Farmville come to iPhone + iPhone 4

Good news for all you Farmville fans and something you could mention if you're discussing technological convergence, distribution, consumption.

And here's new technology - the iphone 4 with now 3D-motion gaming (just like the Wii).

Digitisation

This is a term that won't come up in the exam but it might be worth taking note of it.

Digitisation - turning analogue data/media/information into a digital format.

When discussing this in regards to videogames it must be pointed out that videogames are played they have always existed digital format as they can only be experience on digital-based technologies – computers, consoles etc.

However, the format for purchasing the games has change from analogue tapes to discs and downloads.

So if digitisation comes up in the exam here is what you could talk about.

Production
Games have always be digitally produced due to the nature of the media.
However, many games take information and turn it into digital format in production for example EA, who make FIFA, ‘motion capture’ athletes such as Wayne Rooney to animate their game. So they are turning physical movement into digital animation.
In GTA 4 however, they used Euphoria for the animation which didn’t require that process as it gave the skeleton of the characters realist AI (artificial intelligence) so it could react to collision etc.
Whole SDK (software development kits) can be downloaded now allowing anyone to make games (see – Lima Sky, Braid etc.)

Distribution
While games are traditionally bought on a digital format – i.e. discs – most consumer still have to purchase a physical product – case, disc, etc – however, as technology as improve in delivering digital information you can now download whole games.
E.g. GTA 4 could be downloading on release for the PC via Steam. The PS3 and 360 version are now available as a download but weren’t at first release.
They could DLC – Lost and the Damned, Ballad of Gay Tony.
Games can be downloaded from the Itunes for IPhone, IPod very quickly and easily making purchasing a game an easy transaction.
Services such as GaiKai and Onlive exploit this new delivery of digital information to allow games to be stream across the net.
SO WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THAT? (changes, industry structure etc)

Marketing
Now advertising, films, audio can all be digitised and transferred over the internet or onto phones, and shared through social network sites very easily.
HOW HAS THAT AFFECTED INSTITUIONS MARKETING STRATEGIES.
(viral, synergy, specific websites, interacting directly with the consumer)

Consumption
Files, new creations, information, stories can now come in digitized form, therefore can all be created, accessed and shared easily.
HOW HAS THAT EFFECTED THE WAY GAMERS CAN CONSUMER/INTERACT WITH GAMES?
(user generated content, fansites, spoof facebooks/twitter feeds, machinima, online games).

Prince of Perisa and Synergy

Now a lot of you will down the multiplex trying to catch the latest rom-com The Killer Inside Me. You might therefore notice that a Prince of Persia film is out at the moment.

Here's the trailer.

The film is based on the Prince of Persia games series from Ubisoft. What's interesting (for nerds and Media students) is that the game is based on the reboot of series Prince of Persia: Sands of Time which came out in 2003 which starred a dashing, wise cracking Arabian adventurer. After that the series went very dark with the Prince developing a strange Arabian Emo look and was rebooted again (again!) in 2008.

So rather than create a sequel to the 2008 game Ubisoft have released a sequel to their 2003 game - the Sands of Time, with similar gameplay and the same dashing, wise cracking Arabian adventurer you'll seen in the film.

Here's the game...

3D - Future of Videogames?

E3 the huge yearly games expo is on later this month, it's where all the big games companies showcase their upcoming titles and give us a glimpse into the near and long term future of the industry. There's several interesting article on what people expect to see there:

Click here to read a really good article on the future impact of 3D gaming.

And here to read the lovely Keith Stuarts assessment of it.

This would be useful if a question came up on consumption - so how does the consumer interact with the product, exhibition - how it is displayed, production - what new factors games developers have to consider and new technology - as it's new technology(!).