of sticky notes, marked on the book possible quotes i could use.

Here i finally structure a more finalized frame work of the Research Report before writing a 250 word plan.  I then went on to write a number of drafts and worked on the feedback i got given, as well as finding more research for my Research Report.

BA6 - Silent Hill 2

Analyzing Silent Hill 2

The Silent hill franchise was published by Konami, Silent hill 2 being released in 2006 on the PS2.  Silent Hill 2 is a survival horror game that is disturbing, gory, uncomfortable, scary and puzzling to play, view and hear.   You begin to discover the plot and pretext to the story as it unfolds, but as there is much symbolism in the game that is rather unclear to you, a lot of the game is up to interpretation.


Entertainment

Silent Hill 2 is certainly entertaining, even though you are on the edge most of the time.  Nothing is handed to you in the game of how to play, where to go or how to do things. So, there is pressure on you to figure out where to go and what to do which can be frustrating - especially at the beginning when you enter Silent Hill.  At the beginning,  there is some narrative that gives you an understanding of your character James, a little pretext and your objective.  Your dead wife sends you a letter, so you go to Silent Hill to try to find her. The music already sets in and immediately sets the tone for everything you do.  At the very start when you are in the toilets, there is this eerie, dark, mysterious music playing when James talks to himself.  You then go outside and he starts to talk about the letter from his dead wife, where the music changes into a happier, thoughtful tune.  This only lasts for that section of dialogue as he reminisces on his marriage and his late wife.  The music goes back to the first dark, eerie piece of music.  Through out, the music changes and even stops to match with whats happening and what tone the creators wanted to set - everything about this game is atmospheric and to enforce a certain unnatural, dark and disturbing feeling.  Through the game there are various monsters which do seem to be disturbing manifestations of the real world. For example, the first creature you confront which is in the street resembles that of a dead human corpse.  In the street there are a couple of dead bodies, and the monsters could resemble people normally walking around a bustling town.  Another example is when you enter the first apartment building of the game and you first gain your flashlight, there is a creature there that had legs for both top half and bottom half of the body.  In that room, it appears to be a sewing room where there are deconstructed mannequins resembling the construction of the creature.

Ethics

There are moral principles and ideas given in the game, about committing various drastic and violent actions, their effect on the individual carrying out the actions and the players own personal feelings towards the individual.  For example, Angela killed her father after years of abuse from him.  Her guilt from what she has done, this part of her psyche manifests itself into a monster. The player can sympathies with Angela and feel that her action for killing her father was justified.  Whist others can say she still killed someone so she deserves to be tormented.  Another example is Eddie.  He was verbally abused all his life for his size and eventually killed a dog and shot the owner of the dog in the leg.  He then went to Silent Hill to escape, but in Silent Hill he has killed some people and has clearly snapped; Eddie refuses anyone to mock him again and becomes hostile.  Players could sympathies  saying he is mentally unwell and he was bullied all his life.  Whilst other players could say he has snapped and killed innocent people; he has become a monster himself.  Throughout the game, and finally realizing what James has done, it is the players individual moral perception of what is right, what is wrong and what is justified.

Social Responsibility

As the player, you can act independently and not have your decisions in the game influenced by authorization and society.  You explore the town and you choose where you want to go - where there are multiple paths to choose and places to investigate.  You can then go on to make your own decision about the situation with the information you gather that is not influenced by external factors in the game world.

Realism

As it is a PS2 game the graphics are not hugely high and realistic looking, but its as realistic as it can be - it is not cartoony or stylized. The human figures are meant to resemble real humans, the buildings to resemble real looking buildings, cars to resemble actual cars etc.  The only things that are not realistic are the monsters and the Otherworld.  The monsters in the game do not exist in the real world, nor does the Otherworld.


Social Realism

There aren't any statements, influences or points to class, society or any political agenda for you to relate to or question.  The main story has a lot of symbolism about the natural human mind and the idea of physical manifestation of the psyche, which has nothing to do with society (real world or game world).

BA6 - CS work

I know know what to write for my CS essay! And the title is- Dear Esther and Silent Hill 2: Looking at two different games to see how they portray elements of the human psyche.

I will be looking at Dear Esther and Silent Hill 2, giving my own analysis of the games, then comparing and contrasting their features paying close attention to how the game affects the player.  The two games are very different, but both very interesting.  It is a 2000 word essay but i have already got 1/4 done with the work i have previously done on Dear Esther (which is in a previous post)  so hopefully it shouldn't take too long to do!

