Saturday, 6 April 2013

ANALYSIS: Free-to-play games putting pressure on triple-A

In an increasingly fractured market there are less and less outright villains in the games business, save for one business model: free-to-play

UK boxed game sales spike over Easter

UK games retailers enjoyed its busiest weekend yet last week, thanks to BioShock and Tomb Raider.
The two blockbuster releases of the last month dominated the Chart-Track Top 40 last week, with BioShock Infinite becoming the fastest selling game in the series to date.

743,045 games were sold in the UK last week, generating £20.26m in revenue. A rise of 47 per cent week-on-week. This number is for boxed video games only, GfK Chart-Track currently does not track digital game sales.

It was also one of the busiest release weeks for some time, with Luigi’s Mansion 2 (No.5 in the charts), Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel (No.6), Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 (No.8), LEGO City Undercover (No.13) and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (No.31) joining BioShock: Infinite on the shelves.

It marked an end to a solid March for the trade, following a disappointing start to the year. However, with a lack of new software due over the next two months, game sales are expected to slip again before the end-of-year rush.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/uk-boxed-game-sales-spike-over-easter/0113674

Marketing: In-game advertising

In-game advertising (IGA) refers to advertising in computer and video games. IGA differs from advergaming, which refers to a game specifically made to advertise a product.
The IGA industry is large and growing. In 2009, spending on IGA was estimated to reach $699 million and is anticipated to grow to $1 billion by 2014

In-game advertising (Wikipedia)

Help Sim City sell your eyeballs to Nissan

Vote for Barack Obama ads in Burnout Paradise (Picture below)

Angry Birds rakes in serious cash - Angry Birds uses in-game advertising to promote other Rovio products (such as Bad Piggies!) sell micro transactions to improve game content or other DLC.

From MCVUK.com - In-game ads to top $7.2bn by 2016
Revenue from in-game advertising is expected to increase in the next few years, but are advertisers making the most of our medium?

The new Advertising and Video Games report by research firm DFC Intelligence predicts that the in-game advertising market will reach $7.2bn globally by 2016, according to IndustryGamers.

The report added that the North American in-game advertising market was worth $1bn in North America last year, and is expected to reach $2bn by 2014.

This figure also includes around-game advertising - such as banners around browser-games - and advergames, which are titles used to advertise a product, organisation or viewpoint.

However, DFC claims the full potential of this advertising channel is not being realised.
"Video games have reached beyond adolescent males into a mainstream entertainment medium that touches every segment of the population," said DFC analyst and the report's lead researcher Michael Goodman.

"Despite this, advertisers continue to under utilise video games as an advertising vehicle. This is slowly changing and more games go online.

"Video games, with their high degree of immersion and interactivity, are a natural solution for building brand awareness and influencing purchase decisions."

Revision: Changes in audience profiles

Changes in audience profiles:
Whereas once the primary audience for games was seen as male, aged 11-15, the gaming markets are expanding, due to a number of factors.

More sophisticated graphics and more complex game play have attracted more mature audiences.
Early gamers continue as gamers - those who were in the original audiences in the 1980s are older but continue to play.
Industry growth has enabled increasing diversity of games, leading to broadening of audiences.
Industry growth has meant that games are now cheaper to buy (although more expensive to produce) which again broadens the audience.
Gaming is becoming culturally acceptable across many social groups.
Online gaming has considerably expanded game appeal - for example, increasing female audiences, who are participating in traditionally 'male' games as well as more 'female' games such as simulations.

Comments on and criticisms of computer games:

Game play can be competitive, co-operative or individualistic.
Many games are violent. Others are to do with excelling in sport, completing dangerous missions to retrieve or collect things, or taking on the persona of a warrior or hero and employing strategy to win. Games use technology to represent reality or to embody fantasy. Critics argue they harden players to the task of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds or thousands of opponents in a single game. Grand Theft Auto 3 is criticised, for example, because players can choose to steal a car, pick up a prostitute, have (implied) sex with the prostitute, then kill her and steal her money.
Tomb Raider was marketed through the visual construction of Lara Croft.
Many critics have commented on the lack of 'female' games.
Critics also observe how few original games are produced, since so many games are spin-offs from films.

VLE area for Media Studies

New improved VLE area for Year 12 Media Studies.

In the "Exam Prep" area I have put all of the previous TV drama extracts along with sample answers and the examiner's report for each year.

There will also be guidance and tutorials to help you with your magazine constructions.

Any suggestions as to anything else that could go on there, let me know.

Click Rick or go to tinyurl.com/deyesmedia12

Friday, 5 April 2013

AS Media Studies G322 (TV Drama) Resit: Monday 13th May AM

Section A: TV Drama (Probably won't be medical drama + age...)

Section B: The video game industry

L3 will be open everyday after school for drop in revision or catchup - except for Mondays after school as FilmClub is based in there, but I will be still be about so you can ask anything or we can go somewhere to discuss any issues you may have.

Thursday, 4 April 2013

Critical Consensus: Ridiculous Fishing - A Tale of Redemption

Critical Consensus: Ridiculous Fishing - A Tale of Redemption

Vlambeer's mobile title is highest scoring game of 2013 so far

On paper, the fishing game seems like a pretty ridiculous concept all round. It's a fairly sedentary hobby, epitomised by calm mornings on a chilly river bank, in which the ultimate achievement is to drag a slimy, smelly creature out of its natural habitat before photographing it and either putting it back or stuffing it for the wall of your house.

Ever increasing game costs could cripple the industry.

Video Game Costs Could Crash the Industry

Essential reading for G322 resitters - very interesting stats regarding the state of the industry - the fact that Tomb Raider can be critically acclaimed, sell 3.5 million copies and yet the publishers make a Loss for the year: something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Something needs to change or the industry is heading for a meltdown.

Read the Mashable article after the cut

Ridiculous Fishing, Byrdr and Vlambeer's creative approach to indie marketing

Ridiculous Fishing, Byrdr and Vlambeer's creative approach to indie marketing

"We literally had no clue what we were doing."

For many independent developers raising awareness and generating buzz around a game is a tricky proposition, especially in the increasingly crowded mobile marketplace.