Red Dead Redemption

RDR PART 1: Rockstar - Institution on Prezi

RDR Part 2: Rockstar San Diego and Red Dead on Prezi

RDR PART 3: Red Dead Redemption: PRODUCTION on Prezi

RDR PART 4: Marketing on Prezi

RDR PART 5: Distribution, Exchange, Consumption on Prezi

Introductory Presentation to Section B: Videogames.

G322 videogames intro

View more presentations from guest8e1604.

HOW TO USE THE BLOG
There's loads of resources and information on this blog so to navigate through it use the 'label cloud' on the right to find what you need.

VIDEO GAMES BLOG ARCHIVE 2010

Here are links to last years 2010 Video Game class blogs:

http://p1videogames10.blogspot.com/

http://t1videogames10.blogspot.com/

http://r1videogames10.blogspot.com/

http://s1videogames10.blogspot.com/

http://s2videogames10.blogspot.com/

http://q1videogames10.blogspot.com/

http://t2videogames10.blogspot.com/

http://p2videogames10.blogspot.com/

http://p3videogames10.blogspot.com/

http://r2videogames10.blogspot.com/

http://u1videogames10.blogspot.com/

http://u2videogames10.blogspot.com/

Some ideas of what to write about for certain key concepts

Issues raised by Media Ownership

Who owns what in videogames? Licenses, brands, technology, software, hardware, the intellectual property (IP). What effect does this have on the industry.

Rockstar own the GTA brand – their developers are part of the same company so they also own the game code as well. No one else can make ‘GTA’ branded games.

Rockstar have created the characters themselves.

Rockstar created their own game engine (RAGE) enabling them to make uniquely realist graphics. However they had to license other technologies such as Euphoria and Bullet.

Rockstar had to license all the songs in the game at the cost of approx $5000 per track. They had to license the TV footage such as Ricky Gervais’ comedy show.

Microsoft paid $50 million for the exclusive rights for the GTA 4 downloadable content (DLC) – so obtaining the right media ownership can be used to sell consoles.

Rockstar would have had to pay the console manufactures a licensing free of between $3 to $10 dollars for each unit (copy of the game) to Sony and Microsoft.

Some other issues with Media Ownership

Publishers have to pay for ‘licenses’ from other intellectual properties such as films (Bond, X-Men, Spider-Man), sports stars and events (FIFA, Tiger Woods), car designs (Gran Turismo), TV shows (X Factor), songs Guitar Hero. These all cost money – more you spend on licensing that may attract sales, the less you have for development.

Developer allow consumers to access their technological IP - Valve who make Team Fortress and Half Life give fans access to their development tools so they can create their own maps and games.

Apple allow developer to get the Apps Software Development Kit (SDK) for free so they can make Iphone apps (but then take 30% of the revenue).

With OnLive or Gaikai publishers may not have to pay console manufacturers licenses as consumers will just stream their games over the net.

There can be disputes between developers and publisher about who owns the IP. The developers may have created the game, but the publisher legally owns the rights to the ideas. E.g. Infinity Ward created COD: Modern Warfare, but the publishers Activision own the names and the game. They recently had a falling out (see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_Ward)

Importance of media convergence.

What happens when different types of media come together? What new experiences do we get? What are the advantages?

Rockstar use licensed music (such as Kanye West, Ice Cube) in GTA 4 for the radio stations, this enable the games to be realistic and atmospheric in a movie-like way.

Rockstar had TV channels in games with comedy sets from Ricky Gervais and Katt Williams. Just like the music this adds realism but also could attract attention from gamers.

The licensed music in Vice City and San Andreas helped set the games in a time period (80s and 90s respectively).

Rockstar used media convergence for marketing. For instance the coordinated their online trailers with the release of magazine articles and TV ads.

The viral marketing used convergence so you had information on old media marketing (wanted posters) being spread by new media: fan blogs, websites and social networking.

Combining videogames with the online world has a significant effect:
Games can be multiplayer – allows for online communities to develop, new maps to be available (DLC means more revenue), gamers get more value from the game.
Gamers can create content and share it with other gamers – (e.g. machinima, levels (Little Big Planet).
Games can be distributed online (download DLC, possible streaming online (OnLive, Gaikai).

Great example of the power of cross media convergence – Farmville
When games and social media meet you get games such as Cityville, Farmville etc. And they can only exist because of media convergence as they are:
Distributed via Facebook
Marketed via Facebook (predominately through viral marketing)
Consumed (played) on Facebook
The gameplay is also dictated by social networking as it’s all about showing off your farm to friends on Facebook.
Proof that media convergence can change the industry.

Importance of Synergy

What the effects of releasing products at the same time in production, distribution and marketing?

Production
There is pressure on the developers to complete a game for simultaneous release on different consoles – so Rockstar were under pressure to make the same game for 3 different formats: PC, PS3, Xbox 360, each with their different problems. It was rumoured that the reason for GTA 4’s delay was that Rockstar were struggling to perfect the PS3 version.
Releasing games simultaneously on different formats is a costly process.

If games are released to coincide with the release of a film/TV show, this brings its own problems: a strict deadline that can’t be avoided. You can’t have the Harry Potter game coming out six months after the film.

Distribution
Simultaneous release means that the distributers have to organise discs and packaging for thousands of copies of the game, for the various formats. Logistically and financially, this is a big undertaking. If successfully done it can lead to a big opening weeks. If not it can lead to shortages (consumers frustration) or (if the game is unpopular) masses on unsold discs.
Because of this, digital distribution (downloads, OnLive) is an attractive option for publishers as they wouldn’t have to create as much boxed copies.

Marketing
For synergy in marketing it is best to use cross media convergence - so instead of using just having magazine coverage, why not combine it with other media coverage – synergy in release of information to increase its effectiveness.
E.g. The first magazine coverage of GTA 4 came out as the same day as the release of the first trailer on the internet. (This is tactic used for many big games, COD, FIFA, etc).
Synergy in marketing is important ensure it spreads information about the game in a carefully coordinate chunks. E.g. When FIFA 11 is coming out you get magazine coverage, conventional advertising, and interview with the box stars (Rooney, etc) in the mainstream press - in the same week/month.
A bit of controversy helps as well (think COD: Modern Warfare 2 airport level)

Implications of Proliferation of hardware and content.

What are the problems/positives of having loads of games and game machines?