BA6 - CS Dear Esther

Analyzing Dear Esther

Dear Esther was originally a Half-life 2 mod and is now a fully fledged game.  It is a first person mystery, ghost story game created by thechineseroom.

http://dear-esther.com/?page_id=2

This is a game that adapts existing mechanics (Half-life 2) for new purposes (Dear Esther).

Entertainment

The game is entertaining as you are exploring both the world and the narrative story.  At the beginning  you are trying to piece together what is happening - starting with where you are; you have no idea where you are, why you're there or exactly how you got there. Although it is indicated as there is a boat behind you when you start off.  You try to work out whether the narrative are letters or pieces of information to you from someone you know or if you are recalling your own memories, as each "entry starts with 'Dear Esther' and parts of the narrative are given out at specific times relating to the action you are doing e.g. climbing up the slope to the house in chapter 1 and gazing into the giant hole in chapter 2.  You also don't fully know what the narrative is on about or relating to as you know nothing about who is talking, yourself or anything prior to this situation.  Throughout exploring the island, you come across chemical and alchemy symbols as well as objects like ultra sound photos, medical equipment etc that make no/little sense to you and the narrative does not help to explain it either.  You are forced to piece everything together; both what you see/find and the narrative.  Mystery is the big key, the big mechanic here and it is the reason why you keep playing, to unfold the story.  It is the mystery that is the main entertainment factor in this game.

Ethics

There are no moral principles or ideas given in the game.  There is nothing going for or against ethics in the game as society and its themes/aspects are not involved in this game.  The themes in this game are impartial.

Social Responsibility

As the player, you can act independently and not have your decisions in the game influenced by authorization and society.  You explore the island and you choose where you want to go - where there are multiple paths to choose and places to investigate.  You can then go on to make your own decision about the situation with the information you gather that is not influenced by external factors in the game world.

Realism

Visually it is realistic; a realistic island off the English channel.  It is also seemingly realistic as you venture around the island and discover new pieces of information.  There are little things leading up to the end that are not realistic e.g. when you walk into the water there are no splashes or ripples from your interaction with the water, and you can not hear or see your footsteps in the ground or sand when you walk.  Also, sometimes you think you will see a figure of man standing in certain areas and then the figure will disappear.  The topics and information discussed from the narrative are also realistic, even if it makes little sense up until the end.  The ending is unrealistic after you jump off of the tower.

Social Realism

There aren't any statements, influences or points to class, society or any political agenda for you to relate to or question.  The story is about a dying mans last actions and his feeling and experiences which is not related to the game world and real worlds society in any way.  It is more about having information that is impartial that is presented to the player for them to experience and to have their own view of the situation and experience they are having.

BA6 - START

So it is the beginning of BA6 and over the holidays i will wok hard to get as much done as possible when we return.  Here is a copy of my learning agreement with my plans on what i want to do! :

I am interested in creating stories and in-depth worlds using 2D concept to illustrate my ideas.  It has a supernatural medieval setting and has primarily an action/adventure theme to it.

I want to produce 2D concept work for this such as character designs, buildings, environments and creatures. I will also produce a written summary about my idea, its themes, structure and how I want it to effect the player/reader.

My basic story idea is that when out hunting a girls mother and sister were brutally murdered in their home. With her father and their wolves, she travels north to a giant forest known for its stories of supernatural and evil to find the ones that killed their family.  But in the forest they are attacked by something unknown.  She is knocked out and wakes up to find her father and one of the wolves dead.  She and the remaining wolf now have powers.  As they journey out of the forest they go to find the meaning of their power and families death.  They discover an ancient evil has awoken, an old God that wants to destroy all living things on their world.  So she journeys with her wolf across the land stopping this ancient evil, learning about the old Gods, discovering the meaning behind her power and her family’s death.

My main theme for this idea is about sacrifice.  I am personally very interested in topics, themes and ideas that makes the audience think and question both what they are playing/reading/watching and about their own lives and question of judgement.  In my story/idea there are many points to and about sacrifice and I want to explore all kinds of sacrifice; the ones you make or that others make for you, for the greater good, for yourself or for someone else, big sacrifices, small sacrifices, sacrificing life and sacrificing material goods.

