COMM234 Media & New Technologies Week 10 Gaming Technologies Sarah Wharton

Learning Outcomes By the end of the session, learners should be able to: Discuss how media convergence has impacted on gaming culture and caused gaming culture to impact on other media. Some of this session will also be devoted to going through some of the main issues with the assignments.

A (very) brief (and partial) history of the home video game 1 st generation: 1972 Magnavox Odyssey Atari’s Pong 2 nd generation: 1976 Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES) Used cartridges Atari’s Space Invaders 3 rd generation: 1983/1985 Nintendo Famicom (Japan)/Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) (USA) Came packaged with Super Mario Brothers and a light gun (Zapper) Sega Master System

A (very) brief (and partial) history of the home video game 4 th generation: 1988 Sega Megadrive Used the Mega CD/Sega CD to increase storage Nintendo Game Boy 1990 Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) NEC’s TurboGrafx-16 SNK Playmore’s Neo Geo 5 th generation: 1993 Atari Jaguar and 3DO 3DO used discs (CDs) instead of cartridges Both expensive and hard to use Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64 (N64) Popularised 5 th gen consoles 3D graphics

A (very) brief (and partial) history of the home video game 6 th generation: 1999 Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2), Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube DVDs Longer, more visually stunning games Xbox was the first to offer and online service Sony PSP 7 th generation: 2005 Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3), Nintento Wii. High definition with Blu-ray discs (also saw start of HD- DVD/Blu-ray battle) Massive online presence Motion sensors used in gaming

Other platforms? Arcade machines PC, Apple, other home computers Tablet computers (iPad) iPod Mobile phones Smart phones Gaming apps on Facebook. Digital distribution software e.g. Steam Snake on the Nokia 3330

How has media convergence affected games and gaming technologies? Online support for open narrative MMO games like World of Warcraft. More social gameplay with gamers able to play console games online. Backwards compatibility almost infinite with online stores like Nintendo’s Virtual Console and the PlayStation Store. Using games to create user generated content e.g. using The Sims 3 to create short films. Crossovers e.g. games as ancillary products or other media based on games. Sense of ‘play’ infusing other media e.g. puzzle films – more in seminar. Gaming structure and aesthetics seeping into other media such as films e.g. the ‘level’ structure of Sucker Punch (Zack Snyder, 2011) (see this blog), or the first-person shooter sequence in Doom (Andrzej Bartkowiak, 2005).blog

Alien Vs. Predator: A multimedia franchise Crossover of Alien and Predator franchises. Comics. Published by Dark Horse Comics from Games. Film series: Alien Vs. Predator (Paul W. S. Anderson, 2004) Alien V.s Predator: Requiem (Colin & Greg Strause, 2007) Alien Vs. Predator (SNES, 1993) Av.P: The Last of His Clan (Game Boy, 1993) Av.P (arcade & Atari Jaguar, 1994) Av.P (PC & Mac, 1999) Av.P 2 (PC & Mac, 2001) Av.P 2: Primal Hunt (PC & Mac, 2002) Av.P: Extinction (PS2 & Xbox, 2003) Av.P (mobile, 2004) Av.P 3D (mobile, 2005) Av.P: Requiem (PSP & mobile, 2007) Av.P (PC, PS3 & Xbox 360, 2010)

Doom (Andrzej Bartkowiak, 2005)

ASSIGNMENT TIPS Referencing, structure, evidence and spelling

Referencing Always use Harvard System – NOT footnotes. Your reference always comes at the end of the sentence, after the paraphrased section or quote. A paraphrase or direct quote should always have a page reference. Don’t include references in your bibliography that haven’t been included in the main body of work.

Structure This sounds really obvious but: Point > Example > Explanation > Reflection Make your point or state an idea. Use an example/quote/theory/statistic that supports your idea. Explain why/how it supports your idea. Reflect/critique/evaluate.

Evidence If you state anything as fact you need to back it up with supportive evidence. Example: ‘The audience for the Paranormal Activity movies is predominantly over-25 as demonstrate by Andrew Stewart of Variety who states that 47% of Paranormal Activity 3’s audience was from that age group (2001: internet).’

Spelling and Grammar Use British spellings e.g. ‘ise’ not ‘ize’. Do not abuse apostrophes. Capital letters have their place. Make sure they’re in the right ones. The only things that needs to be italicised are titles of texts (e.g. books, TV shows, films, albums etc. but not journal articles). USE YOUR SPELL CHECK.