Positives for institutions
Lots of different consoles give chance for innovation (DS, Wii, etc) – make different type of games.
The fact that you can play games on the phone and internet mean smaller companies can make different types of games and not compete with the console big boys.
Games developers/publishers can create content for numerous different machines and so not controlled by the console manufacturers. (like they were by Nintendo in the 80s).

Negative for institutions
They have to spend more on marketing and advertising – as there’s so much other content out there.
Pressure to sell means that it could result in less risk and less innovation (give the public what has sold before – just get loads of sequels).
Have to create different types of games for the different machines (GTA4, GTA Chinatown War – also there’s over 9 different versions of FIFA 1, all have to be created)

Positive for consumers
More choice .
Competition keeps the price down.
Can play games where ever you want – phone, home, on the go, on Facebook.

Negatives for consumers
Confusion – what console do I buy? Which motion controller do I get (Wii, Kinect, PS3 Motion)? This can lead to consumers losing interest.
Have to buy several machines to get all the different games.

Significance of technological convergence

What is the significance of having digital devices/platforms that can play games and consoles that have other uses.

Lets look at the main three consoles:
PS3 – DVD, Blu-Ray player, can store digital information (photos, music, films, TV), BBC Iplayer, web browser, PS Home, PS Store.

360 – DVD, Xbox Live store (download, films, music, demos, new games), web browser, connect to friends through facebook, Last FM,

Wii – Virtua Console (download old Nintendo games), online play, web browser, Iplayer.

All these machines are now ‘home entertainment centres’ as they can play different types of media this is significant:

It opens up the market – consumers who might want a Blu-ray player might get the PS3 as you can also play games in, while otherwise they might not have invested in just a games machine.

It positions the games machine in the lounge (family room) rather than in the bedroom. Now the console is a family possession and encourages family to invest in family games (Mario Kart, Wii Sports, Singstar, Kinect).

The most significant part of technological convergence is fact that all these console are online which allows for:
Online play
Online sharing of ideas
Downloading new content and new games
Also it allows for most of the media convergence

Now lets look at digital devices/platforms that now play games mainly i-Pod Touch, i-Pad and Smart Phone.

This opens up a huge new market for games companies as there is a limited amount of people who would buy a machine that only plays games (DS, PSP) but nearly everyone has a phone and don’t mind paying £0.99 for short, fun game.

Also it allows small, independent developers to make money from making games without the need for publisher funding or worrying about the cost of distribution. (This is much the same as developer creating content for Xbox Live Marketplace and the PS Store).

Media Consumption

How have yours and others gaming habits changed due to the changes in the industry?

Where do you get your games? Still from the shop? Do you download? Stream online? Get them through piracy?
Where you do play your games? In the bedroom? On the bus? In the lounge?
Who do you play your games with? Your mates? Your mates online? Strangers online? With your family? On your own?
What do you do you make the game your own (become a ‘prosumer’)? You could customise the game (costumes, levels, types of games played)? Do you create content and share it with others? Do you modify the game?

Other stuff to mention
Machinima – making films from games e.g. Red vs Blue, the contributions to Rockstar TV.
Cos-Play – dressing up as games characters, role playing and using games to create fan fiction etc.
Modification – modifying game code to create new types of games.
Professional gaming – playing Starcraft has almost become a sport in Korea.

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(!).

Great Example of Media Convergence!

UPDATE - the short film is called The Man from Blackwater and will air this Saturday (5/06/10) on Five USA at 11.25 p.m.

Hollywood movie director John Hillcoat (The Proposition) was hired to make a short film made from Rockstar’s new video game Red Dead Redemption. So what does “made from” mean - it means that the movie was created in game rather than animated from scratch.

Videogames + Movies = MEDIA CONVERGENCE!!!!

The short is airing on Fox this Saturday night at midnight. Since I imagine not a lot of people will be up to see it, I hope that Fox puts the film online not long after.

Here's the trailer for it:

Industry Structure - In Brief

THE GAMES INDUSTRY

Introduction
The games industry, once a niche form of interactive entertainment often dismissed as being for children or teenage boys, is now a multi-billion pound industry that rivals the film industry in terms of revenue and prestige.
Gaming was perceived as having ‘hobby culture’ (created by enthusiasts rather than big business) as recently as the 1970s so this is relatively young industry and the way it functions is constantly changing. The main reason for this is due to it being a technology led industry, and as software and hardware develops so does the framework around which games are created, sold and consumed.

Institutions
The games industry is made up of the following institutions:

Developers
Games are created by development studios comprised of software engineers, artists and programmers who write the code, create the structure and animate the game making them playable for gamers. It’s these developers that are perceived as the ‘talent’ in the industry.

Publishers
These are companies that are responsible for the marketing and distribution of the game.

Distributor
A distributor works with retailers (shops, online) to make product available for the consumers to purchase. In the games industry the Publisher usually handles the distribution.

Hardware manufacturers
While developers create software, other companies create the hardware that the games run on. In the games industry the major players are Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo who make the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii respectively. There are, however, many other types of hardware apart from consoles on which games can be played such as PC, phones and handhelds (DS, PSP).

Consumer
Or ‘the audience’ - anyone that buys, plays, downloads games.

Structure
Below is a basic illustration of how the videogames industry functions and the process in which games go from ‘concept to consumption’:

Developer - Publisher – Distributor – Hardware – Consumer

Little Big Planet 2 - Making games not just levels

Article about the possibilities of Little Big Planet 2:

“Prepare to have your head melted,” says technical director Alex Evans as the core team members prepare to show off just what will make LBP2 a step change. And then he says the sentence that’s key to understanding what we get to see: “It’s no longer about making levels, it’s about making games.”

It's a little long but interesting to look at in terms of Consumption and the idea that we're not consumers but prosumers.

Here's another preview from IGN.

Potential Success of the Free to Play Model

Just like Zynga and Farmville other companies are beginning to make serious money out the Free to Play Model.

Independent developers - two articles

Interesting article on the effect indie development and digital distribution could have on the games world.

Indie Game Developers Rise Up
Digital distribution and Microsoft's Community Games levels the game publishing field.

And another from the BBC on the return of the bedroom developer:

Different models of games development

Different models of production

Here are few examples of other ways you can make videogames rather than just the Rockstar way. The first is a business model but brings home just how expensive it is to make games these days especially for the PS3 and 360.
The Indie game scene is really growing and represents the other extreme from GTA and any Iphone game would make a good case study.