My starting points and direction of investigation for this is to start by looking at all media to see what relates to my idea  and to see how they effectively worked with the narrative and/or visuals to get the story, ideas and feelings across and to start writing and developing my ideas on paper (both narrative and conceptual).  I will research into areas that will give my story a solid, believable and relatable base to work from for the supernatural side of the story such as folk tales, religion, myths and legends.

here is a calender of my plans for this project! its not very full or detailed but through out the project it will be!

We have also been given some contextual studies work to do over the holidays.  We are looking at Advanced game studies and research, looking into entertainment, ethics, social responsibility  realism and social realisim in games.  Also, we made some points to forming our final essay - we need a coherent argument throughout convincing argument demonstrating own reading add rhetoric questions => 

• know your audience
• using arguing devices that you know may appeal
• present your argument in  convincing light: use 'evidence'
• appear to be evenhanded, whilst skewing the content to your purpose 

Analyse : Separate something into its constitute parts; examine it methodically and in detail for purposes of explanation and interpretation.

BA5 - cs presentation

''Research the relationship between technological change and industry change. Choose two examples of important innovations that have changed the way that games are developed and marketed and research them. Record your research on your blog, so that you can present and discuss it during the session.''

This is my task for a 5 minute presentation for Contextual Studies. So, an important technological change for how games are marketed and developed are technological advances in video and for industry change is that games and game platforms are more easily and readily available/distributed.

With the technological advances for video, it has become increasingly easier to view, distribute and share videos of trailers and adverts on the internet.  Not only that, but the quality of the the image quality has also improved greatly.
For industry change, the availability of games and game consoles are extensive as the majority of people own laptops, smart phone/pad. Also, with the fact that many people have internet connection, along with the smart phones/ pad and/or laptop people can have a solid gaming platform along with portable gaming library.

I am concentrating on the marketing aspect of the industry and i will relate video technology and game distribution to that.  The two points i am looking at are also linked together.

With technological advancement in video, we can stream, view and share videos so easily on the web.  With games, we can view videos on a video hosting services (the biggest being Youtube) or on the game/company website.  According to comScore, in December 2010, 178 million people watched 33.2 billion videos, with the average viewer watching 187 videos per month in the U.S. 

Some stats about Youtube:
exceeds 2 billion views a day
24 hours worth of videos are uploaded every minute
hundreds of millions of videos are watched on mobile devices every month
partner ad revenue tripled in 2009
number of advertisers using display ads has increased 10-fold in the past year


For changes in gaming distribution,  there are new ways for people to play, find and buy games.  Media mobiles or smartphones are now proper gaming platforms and bring games to wider audience. Top ten bestselling apps for iPhone in 2010 were all games. Smartphones became real gaming platform due to better interfaces and more computing power.  Digital delivery has changed how games are played. Digitally delivered games have surpassed traditional sales. More people find the convenience of accessing their game library anywhere with internet-connection, and with less or no copy protection trouble, to be more important than having a physical product.

The way that these two are link is that, videos and ads are put onto the internet. They are viewed on either a pc, laptop, smart phone or pad. They can be shared via emails or social networking sites and viewed on video hosting sites or gaming/company websites.  The increase in sales of laptops and smart phones/pads and the increase in broadband connections, the increase in views of videos and adverts and the way they are shared.

http://www.website-monitoring.com/blog/2010/05/17/youtube-facts-and-figures-history-statistics/
http://blog.neolane.com/conversational-marketing/10-marketing-innovations/

BA5 Contextual Studies - My Idea

For Contextual studies I am going to look at marketing and advertising in games; how the adverts of games have changed over the past 20 years and why they have changed from the public's view of games and their increase in popularity. When we return from our break, we have to do a 5 minute presentation of our topic and a time line. For submission, we have to produce a 2,000 word essay that can be written as a technical report, a reflective report, an industry report or a journalistic piece.

So far, finding  time line of adverts for the past 20 years is proving a little difficult as i am searching through the internet trying to find these adverts. So far so good, as i have found a few.  Not only will i have to research images of adverts, but i will also have to research into a history of marketing/advertising and possibly psychology.  I need to find out all the possibilities of why adverts look they way they do from their time period, technology, the public's view on games and their popularity. I fear finding research for this will be much more tricky!

Here is my 20 years of adverts. From 1992 to 2012.

