Thursday 28 April 2011

Essex

r2-46 - The Big Top


The big top!
Concept – To make your own ring master character and an award winning circus, e.g. no animal cruelty, having the best acts, keeping the grounds clean, having the right ticket price, not overcrowding. Keeping the acts happy, not going bankrupt/ making a decent profit. To win the game you have to receive the golden award for your circus.
Console – The big top would be a PC game available on C-D rom and download, to be compatible with all computer types.
Profile typical gamer – The typical gamer for the big top would be children aged 8-15 who have a creative interest, the game is not gender specific, although girls are more likely to play. This game would be aimed at the casual gamer as its not addictive and you can save your game so you can dip in and out of your circus, making parents more likely to wan there child to play.
Price – The game would be sold at £15-£20.
Marketing Strategy  - We would aim to sell the CD rom version of the game in lots (if not all) of well known gaming shops, such as: GAME, Game station, Hmv, Curry’s, PC world etc. Also it would be stocked in the Supermarkets such as Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s and more; This is because our target audience of younger children are more likely to be with their parents in the supermarket, as a casual gamer, as opposed to a gaming shop like a hardcore gamer. However it would still be stocked in the game shops mentioned above, to market to a wider audience.  
The downloadable version of the game would have its own website, also called “the big top”. Here you could sample the game for an hour, before deciding to follow a simple download procedure, which adds the game to your applications. Downloading the game online would be slightly cheaper than buying it in the shops, more likely to retail around £10 - £15. As well as being available on its own website, “The big top!” would also be downloadable from sites such as itunes, Play.com and Amazon. If the customer wanted the disc, they could still purchase it on sites mentioned above, such as Amazon and Play.com, with a free delivery.
Adverts for the game would be posted on social networking sites, targeting those gamers who are already playing games on such sites, eg. FarmVille on Facebook. Many posters around shops it is stocked in to let the customer know it is in stock. Adverts on TV would simulate an exciting part of the game being played, not necessarily Game footage. These adverts would be shown on daytime channels targeting younger children, eg. Citv around 4 o’clock, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Disney channel.  Similar adverts to that on social networking sites would be present on itunes etc and a link to its own website will appear high up the list on the search engines when anything to do with PC games is typed in. 

The Slammer videogame

Your name is Michael Read and you have been imprisoned for life for the attempted murder of the primeminister. You arrive at one of the smallest maximum security prisons in the world, why so small because it harvests some of the most notorious and dangerous criminals in the world. As you arrive you descover that this prision is hardcore and you will have to fight to survive. Be Read and fight up the ranks within the prision by bringing in drugs, fighting and even killing, but will you survive long enough to break free?

Avaliable on:
PS3
XBOX 360

 (Graphically enhanced consoles only!)


Levels: The game is a storyline more than a specific levelled game.


Profile of Typical gamer: Our typical gamer would be male adolescents that are interested in violent content within their games. They would be interested in games such as modern warfare, call of duty and grand theft auto.

USP: our usp is that there has been no game like it made yet, which draws the consumer in because it is the newest adolescent 'craze.'

Box Design (made by Georgia and James)..



Poster: (made by maya)















Marketing strategy: we will advertise it on television as well as various console magazines, we have also published our game in various online gaming sites. We have chosen these methods because in modern day gaming this would be the first hand way to put across our game to older teenage gamers. Our game will also have a relevant website that will provide various trailers and even a demo of the game. This will give an even keener gamer an even closer look at what the game is all about. We aim to adress our consumer directly to make them feel involved in the game and make them really feel enveloped in it as they take on the role of Micheal Read as themselves...

the sims - the only way is essex!