‘Tent Pole’ business model
This is similar to the business model a lot of Hollywood studios: the idea is that the publisher releases one ‘blockbuster’ game accompanied with heavy marketing and investment. Then the money made from this game supports the development of other ‘riskier’, potentially more creative games.

For instance: Grand Theft Auto brings in a lot of money for Rockstar which allows them to invest smaller hits such as Canis Canem Edit, Manhunt and future products such as LA Noire and Agent.

Capcom use franchises like Resident Evil to pay for No More Heroes or Killer 7.
EA rely on the annual updates of Madden and FIFA to create cash for the research and development of other games. In 2008 EA spent $372million on research and development, the reason for this is that PS3 and Xbox 360 games can cost up to $30 million to make.

The problem with this is the company are gambling on that one game being a hit, and sometimes even big games don’t return the money – e.g. Spore, sold 1 million copies in its first 17 days, but the development costs were so big EA only expect to make their money back with 5 years of updates and sequels.


Hollywood model
The idea is to contract out parts of the games design (art, car physics, quality assurance etc.) to other companies in order to lower development costs. So instead of having a permanent in-house development team of 50+, developer can have a team of 10-20 piecing the work together undertaken by specialist external teams. This is like the Hollywood idea where specialists (stunt teams, Director of Photography, scriptwriters) are hired in for particular films rather than working for the studio in a full time capacity. e.g. Wideload Games developer of Stubbs the Zombie

Interview with Wideload Games chief – Alex Seropian
"My solution was to have a core team of 12 guys who come up with the concepts, design the games, and prototype them," Seropian explains. "When it comes time to do the actual production work -- that is, building the thousands and thousands of assets that go into a game -- all that is done by independent contributors, by contractors."

According to Seropian, if all the work on "Stubbs" had been done in-house, it would have required a full-time staff of 65-70. Instead, his 12 employees began 18 months ago and spent six to eight months to plan the project. Then, outside contractors took another six to eight months to build the assets. And now the internal team is filling another six months assembling it. All told, contractors accounted for about 75% of the work hours. As a result, the project cost 35% less to produce than if it had been produced entirely in-house.

Cursed Mountain (Wii)
Cursed Moutain’s design and concept was created by Deep Silver Vienna but much of the assets were created by Sproing Interactive, Rabcat, Immersive Games, Perspective Studios.


Developing without a Publisher
The most common model of development had developer pitching for investment from publishers or the publisher hiring a developer for a job, but occasionally you can get developers that begin on a project without a publisher. The risk is that their game might never be released and they have to raise the capital themselves, but what it does do is give them more creative freedom and no pressure from the publisher in terms of deadlines.
E.g. Games developer Avalanche worked on Just Cause before it was picked up by Eidos.
Also there is a game in development called The Outsider from developer Frontier Developments that hasn’t got a publisher.


Independent Game development
Until recently games development was a costly business, usually requiring a developer to a have a publishing contract in order to pay for the development and the license fee required to develop for a particular console. However, now there is a growing ‘Indie Game’ market thanks to open source software, Apples App Store and Xbox Live Marketplace small teams and even individuals can create games, get them distributed and make money.

The point to make is that because of new technology, convergence and new ways of distribution we have a return to the bedroom development culture weird, wonderful, often abstract games – so it means not all games have to be GTA 4.

Developing for the PlayStation Network, Wii Ware, Xbox Live Marketplace
Each console has an online store where ‘indie games’ can be bought. However, unlike release a game for the PC, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have certain criteria that needs to met before they agree to distribute a game.
Aside from basic development costs, console game developers are required to pay fees to license the required Software Development Kits (SDKs) from the console manufacturer. Manufacturers often impose a strict approval process and take a percentage of the game's net profit in addition to yearly developer fees. As of this writing, to develop for Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, or Playstation 3 requires an SDK license fee of between $2,000 and $10,000 USD, in addition to yearly developer fees and profit cuts.
Interestingly Sony have slashed the SDK cost from $10,000 to $2,000 in order to cut development costs and hopefully increased third-party productivity.

Braid
Braid was created by Jonathan Blow, taking three years and $180,000 of this own investment , to make. It was originally release for the PC and sold 55,000 copies in first week (making £530,000 in revenue).
Blow then agreed to release a version for the Xbox Live Marketplace but had reservations as Microsoft have the final say on what goes on there and have a four stage approval process:
‘Blow was critical of the Xbox Live certification process, as he believed the effort to meet all the requirements could have been better spent on polishing the game. At the same time, the certification team allowed him to retain certain aspects of his vision for the game that were otherwise contrary to the process, including giving the player immediate control of the game instead of requiring a start-up title screen.[52] Microsoft also requested that Blow include some additional hints to the player based on results of playtesting, but Blow held his ground, refusing to release the game if he was forced to add these.[21] He said he would likely not release a game again on the Xbox Live service under the same business model.’ (Wikipedia)

Developing for the iPhone
The iPhone SDK is a software development kit developed by Apple , targeted at third-party developers to develop applications for iPhone OS, released in February 2008. The SDK itself is a free download, but in order to release software, one must enroll in the iPhone Developer Program, a step requiring payment and Apple's approval. As of January 2010, cost of enrollment in the iPhone Developer Program is US$99 per year (the cost varies from country to country) for the standard program.

Developers who publish their applications on the App Store will receive 70% of sales revenue, and will not have to pay any distribution costs for the application.

Examples – Dooble Jump, released April 2009, it has had nearly 4 million downloads. Doodle Jump is the brainchild of Igor and Marko Pusenjak, two Croation brothers who released the app under the banner of their company Lima Sky.

Facebook
Zynga is a ‘casual’ games developer that specialise company develops browser-based games that work both stand-alone and as application widgets on social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace.
This is possible as Facebook has ‘open’ technology that allows third party companies to develop software for it. Zynga’s big success is Farmville which is a simple game and has an effective business model – the game is free to download, but the items within the game cost money – but significantly, not much money. These are called micro-transactions – small on their own but once the 82.4 active Farmville users get involved you can see how the revenue builds-up.
In terms of development these are easy to create games but as they are online and ‘live’ they require a team of engineers to maintain the smooth running of it.
Inside Zynga

The problems of big budget games development

Even though this is a year old, the points raised in this article clearly illustrate the problems that companies like Rockstar, EA and Activision face with creating games that require huge budgets.