1992 Spellbound Adapter

1993 Lets Rumble

1994 Rage

1995 Wrestle Mania

1996 Back Dawn

1997 Resident Evil Director's Cut 

1998 CarnEvil

1999 Gauntlet Dark Legacy

2000 Alien Resurrection

2001 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

2002 WWE: Raw is War

2003 The King Of Fighters 2003

2004 Blood Rayne 2

2005 Extreme Hunting

2006 Elder Scrolls IV:  Oblivion

2007 Wii Advert

2008 Star Wars the Clone Wars

2009 Scrabble 2009 Edition

2010 Luchalibre Heroes Del Ring

2011 Skyrim

2012 Assassin's Creed 3

TIMELINE

When researching...

When researching for these adverts, i surprisingly found a good amount to start off with at 1992.  But moving forward down the timeline, getting closer to the present date i found it extremely hard to find any adverts.  I believe that this is down to technology which i will go on to explain. It can also explain how the composition of the adverts.  The technology is not only about the technological advance of consoles and the games themselves, but the technology used in which adverts and information is distributed.  It's increase in popularity and acceptance into popular culture and modern society also explains these points.

Visuals

90's adverts visuals

Visually the 90's adverts would tend to feature real people or characters.  The adverts are mainly for arcade games and would physically show the machine as part of the advertising.  They would also follow an arcade "theme"/"style" aesthetically. Resident Evil and Black Dawn are the only adverts to give an almost cinematic feel.  Screen shots of in game play are featured in most of them. 

00's adverts visuals

The early 00's and late 00's feature visually different adverts showing the evolution of and sophistication of games. In the early 00's, they still feature screen shots of the games. Arcade games are now not as prominent in this era. There are no real people or characters in the adverts apart from Tony Hawk. Alien shows a cinematic look to their advert.  The late 00's feature a more futuristic, clean, modern look to their adverts and are also more cinematic compared to the previous adverts. In game screen shots are less likely in the adverts.

10's adverts

Much more cinematic look and feel to the adverts.  They are now looking more like film adverts than game adverts. Game screen shots are much less likely to appear in the adverts.

technology & cultural popularity

90s

Arcade games were prominent with the feature of home consoles moving forward.
Some popularity, seen as a childish thing.

00's

Arcade games losing their popularity as home consoles take over.  Handheld portable consoles debut and gain popularity in the early 00's. Next gen consoles feature as the xbox (2001) and ps2 (2000) take over home consoles. The Wii features in late 00's and gains mass popularity with its new technology. Xbox 360 debuted in 2005 and the PS3 debuted in 2006, the next gen consoles.
From 2000 to 2009 the increase in game popularity has been great. Games were seen as childish but have been pushed forward into pop culture mixing with other sub cutures such as cinema, art, comics and music.  Games were finding their place among the art world.

10's
With the WiiU out and the Xbox 720 and PS4 coming out, there will be much more technical advances.
Games are very popular and are a definite part of pop culture, with games work being accredited by award ceremonies such as the BAFTAs.

the effects unto advertising and marketing

The images above show mainly advert pages from magazines. in the 90's it was the best way to advertise games as many children read comics and magazines, but was not widely accepted among society and pop culture enough to get wide spread advertising. Although, some games did have adverts on the tv.
It was in 1995 that the Internet was commercialized which then brought a new wave of potential advertising. Not only could adverts be posted on the internet for people to see, but they would be discussed on blogs etc increasing the name and discussion of games and companies.
Moving into the 00's, games are now widely advertised on the tv and on the internet as videos. The internet also allows you to now go to the games website and get information on a game, get downloadable content an buy games online. Games are now being openly advertised on the streets at bus stops, on the sides of buses  on billboards etc.  with the development of smart phones and portable devices such as the ipad, accessing the audience and accessing games has never been easier.
Going on into the 10's, with technology constantly moving forward there will be more and new ways to advertise games and to reach larger audiences.

