Long Road Applied Media Diploma

UNIT 01

A05 - Compare distribution channels and ownership patterns for your game genre choice.

Here you have to show understanding of how the games industry in terms of who owns what, how they make their money and how products gets to the consumers.

Select three games from your genre - (preferably three games from the last five years so nothing too old). Make sure they are significantly different in terms of scale of production and distribution model.

For example:

1. One big-budget very successful game that uses traditional models of distribution to reach consumers.

2. An iphone game that uses Itunes and downloading to distribute and maybe freemium way of making money.

3. A flash game created by an indy developer that you can play on a PC.

Suggestions:
Life-Sim
The Sims - Farmville - Iphone game?

Survival Horror
Resi 6 - I Am Alone - Slenderman

Sandbox
GTA4/Red Dead - Minecraft - Castor/Payback

MMORPG
WOW - Parrallel Kingdom - Guild Wars 2

RPG
Runescape - Mass Effect - Final Fantasy 3 (Iphone)

Racing
Cube Runner - Trials Evolution - Forza

3rd Person Shooter
Shrapnel (iphone) - I am Alive - Gears of War

For each one find out the following:
Ownership - the developer, the publisher and which formats (games machines) it is released.
Does the publisher own the developer?
Who owns the format?
How much does it cost to release a game on that format?
Is the game based on another licensed product (movie, sports personality, car)? 

Distribution and Exchange - how does the products get to the consumer and how does the company make money from it?
How do you get hold of the game - are their multiple ways of doing it?
Do you get the whole game or do you have to pay more for the full content?
Do you pay upfront for the game or pay in other ways?
Is it free? If so how do the company make money?

Then write a summary paragraph comparing the different models that you have discovered discussing the advantages and disadvantages to both the company and the consumer.

E.g. Angry Birds - Free to download, then paid for the Premium version:
The Fremium model is good for consumers as they get to try the product before they buy, however, they to pay more to get more content. It's a risk for the company as they have to build up a big user base to make money and there's the risk that no one will buy the premium version.

As ever, make your blogs looks exciting with images and embedded videos. Also include the PDFs if you want - just download them and put them on your post.

 

REMEMBER TO LABEL YOUR POST UNIT 01

 

This is the level of work that got the last years group a Merit

Download FILM_OWNERSHIP.pdf

Download MAG_DISTRIBUTION.pdf

Download MAG_OWNERSHIP.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Candidates should name the chosen media products and identify their genre.  They should explain using examples how the genre has: 

 

 

• changed in style 

• changed in content 

• changed in audience/consumer 

• been changed by new technology  

• met changes in sales and funding for production. 

YOUR RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE IS TO BE DONE ON YOUR BLOG AND MUST BE TAGGED 'UNIT 01'.

1. Choose the genre of videogame you wish to study. It has to be a clear and appropriate choice of genre so FPS, handheld, platformers, sims, strategies, survival horror, beat-em-ups, racing games are all good choices. Mario games, CoD, 'games with Zombies in' are not genres so you can't just study that.

2. Get researching. The most obvious thing to do is to type in 'History of...' into to Google and a recommend you do just that as the net is teaming with stuff about games. Whatever information you need, some fanatic has uploaded it for you.
Read the articles you find - but follow links (especially if you use Wikipedia) so you can get information from a number of sources.
As you read - make notes, build up the information so you know what to include and what not to. 

3. Structure your response. My suggestion is that you break-up your response historically - videogames are only 40 years old so you could split your research in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, present day. 
Then select key games (you should be thinking around 3) that are significant in development the genre. They could be signifcant for various reasons:
- The most popular of the time
- Led they way in terms of use of new technology
- Attracting a new audience
- Different content or style
- Led the genre in a new direction
Then in your own words explain why they are significant and how they developed the genre. 

4. Make it interesting to read: you're telling the story of how a game genre has developed so if there are any interesting personalities or anecdotes - include them.
Illustrate your work with relevant videos, pictures and hyperlinks.

5. Make it detailed - so for each game mention who made it, which year it came out, which machine it was playable on.

6. Try hard - the better you do it, the more chance you have of getting a disnction. Do the bare minimum and you risk not passing one of the mandatory Units.

Example of last years Merit work:

 

 

'Who reads it? "People with excellent taste."'
Quote from Stack.com interview with Little White Lies Editor Matt Bochenski

 

Audience types from UK Film Council Report

The report identified four types of film fan - Mainstream, Mainstream Plus, Aficionados & Film Avids

LWL readers are:

Aficionados
Aficionados are more likely than Mainstream Plus audiences to think of‘specialised films’ as a category in their own right.

They like to portray themselves as more discerning than other film-goers, to the extent of describing themselves as ‘anti-Hollywood’- even though they still predominantly see mainstream American films.

Compared to Mainstream types, Aficionados are more likely to make an effort to seek out specialised films that have caught their attention.

Aficionados will see all the same specialised films as Mainstream Plus audiences, as well as specialised films that are foreign, more thought-provoking and have unfamiliar casts. They are still likely to reject the more extreme examples of specialised material. 

 

OTHER NOTES FROM THE INDESIGN GRID

18-30 Young professionals/students, or graduates with significant disposable income and time rich.

No specific however there is a South East/London bias in terms of promotions: Barbican, BFI, Picturehouse, film festivals

Likely to enjoy independent and cult cinema, and discussion of film as an art form rather than just entertainment. They want to read about certain key films in great depth and digest unconventional ideas about films and help form opinion.

In depth interviews with creative practitioners involved in film may act as inspiration to wannabe filmmakers. May want to look different/cool

Significant amount of free time, into more cerebral leisure activities such as art, liberal politics, independent culture. Most likely to come from a cosmopolitan urban area. Maybe have a flat with stripped wood floors.

Likely to subscribe to the magazine and have their collection on display. Into established street fashion, indie electronic and guitar music, contemporary literature. Into comfortable arty festival scene, bars and coffee houses. Internet and design savvy, with some aspirations to work in a creative industry.