What's Killing the Video-Game Business?
Hint: It's not the economy.

Like pretty much every industry these days, video-game publishing is in some financial trouble. Electronic Arts, the world's largest game publisher, best known for Madden and the Sims, lost $641 million in 2008's fourth quarter. Activision-Blizzard, owners of the cash cows World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, reported losses of $72 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. (They lost $194 million the quarter before that.) THQ, the third-largest publisher in the United States, and known for lucrative licenses ranging from the Ultimate Fighting Championship to Pixar, had $192 million in losses over the holidays and is laying off 24 percent of its work force.

News of development-studio closings and layoffs are being reported around the world. And while publishers focus on internal cuts, many independent developers have closed outright. Such gloom, in a normally raucous industry, has set the talking heads, bloggers, and trade press to a quick conclusion: Losses and layoffs are the direct result of an economic crisis (on the premise that "things are tough all over").

But that idea, which makes intuitive sense, is completely at odds with recent sales numbers. In reality, video games are selling better than ever. The retailer GameStop announced sales of nearly $3 billion worth of games, hardware, and accessories during the nine weeks around the 2008 holidays—22 percent more than during Christmas 2007.

According to the research firm Media Control GfK, game software accounted for more than half of global packaged entertainment sales in 2008, beating DVD sales for the first time. The firm pegs game sales at $32 billion worldwide. (The U.S. market accounts for around 45 percent of the world total.) The NPD Group, which tracks sales for the industry, also reports that game software sales were up 26 percent in 2008.

So how can publishers lose money amid such incredible sales and record growth? The answer is simple: They're spending more than they're bringing in. Game development budgets have ballooned, and publishers are reeling because they can't keep the costs under control.

Games weren't always expensive to make: In the early days, a boy with an Apple II could rule the world. While there are still scads of cheaply made games on the market, all of today's big publishers employ hundreds of professional developers per game. These projects take years to complete, as each new generation of hardware allows for unprecedented advances in graphics, sound, and everything else. The greater the complexity of the game, the larger the development team. The larger the development team, the bigger the budget.

While industry leaders anticipated that budgets would creep higher, the shift to high-definition gaming with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 has proved to be more expensive than estimated. At a conference in the spring of 2006, then-Midway developer Cyrus Lum sounded the warning, telling his audience that game development budgets could rise as high as $15 million to $25 million for a single title—previously unheard-of averages. "We need to rethink how we're financing games," Lum concluded.

When a newspaper quoted this frightening view, Lum found himself in hot water with his employer for making such sensationalist comments. It turned out that Lum's prediction was too low: Midway would go on to spend between $40 million and $50 million developing This Is Vegas, an action title set for release in late 2009.

That figure is not unusual. Budgets for next-generation development have continued to rise steadily across the board. And while executives and technologists knew that there would be heavy initial investment costs to retool—Electronic Arts spent a record $372 million on research and development during 2008's third quarter—they expected returns on that investment, something that's so far failed to materialize.

Production difficulties and product delays continue a full 26 months after Sony's PlayStation 3 reached store shelves. When companies regularly spend $40 million to develop a title and contribute more to the marketing, they need to sell at least 2 million units to break even. While Halo 3 racked up pre-orders of 1.7 million copies, and Gears of War 2 has sold more than 3 million units, only a handful of titles each year do that well. Consider that Will Wright's Spore, which sold 1 million copies in its first 17 days, was supposed to be a big hit for Electronic Arts; but the development cost was so high that that internal estimates now say it will take five years—and a bunch of sequels and expansions—for the company to recoup its initial costs.

Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV, released last May, is the prime example of a blockbuster game. GTA IV sold 6 million copies during its first week, bringing in $500 million. True to form, it cost Rockstar $100 million to produce, 1,000 people worked on the project, and it took three-and-a-half years to complete. Six months later, sales began to founder—a major setback to a publisher that bet the farm on the title and predicted sales throughout 2009.

Despite GTA's declining returns, the initial sales numbers were so compelling that other companies are desperate to follow suit. During Electronic Arts' last quarterly call, CEO John Riccitiello explained that the company would be pursuing blockbuster hits as a primary revenue source. Perennially successful sports franchises like Madden—titles that always come out on time and on budget because the company's bottom line depends on it—have given EA a bit more wiggle room than its competitors. Riccitiello has decided to use that wiggle room to craft expensive games of exceptional quality, products that don't ship until they're deemed perfect.

The industry has long discussed going with this "Hollywood model," in which a few games/movies turn a profit, those hits more than covering the other losses. The analogy between the Hollywood blockbuster model and the games business falls apart, however, because of the huge difference in overhead costs. Electronic Arts steadily employs 7,400 developers. The industry standard is a $10,000 man-month, meaning the company burns through more than $74 million for development each month. The big Hollywood studios, by contrast, make movies by giving money to temporary production companies, which then hire temporary crews with one-project contracts. The temporary entity will make the film from start to finish. And once production is complete, the studio receives a finished product that it can distribute to theaters—without the continued overhead expenses that game publishers often face.

Companies like EA and Activision are two kinds of businesses at once, making games themselves while publishing the work of other developers. It was a natural evolution: Publishers built distribution and marketing networks for themselves, grew successful, and found that they could use that same pipeline to sell somebody else's games. Though publishers rake in more profits when they own the titles they're releasing, working with outside firms enables them to put out more games.

Of the 48 titles EA released last quarter, eight were from other developers—mostly in the Rock Band series—while 40 were developed internally. If a publisher is looking to do blockbusters, that figure needs to be reversed. Using an external production company means you don't have to bear the burden of overhead, and when the game inevitably slips and needs more time, it isn't a problem for the publicly traded publisher needing to meet a quarterly window. But, perversely, EA's Riccitiello has said the company plans to cut the number of titles it's developing, hoping that releasing fewer games with even more effort will generate more blockbusters. That means costs will rise above the $40 million mark, an extraordinary gamble.

It's unrealistic for a company that employs many thousands of developers to abandon internal production immediately. In the short term, Electronic Arts should consider copying the old Hollywood "studio system." During the Great Depression, a movie could be made in two weeks—and people would go to see a new movie each week. EA could make games that cost less. How? Change the scale and scope of the world. Make the story shorter. Use lower-quality graphics. Recycle proven tools and technology.