CS presentation image links

just links to all the images used in my presentation

http://i1.cdnds.net/12/25/618x552/1567skylanders-giants_tree-rex.jpg
http://oneofswords.com/images/skylanders_toy_spyro.jpg
http://ohrheally.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/skylanders_spyro_adventure.jpeg
http://www.gamesniped.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Skylanders-Skylander-Giants-Ultimate-36-Character-Bundle.jpg
http://oneofswords.com/images/skylanders_all.jpg
http://www.game-boyz.com/content/files/Skylander%20Portal%20and%20Figs.jpg
http://bulk.destructoid.com/ul/221299-preview-giants-come-to-skylanders-in-a-big-way/Skylanders%20Giants%20-%20Alchemist%20transformed-620x.jpg
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/media/28037/4/1.jpg
http://www.askaboutgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/skylanders_blog.jpg
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110606141529/spyro/images/thumb/2/22/Kaos.jpg/280px-Kaos.jpg
http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/shut-up-and-take-my-money.jpg
http://media.chrismartenson.com/images/manipulation-teaser.jpg
http://halo.bungie.org/misc/weta_statues/lg/02_MCGrunts.jpg
http://img.game.co.uk/_images/widgets/game_widget_Dishonored.jpg
http://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/stg.ign.com/2012/06/wonderbook1-610x345.jpg
http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/activision/spyro/skylanders/spyrtoy356-610.jpg
http://images.seekyt.com/uploads/1341784439_pokemon-cards.jpg
http://images.whereilive.com.au/images/uploads/2009/05/20/fc8fcac1232421d0cd267875a8c37067_resized.jpg
http://blog.beruby.com/uk/files/2010/11/Earn-money.jpg
http://www.toysnjoys.com/kirby/cupid.jpg
http://img.nobodybuy.com/2008/08/02/belinawang/0x0_p402765/bleach-action-figures-anime-figure.jpg
http://leviathyn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Shame-with-Nun.jpg
http://www.aimlesslychasing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/exploitation.jpg

the back ground is my own.

CS - Presentation, what im going to say

Trans-media and manipulation in games: to the next level?

I had a bit of a "revelation" when it came to thinking of a question to look at for this project.


Because there is no set question for this module i found it hard to think of an idea.  I felt quite lost.  My group had a one to one with Kim and it was then i told her about my struggle.  I told her some of my ideas that had sparked up but that i wasn't sure as to what i would talk about exactly.  I mentioned talking about something to do with trans-media with Pixar.  She said that there was some sort of manipulation of children  where they get them to buy all these toys related to the films and franchise, games included.  I though that this was a potentially interesting topic.  I decided to let it simmer in my head thinking about what i could talk about.

The next day i went out shopping and i was in Game, looking at games and comparing prices as i always do.  I saw that the game Dishonored was now £29.99.  It was cheaper than it was before but i decided not to buy it, until i saw that there was a Dishonored Special Edition that included an Arcane Assassin pack for in-game play and a Tarot/Card Deck set for the exact same price!  So i decided to buy it.  As i was queuing up to pay for it, i looked over and saw the game Spyro : Skylanders, which is made by Activision.  The way that Spyro : Skylanders works is that the characters you choose to play in game are actually physical figurines.  When you buy the game you also get a starter set of characters and a platform.  You have a wireless platform that you link up to the console and when you want to choose your character or change characters you take the figure of the character, place it on the platform and your character appears on screen.  You don't need all the characters to complete the game, but for the hardcore gamer who likes fully completing games, there are so many of them (32 in fact)  that in order to fully complete the game and acquire all the characters it would cost you in the £200 region as the figures range from £8-£18.  I saw this and i thought to myself "Hey, that's a type of manipulation isn't it? that would fit into my project nicely!"  But then, i looked down and saw what i was buying and i saw that i was a sucker as well, i had been manipulated at that very moment in time to buy this game because of the extras! I looked around the shop and saw all these toys, tee shirts and accessories and i thought to myself, "Oh God, it's everywhere! We are all being manipulated! Whether you're a child or an adult, you're being manipulated to a certain extent."

The questions im going to look at for this are: are we more likely to buy something because of its extra content and if so, why is that? Are Activision exposing and manipulating children in Skylanders? Is this all just clever marketing? And are the cross over of physical and digital going to become bigger in the future?

I am only focusing on the mechanic of the platform and statues in Skylanders.  Not the game as a whole.

i went ahead and decided to see what game reviewers and columnists had to say about Skylanders.  The first article is on The Escapist Magazine website.  Skylanders: Contempt yet Evil by Invadergrey.  He talked about the game as a whole and then expressed his opinion on the cost of everything.  He said he enjoyed the game but the price of everything makes him dislike the game as a whole.

He talked about the total running cost of the game, buying all the statues and then said:

"This is a transparent and disgusting exploitation of the children of those with disposable income ..... The promotions encourage collection of as many different Skylanders as possible, a certain in-game collectible gives you previews of other Skylanders, and all of the boss fights include brawls with other Skylanders, showcasing their abilities. Skylanders is nothing more than a marketing ploy, which is a shame because balance issues aside, it's not a bad game at all."

