Convergence Culture: TV and Gaming (The Walking Dead and Defiance)

Defiance & Convergence

Convergence of TV and MMO: The Making of Defiance
World-First Convergence of TV & Gaming
With 'Defiance,' Comcast's Syfy Bets $100M On Convergence Of TV And Videogames

The Walking Dead & Convergence

The Walking Dead: Convergence Unleashed
Convergence Culture and The Walking Dead

Tomb Raider Movie Reboot Coming From MGM

Movie studio planning to start Lara Croft's story at the beginning...

A reboot of the Tomb Raider movie franchise is in the pipeline after movie studio MGM purchased the big-screen rights to the title.

Angry Birds cartoon series premieres next month

Rovio has announced the debut of its new Angry Birds animated series will land in March.

 

A blog post and accompanying trailer from the video game developer-turned-entertainment company confirmed that Angry Birds Toons will premiere on March 16-17 (assumedly based on time zones).

According to Rovio, new episodes will be made available online “every” week – though how many are ready to go at this point is unclear.

 

It’s been a while since we heard about the cartoon, which was originally revealed back in January 2011 as one of the many products the company was investing in for its mobile franchise.

 

REVISION: Spec broken down part 4

"The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing"

As yesterday's posts, many of these posts are going to be very much stream of consciousness splurging of whatever points I think we have discussed or anything else you need to be aware of but make sure you know some key terms and know what examples you can mention. By all means, use what I write here but go explore - nothing I mention is anything you can't find yourself - YouTube, official websites, Facebook pages - it is all out there so go live it up!

Lesson 17 - Technological Convergence

You are going to find out what consoles are owned on your table - then in the second half of the lesson you will be using this primary data to influence the creation of a new console you will design as a group.

PPT after the cut

Moshi Monsters strike Happy Meal deal

http://m.qsrmagazine.com/news/moshi-monsters-crawl-mcds-happy-meals-lto?microsite=all
Moshi Monsters strike Happy Meal deal

Mind Candy has put pen to paper on a deal which will see Moshi Monsters toys placed in Happy Meals in McDonalds’ North American restaurants over Christmas.

Sony launches Wonderbook TV campaign

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/sony-launches-wonderbook-tv-campaign/0106461



Sony launches Wonderbook TV campaign

Sony has launched a multi-million pound TV advertising campaign to ensure Wonderbook: Book of Spells is firmly in the minds of consumers ahead of its arrival tomorrow.

Rockstar Classics - Free downloads!

http://www.rockstargames.com/downloads#/?collection=7

Never played the original top down GTA games? R* have the originally two GTA games (1 & 2) available to download in full from the address above. Another generous helping from the company, who still have GTA V available to preorder for £39.99 in a world where millions went out and bought Black Ops 2 for £45+ ... #Realworld

 The "downtown" series of wallpaper backgrounds pay homage to the original R* guerilla marketing campaign of stickering New York City, very cool.



I am also in love with R*'s collection of wallpapers http://www.rockstargames.com/downloads#/?collection=1

 

 

Wallpapers for PC / PSP / Blackberry etc in order to promote their brand = CROSS MEDIA CONVERGENCE

Latest spreadsheet - who is missing what?

Click the pic to see full size the latest grid of who is missing what:

What's coming up in coming weeks...
Free2Play ... Social gaming  ... MMORPGs ...  Conglomerates ... Refreshers required on viral and guerilla marketing as well as types of convergence ... exam paper wording and practice ... and whatever knowledge gaps we feel we need to plug.

Remember to keep a record of any videogame adverts you see and post on the Blogpost below.


Another example of convergence:

Angry Birds flock to the world of children's books in time for Christmas

Via TechCrunch:

Rovio's Angry Birds are poised to make the leap – or is it flight? – to the world of print media in the UK, courtesy of a deal with children's book publisher Egmont.

The freshly-inked agreement will see Angry Birds-branded books distributed across the UK, Ireland, and English-speaking Commonwealth countries in time for the holiday season.

Kicking off the series is a double-sided joke book, featuring pigs on one side and birds on the other.

While hardly classic literature, Egmont hopes that the appearance of Angry Birds in books will convince children to put down their borrowed tablets and smartphones to read for a bit.

The joke book is planned to retail for £4.99/$8.00.

Book 'em, Rovio

Following the release of the double-sided joke book, Egmont plans to expand the range of Angry Birds titles by releasing a 'punch out' book and a 'search and find' title in 2013.

The move for Rovio to bring its successful Angry Birds brand to children's books is hardly unexpected, given the broad range of Angry Birds licenses that have popped up in the past year from card games, to theme parks, and even talk of an upcoming movie.