Consider the case of Portal. The first-person puzzle game began as a student project before it was scooped up by Valve Software. Valve polished the game up and took it to EA, which distributed the game at retail as part of its "Orange Box" collection. As of two months ago, they'd sold 3 million copies. Electronic Arts, though, doesn't seem to have absorbed the lesson of this success story. EA doesn't need to find its own Grand Theft Auto—it needs to let 1,000 Portals bloom.

Interview with Rockstar developer - Red Dead Redemption

From the BBC:

If you believe the hype, one of the biggest video games out this year is hitting shelves across the UK this weekend.

Red Dead Redemption is the latest release from video game pioneers Rockstar, the people behind the Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt series.

This new open world game has already topped pre-order charts and follows an ex-outlaw making his way through the American Wild West.

We put some of your questions (as well as some of our own) to Lazlow, one of the game's developers and the radio DJ featured in the GTA games. Here's what he had to say.

___________________________________________________________

Nadine Coyle: How did you get into the gaming industry and where did it happen?

I got into the video game industry by slacking off, I met one of the founders of Rockstar games on the beach whilst surfing and we started doing some fake radio shows and fake DJ banter for GTA III. The game did quite well so we went on to work on other games too.

Gary Speer: How much time and work is involved in making one of your games?

It is more work than I can actually describe. The studios work very hard for many years on the code and the graphics. On RDR they've done about five years' work. It takes a long time to make a video game from the first idea to inception, to design the motion capture, to writing all the scripts. Each of our open world games has up to 1000 characters walking around and you need to make personalities, names and pages of dialogue for all those people.

Dan Whitworth, Newsbeat technology reporter: How does it feel when you release one of these games after so much work?
Bonnie MacFarlane character RDR is set in the Wild West and took about five years to produce

It's an amazing high. You're also very sensitive to any criticism about it because you've worked so hard on it. But I think the real emotional feeling is taking the disc home and playing it and when you finally complete that final mission I get misty eyed. It's like 'Wow, this thing is finally coming to a close' - this thing my friends and I have worked on for years.

Heather Prue: How do you feel about accusations that games such as yours are responsible for more violence among young people?

Our games are not designed for young people. If you're a parent and buy one of our games for your child you're a terrible parent. We design games for adults because we're adults. There's a lot of kids games out there that we're not interested in playing. Just like you enjoy watching movies and TV shows with adult themes and language and violence that's the kind of thing we seek to produce.

Bawn Trouble: How do you get round the certifiers?

The ratings board are pretty straightforward. In our games, with the GTA series, we do a lot of satire. With the Red Dead game we tried to make it feel like a really gritty western. But there's not a lot of pushback from the ratings board. It's not like we're creating anything that's really sensationalist or titillating.

Scott Fulton: Why do you think so many people love your games?

Fortunately the same team that created GTA III is the same team that's behind Red Dead Redemption. I think it's the attention to detail and I think it's the founders of Rockstar, Dan and Sam Houser, having such a great vision.

Jack Thompson/Robin Gaden: Is there going to be a GTA set in modern London or the UK in the next ten years?

We always get asked these questions about bringing GTA to someone's home town. The talk about future games, well they won't even tell me because I tend to have pints and hang out with journalists and shoot my mouth off so they keep that stuff secret.

Joanne Hutchinson: Do you think the video game industry has become too politically correct, affecting where you can go with new games?

I think that Rockstar has pushed a lot of boundaries to be able to make the art that that we believe we should be able to make. If you tell a gritty crime drama with violence and profanity and call it The Sopranos you're handed a load of awards to put up on the shelf. You do the same and call it a video game and you'll have certain organisations up in arms. I think ever since GTA IV came out and there were such rave reviews by major publications saying that this is actually art the restrictions about being politically correct have largely fallen away.

William Hobson: How much of the character Lazlow in the GTA series is based on you and your life?
'Irish' character Lazlow thinks it's got easier to make less 'politically correct' games

Haha! How much am I a depressed, balding, divorced mess? Sometimes. No, only kidding! The character of Lazlow in the games is written by Dan Houser and I, so he always puts in some nasty things about me, in my personality and the script. I would say it's probably 60 to 100% accurate!

Gary Speer: Did the success of the open world design on GTA affect your work on RDR?

We felt open world lends so much to a video game. A lot of times you'll play some games that are very restricted when you're just guided through a level. But once we broke some new ground in GTA IV we had a whole new bunch of ideas like what if instead of a city you had a prairie and mountains and Mexico and all these amazing places you could go explore.

Colin Mackie: What's better, PS3 or Xbox?

I myself prefer the Xbox because of Xbox Live. But I own both and I'm not going to get sucked into the console wars. I think the best thing to do is sell blood until you can afford to buy both! I own a Mac and a PC for the same reason. They're two different tools that do different things.

Dan Whitworth, Newsbeat technology reporter: What are your hopes for RDR?

I hope that for the people that do pick it up that it evokes an emotional response. That people will feel they're part of our world and that they'll become immersed in the time period. We did so much research into everything. What the guns of the time looked like, what the clothes looked like, what the interiors in the game are like. Those interiors were all specifically researched by our people in great detail, so I hope they'll love it and that it'll put a smile on their face.

Gary Maeslan: Can I have a job?

Yes. Yes you can, because we're hiring like mad whilst so many other industries are firing. If you go to the Rockstar Games website you can click on jobs. But I have several tips for people looking for jobs in the gaming industry. Put your gamer score on your CV, not what your grades in school are. Also, don't write cover letters that are 18 pages long. Give me bullet points.

This is an interesting article but be aware that it was written in 2006 - since then their has been a boom independent games development, so there is an alternative model to making games.

The Economics of Game Publishing

A look at the costs that go into making videogames.

Once upon a time, not really all that long ago, it was fairly common for a game to be concepted, designed and developed by an individual or a small group of individuals with little to no budget to speak of. However, this has all changed thanks to the ever-increasing power of the newer generation of consoles that have more computing power, memory and disc space for developers to use, as well as the greater need to spend more money on marketing and getting licenses for these games to help ensure the titles sell to make it all worth a publisher's effort. Games cost a lot of money to make and, now more than ever, they need to sell as many copies as possible to help recoup the costs of publishing it. In this article, we'll give you an inside look at where all the money goes when trying to get a game from a concept to one that you're playing at home.