"I guess you could say the system beat me. It's mainly because I remember a time when I did something like that with a game called Pokemon, only back then, all you had to do was buy two versions of the same game."

I then read another article from the Official Nintendo Magazine website.  The Hidden Costs Of Skylanders by Chris Scullion.  He primarily talked about the cost of the game as opposed talking about the game as a whole in-depth.

"it may encourage other publishers to go down the same route. Imagine a Pokémon game where instead of catching them all, you had to spend a couple of quid on a toy to unlock them? Would you want all 500+ then?"

"I'm fine with that if the bonus level is an additional extra over and above the full game. But blocking out the ability to see every area in the main adventure until you buy at least another five figures, and then asking you to buy another 24 figures to 100% it? Shameful, in my opinion."

A more balanced article aimed at parents is from the Hub Pages website. Skylanders review for parents : the good and the bad by abizzy, who weighed up the good and bad aspects of the game as a whole.

"I understand that parents have been asked to fork out for various collectibles over the years but I feel that the inability to continue a game for any length of time with the original characters is pushing it too far.....However , I cannot help having a begrudging respect for the creators of the game and an envy of the profits the company must be making!"

"Good : an absorbing and enjoyable video game with the added attraction of tangible, collectible figures.

Bad : the necessity to add to the expense incurred is instant and ongoing"

I decided to conduct my own investigation into the thoughts of this mechanic by interviewing gamers, non gamers and parents - i wanted a fair view on people who would be buying them for children  people who knew a lot bout games and those who didn't. I showed them all three videos; the official Skylanders trailer, a video demonstrating the mechanic of the platform and statues, and a video by IGN talking about the total cost of the game. I then asked them a few questions after.
I showed them the first two videos first and this is what they had to say:

non-gamers: "It's clever, cool and you get a toy as well as a game"
"Better to play with figures and expand imagination"
"It's social, able to take the figures with you to your friends house"
gamers:" It's a good mechanic and seems to have good replay ability. It's different"
"It has a novelty approach to gaming"
"It has an increased market ability as its appealing to collectors and to people who like figurines/statues."
parent: "If i were a child id like it"
"The platform portal thing is amazing! It's really clever!"

This is what they said after seeing the third video:

non-gamers: "Ridiculous money"
"Rip off - you have already payed for the game and you have to keep buying add-ons"
"It's a good way to make money"
gamers: "They are making a DLC into a physical thing"
"It must be expensive, if its for kids the price of things always bump up"
parent: "It is unforgivable and wrong the prices they charge"
"Puts you off the game"
"I feel blackmailed"

Here are some of the questions i then went on to ask them:

"Do you think this game is successful? and why"

non-gamers: "No, it's too expencive!"
gamers: "Yes, It's easily accessible and seems to have a high replay ability"
parents: "I guess i would buy it for my child because it would make them happy but no i don't think so. It's expensive!"

- only the gamers said yes but Skylanders is actually a sell out in America and is so successful that they are bringing out a sequel  Skylanders: Giants.

"Is this manipulating children? and why"

non-gamers: "No - I don't know, because parents are the ones who have to buy it"
gamers: "Yeah but only by the same amount as other game/toy companies.  They are marrying two things together, physical collectibles with digital gaming.  It's clever marketing."
parents: "Yes, there's so many of them and they encourage children to collect"

- i dont think the non-gamers really understood the question, but the others seemed to and said yes.

"Do you think there will be more physical and digital cross overs in the future?"

non-gamers: "Yes"
gamers: "Yes"
parents: "Yes, i like the idea of a physical and digital crossover."

-every one said yes, they like the idea of this cross over

"Are you more likely to buy a game that has something physical with it?"

non-gamers: "Yes, feels like you get more for your money"
gamers: "Yes, "Because you feel like you're getting extra and its a physical thing; Its a mentality.  Children like to have something to physically touch and play with too"
parents: "Yes, it anchors the digital game to the real world."

-they all said yes and said similar things about having something for yourself that's physical.

So to conclude, going back to my questions:
are we more likely to buy something because of its extra content and if so, why is that?

Everyone that i asked this question to said yes.  They said it grounds the game to the real world; makes it more real and believable.

 Are Activision exposing and manipulating children in Skylanders? Or Is this all just clever marketing?

There is manipulation used here as they make characters that you have to buy an integral part of the game.  But what really is the problem is the pricing of the statues - less people would complain if the price was lower. All in all, Activision have successfully made themselves a lot of money.

