Here below is what the examiner has reported back from the results of the 2011 paper on instituions and audiences for the Video Games industry. Please read to have an idea of what is expected!
Video Games Industry
The best answers tended to come from candidates who had been well-prepared with detailed,contemporary case studies and were able to select relevant material from these to respond to the question. Many candidates were able to build their own experiences as consumers into their responses and were able to contextualise these through wider understanding of the relationships between producers and audiences.
The best responses came from candidates who appeared to have studied the area from an institutional perspective and recognised the role of big corporations and franchises in discussion of the marketing of games. Some candidates did very well in this area focussing on Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto 4), discussing distribution, marketing and exchange across platforms. Candidates were able to discuss the franchise and were able to discuss the importance of synergy and technological convergence with relevance to the question. Weaker responses tended to just describe the games with limited analysis of distribution and marketing in relation to the game targeting specific audience.
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Thursday, 8 December 2011
Past Exam Questions
The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audience
The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange
What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences
Discuss the issues raised by media ownership in the production and exchange of media texts in your chosen media area.
The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange
What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences
Discuss the issues raised by media ownership in the production and exchange of media texts in your chosen media area.
Past Exam Question (Class Practice)
The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in Production, Distribution and Marketing.
Remember to note down what the terms mean!
media convergence: various types of media coming together to produce, distribute and market your product.
Synergy: two or more agents which have come together to produce, distribute and market your product
Structure:
Introduce your question and what you will be discussing within your answer.
"Cross media convergence and synergy can be seen in all three areas of production, distribution and marketing of a video game. For this question i will be discussing the importance of synergy and media convergence in my two case studies, which are Red Dead Redemption and Angry Birds".
Discuss and analyse areas in turn: You may want to start with production and then move onto distribution and marketing.
discussion of the use of media convergence and synergy for both your case studies.
during the production stage of your case studies has the producers used media convergence and/or synergy? how important was this in the making of the game? answer via comparing the two games.
how did your two games use media convergence and/or synergy when distributing and marketing the game? how important was this at the release stage? did one company use a technique or method that the other never? why might this be the case? has this made a difference in the distribution and marketing or either game?
Conclusion: summerise your main answer, apply brief sentences which answer the question and add in own perspective
"Refering back to the two case studies i have analysed, it is apparent that both media convergence and synergy has played an important role in both RDR and in Angry Birds. Through all stages of production, distribution and marketing RockStar have proven to work with other media companies and other agents to get the game from developer to consumer. Although RockStar is a vertically intergrated company and Rovio an independent horizontally intergrated company, it is still apparent that both companies have synergised with other media agents and companies in areas such as cross promotion, working with other media companies (music industry) and during the release of the game. However, due to the scale of the budgets and company status you can identify that media convergence and synergy has been apparent in RDR at a much laregr scale. This does not however mean that Angry Birds was a failure as Angry Birds in turn also did very well in terms of popularity. "
Remember to note down what the terms mean!
media convergence: various types of media coming together to produce, distribute and market your product.
Synergy: two or more agents which have come together to produce, distribute and market your product
Structure:
Introduce your question and what you will be discussing within your answer.
"Cross media convergence and synergy can be seen in all three areas of production, distribution and marketing of a video game. For this question i will be discussing the importance of synergy and media convergence in my two case studies, which are Red Dead Redemption and Angry Birds".
Discuss and analyse areas in turn: You may want to start with production and then move onto distribution and marketing.
discussion of the use of media convergence and synergy for both your case studies.
during the production stage of your case studies has the producers used media convergence and/or synergy? how important was this in the making of the game? answer via comparing the two games.
how did your two games use media convergence and/or synergy when distributing and marketing the game? how important was this at the release stage? did one company use a technique or method that the other never? why might this be the case? has this made a difference in the distribution and marketing or either game?
Conclusion: summerise your main answer, apply brief sentences which answer the question and add in own perspective
"Refering back to the two case studies i have analysed, it is apparent that both media convergence and synergy has played an important role in both RDR and in Angry Birds. Through all stages of production, distribution and marketing RockStar have proven to work with other media companies and other agents to get the game from developer to consumer. Although RockStar is a vertically intergrated company and Rovio an independent horizontally intergrated company, it is still apparent that both companies have synergised with other media agents and companies in areas such as cross promotion, working with other media companies (music industry) and during the release of the game. However, due to the scale of the budgets and company status you can identify that media convergence and synergy has been apparent in RDR at a much laregr scale. This does not however mean that Angry Birds was a failure as Angry Birds in turn also did very well in terms of popularity. "
Thursday, 24 November 2011
12C Homework Research Task
This task requires you to research into example games and developers which have used or are invloved with the following terminologies:
Media Ownership, Media Convergence, Technological Convergence, Synergy, Proliferation, First Party Game, Second Party Game, Third Party Game, Vertical Intergration and Horizontal Intergration.
You must give specific examples.
This task would assess your knowledge on the above terms.
Here is an example below:
Media Convergence: video game: Gears of War: Epic Games worked with Sumthing Else Music Works on the video game soundtrack. Music+videogame = media convergence.
Synergy: video game: Gears of War: the above example also links into synergy at a production level. two agents are working together at the production stage to create a better product.
Also Synergy can be applied at a related product point of view which would take place during the marketing stage. video game: Gears of War: Newline Cinema + Epic Games working together to produce a film adaptation of the game = Synergy.
Proliferation: video game: Angry Birds: puzzel video game: IPhone App production increase in such games through popularity of consumption.
Technological Convergence: video game: Angry Birds: released for the Apple iOS 2009. Produced and distributed for this technologically converged device.Later had to go back to the product stage in order to create versions for other devices e.g.personal computers + gaming consols. An effect from proliferation.
Media Ownership: video game: Call Of Duty: developed by Infinity Ward: Published by Activision who also have the legal IP rights.
First Party Game: Produced by the manufactorer of the primary company or company which has been aquired by the manufactorer. Naughty Dog Inc aquired by Sony in 2001: Game: crash bandicoot.
Second Party Game: an independent developer making games soley for one manufactorer. Game Freak developing games for Nintendo: Game: Pokemon
Third Party Game: company which is different from the consol company. this could be a hardware or software product. EA Games: develop games for Sony PS3 etc. Accessories like headsets could be referred to as third party headsets-company of the headset is different from the consol company.
Vertical Intergration: A single firm which is involved in all aspects of a product- Rockstar Games
Horizontal Intergration: This is interwined with Synergy: company that works with others- e.g. developer amd distributer are different.
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
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