Development

The most important component, however not necessarily the most costly, of publishing a game is the handling of its development. According to a non-scientific poll of publishers, the costs of developing games for the next-generation of consoles such as Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 is estimated to be roughly $10 million as compared to $3-$5 million for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube.

A large portion of this cost goes to paying the talent that's making the games - the programmers, artists, musicians, designers, producers, and testers. And with the size of teams required to make games for the newer consoles doubling when compared to the previous generation, particularly with the number of modelers, animators, and other artists now needed, you can see why the cost of development keeps making significant jumps for each subsequent new generation of consoles.

In cases where the game is being developed by an outside company for a publisher, the publisher typically advances the development costs to the developer in the form of milestone payments that are paid at various predetermined stages of the game's development. Additionally, the publisher will also have to pay the developer royalties for the game based on a percentage of the net sales revenue of the game after deductions, such as taxes, shipping, insurance, and returns. This royalty percentage varies greatly within the industry and deals will often include step ups in rates based on hitting certain sales goals or milestones. Based on our independent research, the typical royalty is anywhere from 10% to 20%.

Because of this and the need to try and cut costs wherever possible, larger publishers have started to buy up a lot of the smaller development studios so that the games can essentially be made in-house and the paying of royalties is no longer needed. Publishing label deals are also made where the publisher and developer actually split some of the costs of development and marketing of the game.

Licensing

The next area where money is spent in publishing a game is with licensing - both licensing the game to be released on a console and the licensing of intellectual properties for use in the game.

The first, console licensing, is a step that can't be avoided when publishing games on videogame consoles such as the Xbox 360, PS3, Revolution, and so on. In order to release a game on any of these videogame consoles, the publisher must pay a royalty to the manufacture, whether Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo, for distributing a game on their system.

And as part of the deal, the game must also meet with all of the strict quality standards and guidelines as set by the manufacturer for it to be approved and released. The exact licensing fee varies based on the manufacturer, as well as any deals they may give a publisher, but it can generally be anywhere from $3 to $10 per unit.

Games published by any of the big three console makes obviously don't accrue this licensing fee, so that's why they're often able to release their games at a slightly lower cost than 3rd party publishers.

The other form of licensing has to do with the purchasing of or paying for the right to use intellectual properties such as stories, characters, music, personalities, or products in the game. This includes things such as paying the NBA for the right to use its official teams and logs in games like 2K Sports' NBA 2K6 and EA Sports' NBA Live 2006, as well as Activision paying Tony Hawk for the exclusive right to use his name and likeness in the Tony Hawk games and paying royalties to any of the music artists for using their songs in the game.

With companies needing games to sell more copies than ever before, thanks to the increased costs of developing them and the fact that the base price for games still remains relatively unchanged from 5 or even 10 years ago, many see the instant name recognition that they get by licensing a well-know intellectual property such as James Bond, The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, or X-Men, as a safe way to help guarantee some sales.

All that said, with the owners of these properties knowing their importance, it's becoming even more expensive to obtain their exclusive rights so there's still plenty of reasons for companies to try and create their own characters and properties and hope to they become household names.

Marketing

Often the most expensive aspect of game publishing comes in the form of marketing the game. This process happens all throughout the development process and often lasts after the game is shipped. It includes all the buying of advertising in the form of banner ads and promotions online, television commercials, local radio commercials, magazine print ads and pullouts, and in-store promotions, displays and advertisements.

The costs of doing all this is extremely high and it's quite common for a game's marketing budget to equal or even double the actual cost of making the game. Obviously, the most costly of these is the television advertisements, but it's also regarded as the most effective at getting your game in the minds of the mass market public.

Distribution

The final cost of publishing a game that we'll delve into is the distribution of the game, and that's the process of getting the game sold to wholesalers and then to retailers where you'll then have a chance to buy it. Wholesalers typically pay around $30 per game and with the costs of getting the goods to the wholesalers, any co-op advertising or marketing, and return of good contingencies being roughly $14 per game, the publisher is going to typically get $16 for every unit sold. The key part of this arrangement, however, is for the publisher to have really good relationships with the wholesalers and retailers because space is limited and unless a company's relationship is good, the wholesaler or retailers won't want to buy-in as many units, which means the sell-through can't be as good. A lot of time, money and effort is put into making sure publishers are in good with these distributors, however the bottom line is often that if your game sells they'll want to buy it. Or, if at least one of your games sells really well, then they'll want to buy or be forced to buy others.

How Games Companies are making their money

Games Overtake Music Sales For Subs-Happy Vivendi

French media conglomerate Vivendi (EPA: VIV) saw Q1 revenue up six percent to €6.9 billion compared with last year - and it’s easy to see why.

Vivendi told analysts last month it’s putting a “growing focus on subscriptions”, which have grown to comprise more than three quarters of the group’s income. That’s exactly what latest earnings show, as EBITA rose 14.7 percent to €1.6 billion…

—Activision-Blizzard: Sales “significantly better than expected” - up 29.3 percent to €945 million - thanks to still-rocketing Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and World Of Warcraft income. Downloadable content for the CoD title broke Xbox Live records and WoW has over 11.5 million paying monthly subs.

—Universal Music Group: A different story - sales down 13.4 percent to €899 million on fewer big releases in Europe and Asia plus declining CD sales (poor excuse - UMG houses big-name Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas). Like WMG, digital income is growing everywhere except North America, but, across the company, even fell 1.7 percent on diminishing ringtone sales.

—SFR: Vivendi’s biggest earner, the French telco’s revenue grew 1.9 percent to €3.08 billion, even after the impact of European Commission-imposed wholesale price cuts that has affected other operators. Broadband internet revenue up five percent.

—Canal+: The French pay-TV broadcaster sees revenues up 2.3 percent to €1.45 billion after adding a net 315,000 subscribers and slightly reducing digital channels customer churn.

Vivendi says it received a €122 million dividend for its NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) JV equity holding during the quarter, but the income it takes from the JV slimmed from €26 million to €15 million during this quarter.

Learning through games

'Trafalgar Origins' takes teens to sea
Channel 4 Education's latest interactive project is a compelling sea battle sim, with a few tales to tell of the Napoleonic era...