 And are the cross over of physical and digital going to become bigger in the future?

Yes.  People like things to be more real and to be grounded to the real world.  The mechanic of Skylanders is very clever and a step forward in this cross over.

So, with Activision and Skylanders setting the bar, setting an example with the money to be made and the level of manipulation used, will we be subjected to similar levels of manipulation and be made for cash out on over priced items?

CS - researching is a toughie!

I am trying to do research into potential manipulation by games companies with the trans-media of games, but i'm struggling to find much information about any kind of manipulation in general!  So i'm thinking about  sticking to talking about the one game, Spyro: Skylanders.  I will talk about what people thought about this mechanic of having the physical figurines of character in order to play by looking at forums, blogs and by conducting my own interviews with people.  I will see what the creators had to say about it, do some maths, weigh up the pros and cons and put my own view forward on the potential future of this kind of "system" and why so far this "system" is working.  It is not an uncommon thing for people to buy games that have additional content or bonus features with it, but it is uncommon to have to purchase additional content or features in order to play the game.  i will not be looking at the game itself, just the mechanic/system of how you purchase characters and the fact you have to spend money in order to play the game at its fullest.

Here is a really good article that explains the point i'm making from the Escapist Magazine: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.339010-Skylanders-Competent-yet-Evil

This is a hilarious article about the game from BitMob:
http://bitmob.com/articles/why-skylanders-spyros-adventures-is-a-terrible-game

This great article from the Official Nintendo Magazine shows the potential cost of Skylanders: http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/31873/the-hidden-cost-of-skylanders/

Heres quite a balanced view of Skylanders by HubPages:
http://abizzy.hubpages.com/hub/Skylanders-review-for-parents-the-good-and-the-bad

The official Skylanders website:
http://www.skylanders.com/

Here IGN talk a little about Skylanders:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0yb2Kmqc_c

And here IGN talk about the new Skylanders Giants, saying old characters can be brought into the new game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCTWE7Hegh0


OK so here is my plan:

intro
-
give examples of what people think about it = adults and children
-
give the math
-
weigh up pros and cons
-
my own opinion of it = mentioning the fact its a form of collecting to the next level
-
talk about pokemon and other card/figure related franchises?
-
possible future for kind of related games?
-
conclusion = is it manipulation/exploitation?

CS - My idea!

Because there is no set question for this module and they have just given us information on possible topics, i found it very hard to think of an idea.  I felt quite lost.  But after the most recent contextual studies lesson i felt more at ease and heard what questions/topics other students were doing.  My group had a one to one with Kim and it was then i told her about my struggle.  I told her some of my ideas that had sparked up but that i wasn't sure as to what i would talk about exactly.  I mentioned talking about something to do with trans-media with Pixar.  She said that there was some sort or manipulation of children  where they get them to buy all these toys related to the films and franchise, games included.  I though that this was a potentially interesting topic.  I decided to let it simmer in my head thinking about what i could talk about exactly for the 10 minute presentation.

The next day i went out shopping and i was in Game, looking at games and comparing prices as i always do.  I saw that the game Dishonored was now £29.99.  It was cheaper than it was before but i decided not to buy it, until i saw that there was a Dishonored Special Edition that included an Arcane Assassin pack for in-game play and a Tarot/Card Deck set for the exact same price!  So i decided to buy it.  As i was queuing up to pay for it, i looked over and saw the game Spyro : Skylanders.  The way that Spyro : Skylanders works is that the characters you choose to play in game are actually physical figurines.  When you buy the game you also get a starter set of characters and a platform.  You have a wireless platform that you link up to the console and when you want to choose your character or change characters you take the figure of the character, place it on the platform and your character appears on screen.  You don't need all the characters to complete the game, but for the hardcore gamer who likes fully completing games, there are so many of them that in order to fully complete the game and acquire all the characters it would cost you in the £200 region as the figures range from £8-£18.  I saw this and i thought to myself "Hey, that's a type of manipulation isn't it? that would fit into my project nicely!"  But then, i looked down and saw what i was buying and i saw that i was a sucker as well, i had been manipulated at that very moment in time to buy this game because of the extras! I looked around the shop and saw all these toys, tee shirts and accessories and i thought to myself, "Oh God, it's everywhere! We are all being manipulated! Whether you're a child or an adult, you're being manipulated to a certain extent."