The game will be made into disks which will be compatible with xbox, ps3 and pcs, which will not restrict the consoles in which you can play this game. The game will be aimed at late teens both male and female who will be into the glitz and glam lifestyle and obviously like the TV show 'The Only Way Is Essex'. The game will be similar to 'The Sims' as the characters from the only way is Essex will be made already and the gamer will make their own sim who will fit in with the Essex life and will have to do different tasks in order to work their way up, for example help organize big events, get a job and throw their own event. They will need to build relationships with other characters to make both friends and enemies. They will live everyday lives; go to the salon, go out shopping, meet friends for lunch and even go on nights out to the Sugar Hut. Each character will collect 'looks' in order to get these you will have to attract the attention of other players/characters and this will help you gain popularity, status and work your way up in the world of Essex. The amount of 'Looks' given by each character will depend on who the person is looking at them, for example if a female is looked at by Mark then they will be awarded 10 looks whereas if they were looked at by Arg they will only receive 5. What makes this game different is that many teenagers watch 'The Only Way Is Essex' and would love to have the chance to take part in it, and live similar lives. This game allows teenagers to make a character who will do exactly this.

We would promote this game using traditional and viral marketing through word of mouth, posters, television and radio adverts etc. We would arrange a book signing of some characters from 'The Only Way Is Essex' to promote the game, at the signing there will be posters around showing different aspects of the game which would highly entice fans of the TV show to come and meet the characters and purchase the game also. There will be different consoles in which this game will be played on, and events held in order to allow the public to come and try out the game, and see what it is all about and receive special offers on the product. Their will be competitions in which the public can enter at the book signings which give you the chance to win different prizes; an x-box and ps3 console, a copy of the game, the chance to meet the 'Only Way Is Essex' full cast, the chance to go on a night out with 2 friends to The Sugar Hut. There will be adverts on ITV2 promoting the game, these adverts will include the a few 'Only Way Is Essex' characters and other lucky members of the public socializing showing what the game is all about. The advert will give you tips on how to gain points in the video game, and even take you backstage to the most important venues of the game. We have chosen these specific methods to advertise the game as the people we aim this game at will be aware of these events and will most likely watch ITV2 often so they will be the first people to find out about the game. Obviously friends will pass on the word about 'The Sims - The Only Way Is Essex' as they will be interested in finding out more about it.

Tom Arto: Escape poster

Picture 3

Tuesday 26 April 2011

Representation of violence

A game on Facebook called Crime City involves your character going from place to place shooting people, making heists, robbing shops etc to make money, get gemstones and level up so that you can get further in the game. Also, you can beat up members of other people's mafia gangs in order to get respect (in the form of silver coins) so that you can buy cars and you usually get extra items/body parts off of the people you beat up so you can trade the items in for rewards. This means that the game promotes violence and  represents the violence in a positive way. The reason for this is because the player's character can freely steal and beat people up in the game without being at the risk of getting caught by the police or beaten up/killed by someone else and stealing things from buildings is very easy to do in the game because all your character needs is enough energy to perform the task (which he will have less and less of depending on the number of tasks he does in a certain amount of time).
The game doesn't have a specific BBFC classification but judging by the fact that there is a lot of violence involving guns and blood as well as censored swear words it would make sense for it to be labelled as a 15 and most 15 year olds would have a Facebook account so lots of people this age would be more aware of the game. Also they can socialise with each other while they're playing since it is a multiplayer online game. The game could also be considered addictive because the more tasks you perform the more locations you get to and the more stuff you can buy for your hood.
The main issue with this game however is that anyone who has a Facebook account can access the game and play it, and since they get rewards for crimes this encourages them to behave violently and agressively towards others. Also, the idea of stealing without anyone arresting the player's character could encourage younger children to steal from other people because they think they will get something out of it if they do.

Media term definitions

Consumption - how the consumer interacts with the product
                          eg: through computers, games consoles, iPods/iPhones

Production - the actual making of the product/how it was made
                      eg: Angry Birds - puzzle video game developed by Finland-based Rovio Mobile.

Distribution/Marketing - how the game was advertised/how we heard of it
                    eg: viral marketing - better known because internet users spread information about the game.
                         guerilla marketing - unconventional methods of advertising using stalls/models to raise
                                                          awareness of the product and what it does