How do you get teenagers interested in the Napoleonic wars? Short of casting Robert Pattinson in an adaptation of War and Peace, or running a seafaring reality TV series entitled Celebrities with Scurvy, most commissioning editors would probably be stumped.

But earlier this month Channel 4 Education launched a free browser-based game entitled Trafalgar Origins, a beautifully designed Napoleonic sea battle sim, with crisp overhead visuals, thudding sound effects and plenty of palatable historical detail. It's been created by Preloaded, a developer that specialises in interactive educational projects for TV series' as well as galleries and museums. Another of their Channel 4 projects, 1066, has been played 16 million times online since its debut last year.

Trafalgar Origins, then, provides a series of missions in which you guide your nineteenth century frigate against aggressive enemy vessels. Plundering sinking craft earns loot which can be invested in better crew members who will improve your ship's attacking and defensive stats. There's also a range of weapons to call on including round shot, chain shot and powder barrels, which can be dropped into the sea and employed as rudimentary mines.

I only meant to play for a few minutes last night, but ended up spending two hours sailing through the tutorial missions, then tackling the historical encounters, each based on genuine face-offs between the English, French and Spanish navies. There's also a multiplayer mode, in which groups of up to five users can indulge in oceanic deathmatches. And naturally, Preloaded has implemented Facebook Connect, so players can post their achievements, compare stats with friends and set-up multiplayer sessions via the social networking site. (Preloaded creative director Phil Stuart, has written an interesting blog post entitled 'socialising Trafalgar Origins', which looks into the process of providing Face Book connect support.)

The game is designed to tie in with Channel 4's 'Bloody Foreigners' season, which kicks off in June and features a series of documentaries about the role of non-British nationals in the advancement of Britain as a world power (for example, a significant number of ex-slaves and foreign convicts were press-ganged into the British navy). And with 3.2 million missions already played, there are plenty of gamers already picking up interesting trivia about life in the Victorian navy; possibly more than you'd get from Celebrities with Scurvy...

Anyway, give it a go and see what you think. The boat handling takes a while to get used to, but it's fun to work out the best angles of attack, and to start using the anchor for aquatic 'handbrake turns'. A guided missile would come in handy, though. They had those in 1806, didn't they?

Film Streaming Service Blinkbox Coming To PS3

On demand film and TV streaming service Blinkbox is to be made available on PS3.

Launched in April 2008, the service plays home to over 5,000 movies and TV shows from content partners including Warner Bros, Universal, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, BBC Worldwide and Aardman.

Blinkbox has designed a platform specifically for the PS3's internet browser and has optimised its service for the console's controller, according to the Associated Press.

Content can be rented or purchased to own, and is automatically resized by Blinkbox’s webpage for the best fit on any TV screen. While some content is freely available, paid TV show rental prices begin at 39p, with films starting at 99p.

"The PS3 is the first of a number of devices to which we will be bringing Blinkbox, enabling customers to use our service on their TVs for instant streaming of new blockbuster movies - available on the same day as their release on DVD - as well as a growing library of free ad-supported titles," said Blinkbox CEO Michael Comish.

"As a console owner myself, I knew that fellow gamers wanted access to the very largest selection of movies for instant viewing, and did not want to lose valuable hard-drive space or have to wait for their downloads. Blinkbox brings the movie and gaming worlds together, now we just need someone to make a good movie of a game."

Gaming Review Events

Have a read here at how games publishers attempt to massage review scores by holding 'review events' for the press in 5 star hotels and exotic resorts.
Review scores are very important not just for readers of that specific magazine/website but also because all the scores are then fed in sites such as Metacritic, that produce an average score that many investors/retailers see as the definitive rating.

Why the Social Gaming is the Future

Brief overview on why so many games companies are investing in social gaming for example EA have bought Playfish from $300 million.

Distribution & Exchange - Online Gaming

Miyamoto: Nintendo Could Charge For Online Gaming

Shigeru Miyamoto has said that Nintendo needs to decide whether to stick with its free online gaming service or introduce a paid subscription model.

Online-compatible Wii and DS titles are currently free to play using Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection service, but in a recent interview Miyamoto suggested this could change.

“… Probably the other thing that we are desperate to realise is the core [online] business structure,” Nintendo’s Entertainment Analysis and Development boss told us. “Do we need to demand customers pay monthly fees to enjoy online activities? Or give an online subscription that is free of charge, but then offer something extra for people that pay, so that they get some extra value? With these core business strategies I think we are less active than we should be.”

Despite this admission, Miyamoto rejected the suggestion that Nintendo has only taken small steps in the online space.

“To be honest, I think it’s rather unfair whenever I hear such comments – that Nintendo isn’t proactive when it comes to its online strategy. The fact of the matter is that we always want all Wii consoles to be connected online, all the time, so Nintendo has never been less than proactive in that kind of endeavour,” he said.

“It is true, though, that Nintendo hasn’t been very proactive in developing such online activities as an MMOG. But when it comes to our endeavours that try to take advantage of internet technology, where we can provide our customers with more fun and entertainment, then I think we can say we have been very, very proactive and well-received. And that attitude won’t be changed at all in the future.”

Games Marketing

Games Marketing

View more presentations from davewilliamharrison.

History of Videogames Part 2

Videogames intro part 2

View more presentations from davewilliamharrison.

History of Videogames Part 1

Videogames intro part 1

View more presentations from davewilliamharrison.

Practice Exam Questions

Last Junes AS exam question was:

How important is technological convergence for institutions and audiences?

Here are some other example questions that we have written to help you prepare for the exam:
(Please be aware that the exam question is unseen and could relate to any aspect of a media products production, distribution or exhibitions. In the exam you will not get a choice of question)

1) To what extent is multi-platform publication beneficial to media institutions and audiences?

2) With reference to your chosen case study consider how important interactivity is to media institutions?

3) What has the impact of increased connectivity been on the media production, distribution and exhibition process?

You could practice by writing an essay plan or a timed essay answer. You should spend 45 minutes answering your chosen question. Don't forget to get your media teacher to mark your practice answer or plan.

Quick Examples

A game that has limited means of distribution:
Wii Fit needs the Wii Fit Balance Board to play it. The need for this extra piece of hardware means that the game can’t be made available as a download – it has to be purchased from a shop or online store.