To further my research, I went to the Disney Store.  Because now my mind had been open to the amount of marketing and possible manipulation by companies, my mind was blown!  I had never noticed this before, the amount of stuff there actually was that they were milking off of games and tv shows owned my Disney was incredible!  They quite literally had everything from cookies to stationary sets, from teddies and figures to head to toe costumes and even games.  The games are never really any good though, they are just an add on, a way to milk more money from the franchise (it is difficult to translate one media [films] into another media [games] but that's a different topic!).

After that, i have decided to talk about manipulation in games; are we more likely to buy something because of its extra content and if so, why is that?  Even if they don't come with the game, why do we want to buy things like statues, teddies and clothing?  Why do people spend so much money to buy full character costumes?  Is some of it down to our personal love for the franchise, or are game companies manipulating us? Or is it ll just clever marketing?

Lets hope i have an interesting 10 minute presentation!

CS - 7/11/12

In this contextual study session Kim and Sharon did more of a recap lesson to help us in choosing a question.    They talked about lots of different information that could be used to help us choose a question.  they talked from themes in games to creating worlds in theme parks to comics.  Here are some points they made:

• In games, look at themes of the topic and reinforce it
• Theme = what the actual game is about

- delivers the experience player want = the goal

- idea that ties your game all together and all elements must support it

e.g. pirates attraction at Disney

-attraction based on pirates, but how to be more specific?

*historical documentary about pirates

*battle between ships

*search for hidden treasure

*pirates are villains and must be stopped

Final Theme: Fantasy of Being a Pirate

-step one is done, theme set

-step two is to use every means possible to reinforce the theme

e.g. part of the pirate fantasy is steeing and controlling a pirate ship.

• Stories start/implanted in childhood like fairy tales and influence many creative acts in adult life
• in newspapers, comic strips paved the way for the 'cliffhanger' move serial of the day (left you on cliffhangers, hooked people in for the next issue)
• For games you make:

*what is my theme?

*am i using every possible means to reinforce it?

*what parts of my game get people i tell excited about it?

Here are some possible points of topic:

Pixar, Disney - creating worlds out of the tv screen, comic genre, definitive characters - looking at characters in different genres.

Talking to Kim, i have decided to do the trans-media of Pixar, look at the films they make and how they branch out into the market with toys, clothes, games etc. and maybe, have a talk that the games are not art but just another way to make money and manipulating children.

CS work

For the next upcoming CS lesson we were told to read an article and make notes on it.  Its called Games telling stories? - A brief note on games and narratives bu Jesper Juul.

The article was interesting to read as he talked about different kinds of narrative in film, games, books etc, how they transfer into one another and how narrative in games work compared to films and books.

• Opens the article with a question : Do games tell stories? and being able to answer that should tell is how to study games and who should study them.
• Talks about narratives - how to define the term narrative and how they are used in games and how narratives in games work.
• Not everything is narrative and even if it is presented in narrative form, it doesn't mean it is narrative.
• Says games and narratives don't live in different worlds, but can in some ways work together = used for telling teh player what to do or as rewards for playing.  Or can spawn narratives that a player can use to ttell others of what went on in a game session.
• Narrative in one medium can be transferred to another medium by translating discourse ( telling the story ) and the story ( the story told ) = story - part split into existents ( actors and settings ) and events ( actions and happenings ). 
• Translating a film into a game and a game into a film are two different things.
• Story is happening now, don't know what happens next - we change the game world by e.g. using a weapon to kill a monster.
• Can't influence something that has happened - ca't have interactivity and narration a the same time = games almost never perform basic narrative operation like flash back and fast forward - almost always chronological.

BA1 - Contextual Studies

In contextual studies we had to talk about games that made us feel emotion and the write about it.  Here is my short paragraph on the game Snake, the game i was addicted to as a child.

It's crazy, It's insane.  I'm addicted to going around again and again.  I'm a snake to get the fruit, going around this little block, getting bigger and bigger every time i eat.  This is fun i thought as it's slow and easy to start.  But slowly it gets faster.  Trying to keep up, left, right, up, down, side to side.  Quick, quick! Keep up! Getting fatter and getting faster!  I'm getting agitated, concentrating furiously on the game, lost in its little squares.  All that matters is that i don't catch my own tail, to beat my high score.  Left, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up, Right.  I need to keep up! I must win! Getting bigger.  Getting fatter. Down, Left, Up, Right, Up, Left, Down, NO! Game over.  I got my tail caught.  Oh well, at least i beat my high score. :)