Angry Birds maker Rovio to unveil book app

Gaming isn’t enough to contain the ambitious of Rovio, maker of the highly contagious Angry Birds mobile game series, VentureBeat reports.

Next week, Rovio plans to disclose its “vision of digital publishing” and unveil its first book app at the Frankfurt Bookfair in Germany on Oct. 11. Peter Vesterbacka, Mighty Eagle and chief marketing officer at Rovio, will make a presentation about the app at the event.

The book app will serve multiple purposes. It will extend the Angry Birds (presumably that’s the franchise) property from one media to another, satisfying fans who can’t get enough of it. It also diversifies Rovio’s business into a new form of media, beyond the games and toys that it already sells. Rovio isn’t dropping any more clues about the content of the book yet, VB says.

In Pictures: Angry Birds theme park opens in Finland

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17921633

Rovio Teases “Angry Birds Star Wars,” Toys To Debut Monday

Red Bird is Luke in the mashup of two pop culture galaxies. A line of toys is expected to be announced on Monday.

The Story of Mojang- the Minecraft documentary out in December

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-story-of-mojang-the-minecraft-documentary-out-december

As most fans are awaiting the 1.8.2 title update for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, 2 Player Productions is getting ready to unleash their Minecraft documentary to the world. The documentary, The Story of Mojang, will take you back to the beginning of Minecraft, how it originated and what made it a success.
The Story of Mojang will allow us to follow Markus "Notch" Persson for about a year in 2011 after his fast rise to fame and fortune.

'Minecraft' heading into print after publisher buys rights

Minecraft is to make the leap to the printed page after publisher Egmont snapped up rights to the hugely popular social building game.

Egmont Publishing Group has signed a deal with Minecraft maker Mojang for magazine and book rights covering all territories apart from the US.

Often described as "virtual LEGO", Minecraft offers a universe in which players can create and build anything they want using virtual bricks.
(Article follows)

Essays: The other topics

Need to read up on a topic you did not look at for the exam?
Have a read of the following:

Is Mobile Gaming the future?
Shaun O

Or is Social Gaming?
Max S

Today's consoles - is there anything they can't do?
Tom C

Well done everybody, really pleased with the amount of effort and research that has obviously gone into all of these - the rest of us will find your essays useful reading for when the exam comes around!

Click here for a reminder of the Homework essay tasks

Mr H

Lesson 7 - EA Sports FIFA 13 Marketing & Distribution

Homework essay: WHAT'S NEW? Innovations in the videogames industry

Homework Task: Innovations in the videogame industry  essay

Set: Monday 17^th September

Due:  Monday 1st October

(To be written in Word, spellchecked and then posted on your Blog)

The 2012 Videogames Industry: Your task is to write a 750-1000 word essay on one of the set questions below on new innovations in the videogames industry today. You are to conduct your own reading and note taking around the subject using my Label Cloud on the right hand side and the Gaming Site feeds also on the side to help you. For the first part of your essay define and give examples of the keyterms in your question - those words in bold below.

Essay questions

1.       “Freemium” and microtransactions – Are the days of Day One purchases numbered, with publishers wanting more purchases down the line?

2.       Digital Distribution – Will everything become digital in the future and who wants this?

3.       The controller revolution: Gesture controllers – Wii, Kinect and Move etc – How have they affected the videogames industry?

4.       Technological convergence – Game consoles becoming Swiss Army Knives – How have consoles evolved from purely game consoles and what has been the impact on the industry?

5.       Social Gaming – Are casual Gamers taking over?

6.       A long way from Snake: Mobile gaming – iOS and the rise of Android – is this the future of gaming?

7.       Is single player dying? The rise of online gaming and multiplayer: Are single player games at risk of being the exception as opposed to the rule?

Is there an area of the videogame industry that you would like to research that is not covered by the topics here? See me asap and we can sort out an appropriate question for you to look at.

Latest Xbox 720 rumours

Xbox 720 rumour roundup...

v

Franchises that may not survive the next generation
Leaked Xbox 720 developer
Next Xbox to be subscription based?
Disk-free new Xbox would be a "dramatic advantage"
Why we are not ready for a download only Xbox 720

Past Videogames exam questions

Audiences and Institutions past exam questions (Videogames)

January 2009: Discuss the ways in which media products are produced and distributed to audiences, within a media area, which you have studied.

June 2009: How important is technological convergence for institutions and audiences within a media area which you have studied?

January 2010: “Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their products and services to national audiences.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

June 2010: What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?

January 2011: Discuss the issues raised by media ownership in the production and exchange of media texts in your chosen media area.

May 2011: “Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices.” To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?