A game that was originally available digitally:
Alien Hominid – was a 2D shoot-‘em-up that was free to play on the Newsground website. Such was the popularity of the game that a full console version was created for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube.

A developer that has become vertically integrated
Valve Software, the developers behind the hugely successful Half-Life series, created an online content delivery system called Steam. Initially it was thought this would be for the distribution of updates and patches for Valve’s game, but it became apparent that it could be used for the distribution of whole PC games.
Valve can now distribute their PC games without the need to include retailers in the process – however, they do have a publishing deal with EA for their PS3 and Xbox 360 games.
Many other publisher use Steam to distribute their PC games (eg Rockstar with GTA4), but have to share the revenue taken with Valve.

A game in development that doesn’t have a publisher:
The Outsider – a 3rd person action game that is being developed by Frontier Developments for PC, PS3, Xbox 360. This project was started and has continued without publisher funding.

A publisher that does not develop their own games:
505 Games – a publisher that acquires games mainly created by Japanese developers. For example they made an agreement with developers CML to publish the game Cooking Mama in Europe, but other companies published the game in the US and Japan.

Games that don’t need publishers:
Developers creating games for the iPhone can self-fund development (as they are relatively cheap to make) and then use Apple’s existing distribution structure (the App Store) to get the product to the consumers. (N.B. Apple state that 70% of revenues from the store to instantly go to the seller of the app, and 30% go to Apple.)
E.g. Illusion Labs created the game Touch Grind for the iPhone. Games found on Face book.

Using controversy to publicise a game:
For the release of the racing game Burnout, the publishers Acclaim started a competition/promotion for gamers to send in speed camera photos of them breaking the speed limit. Acclaim would then pay the speeding fine for the entry clocking the highest speed. This of course caught the attention of the press who criticised the encouragement of such dangerous behaviour which in turn help spread the about game.

A game that changed publishers:
Developer’s Sports Interactive created the Championship Manager football management sim, this was published by Eidos. The game was hugely successful but Sports Interactive split from their working relationship with Eidos in 2004. The decision was that Eidos could keep the brand name “Championship Manager”, but Sports Interactive could keep all the game code and database.
Sports Interactive then took their game to another publisher, Sega, and released it under the name Football Manager – billed as from the ‘creators of the Championship Manager series’.
Eidos released another version of Championship Manager but had to create the game from scratch with another developer.

A game that changed developer:
Core Design were a development studio owned by publisher’s Eidos. It was Core Design that created Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider games. The series was hugely successful until the release of Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness which was a commercial and critical flop.
Even though Core Design created the game, it was Eidos that owned the ‘intellectual property’ (the rights to use the Tomb Raider ideas and brand) and found another development studio to make Tomb Raider - another Eidos owned developer – Crystal Dynamics.

Key Definitions

Proliferation
Definition: A rapid increase in the number of a certain type of product.

Use: There are a number of different gaming formats, each with their own unique qualities - PS3, 360, Wii, DS, PSP, 360 and PC - subsequently Rockstar have to adapt their GTA experience to suit the format. So the PS3, 360 and PC get complete the GTA 4 experience, the DS, PSP and phone get GTA: Chinatown Wars.

Technological convergence
Convergence of technology occurs when multiple products come together to form one product with the advantages of all of them.

Use: The PlayStation3 is an example of technological convergence as it is machine that not only plays game, but can be used to watch Blu-Rays, surf the internet and organise and display digital content such as photos and music.

Media Convergence
When old and new media intersect in such a way that the way in media producers and media consumers interact changes.

Use: The consumption of GTA 4 is a good example of media convergence as consumers have used both old and new media to alter the way in which they experience the game. For instance GTA fans have used the internet to create fansites and communities to share tips, stories and experiences about the game. They have also developed their own modifications and shared them over the internet.

Or when two different media types combine to create a new experience.

Use: GTA4 uses licensed tracks for the radio stations in the games combining videogames and popular music to create new realistic experience and environment.

Synergy
Definition: The interaction of two or more agents to ensure a larger effect than if they acted independently.

Use: Rockstar used synergy in their marketing by timing the release of the first trailer to coincide with the release the first GTA 4 magazine preview which was in the US games magazine Game Informer.

Viral Marketing
Definition: A marketing technique aiming at reproducing "word of mouth", usually on the internet and through existing social networks.

Use: Rockstar used viral marketing to increase awareness of GTA 4 by setting up spoof websites designed to be ‘discovered’ by GTA fans who would then spread the word.

Guerilla Marketing
Definition: The use of unconventional and low cost marketing strategies to raise awareness of a product.

Use: To promote GTA 4, Rockstar used Guerilla marketing, putting up ‘wanted posters’ over New York, stickers up on notice boards and commissioning works of graffiti that featured characters from the game.

Vertical Integration
Definition: Absorption into a single firm of several firms involved in all aspects of a product's manufacture from raw materials to distribution.

Use: Rockstar Games have become a vertically integrated company by buying developers they have previously worked with, such as DMA Design who became Rockstar North and Angel Studios who became Rockstar San Diego. By doing this Rockstar have control over development, funding and marketing of their products.

Third Party Game
A game made by a company that is completely independent from the manufacturers of the console that the game is played on.

Second Party Game
A game created exclusively for a specific console through a contract agreement with the console manufacturer. (The console manufacturer may own a percentage of the studio, but not enough to give it a controlling interest.)

First Party Game
A game created by the console manufacturers themselves or by a developer in which the console manufacturer has a controlling interest (over 51% of shares).

Game Engine
A game engine is a software system designed for the creation and development games.

Developer
The software developers who create the game.

Publisher
The company that funds, market and distribute games that they have developed internally or have commissioned or acquired from an independent games developer. (NB even though most publishers also develop games as well, they are referred to as ‘publishers’ to differentiate them from the companies that just develop games.)

Machinima
Derived from the words ‘machine’ and ‘cinema’, Machinima is art of filmmaking created by using real-time recording of computer games, virtual worlds or any already-existing 3D digital worlds.

Modding
Modding is a slang expression that is derived from the word "modify” and refers to the act of modifying a game to perform a function or to include content not originally conceived or intended by the designer, and then usually shared via the internet.

Sandbox Game
A game that allows the gamer to ignore the main objectives of the game (usually the Story Mission) and engage in other non-goal orientate activities.