Videogame Advertising: institution

Rockstar Games
Background: 1998, New York City
Owner/founder: Take 2 Interactive
Most successful games: GTA IV, GTA V, GTA San Andreas
Interesting fact about the institution: They have sold millions of copies of the game GTA V as soon as it was released

EA (Electronic Arts)
Background: Redwood City CA, 1982
Owner/founder: Pogo.com
Most successful games: FIFA 14, Battlefield 4/3
Interesting fact about the institution: They have took part in many games which are now really popular such as FIFA

Zynga
Background: CA San Francisco July 2007
Owner/founder: Michael Luxton, Scott Dale, Justin Waldron, Steve Schoetller, Eric Schiermeyer, Kyle Stewart and Mark Pincus
Most successful games: Candy Crush
Interesting fact about the institution: Candy Crush has had millions of installs and made loads of money from in-game purchases.

Nintendo
Background: September 23rd, 1889 Kyoto, Japan
Owner/founder: Fusajiro Yamauchi
Most successful games: Mario Kart
Interesting fact about the institution: Nintendo made the first ever movement required console, the Nintendo Wii

Sony Computer Entertainment
Background: November 16th, 1993, Tokyo, Japan
Owner/founder: Ken Kutaragi and Norio Ohga
Most successful games: Playstation 3/4
Interesting fact about the institution: Has created the Playstation 4, which is a next gen console.


Task 2: Advertising agencies

Look at the following advertising agency websites:

W+K Amsterdam

1. What do the letters stand for? (Clue: look at the very bottom of the website) 
2. Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam 2012
3. What brands have W+K Amsterdam advertised? Coca Cola, ESPN, Nike, Honda, Microsoft, Miller Brewing, Old Spice, Facebook, Procter & Gamble, Chrysler, Mobile
4. In your opinion, what is the most creative campaign on their website? The Heineken advert, it has many creative aspects as well as an urban feel poster
5. What videogame campaigns have they created? FIFA 14
6. What additional information can you find out about the FIFA14 advertising campaign?

Rokkan

1. How long has the Rokkan advertising agency been around for? 14 years
2. Where is Rokkan based? New York, NY
3. What brands have Rokkan advertised? Jetblue, Sharp, Nestle Purina
4. Why was Rokkan's campaign for the videogame 'Dishonored' so successful? For having the best graphics
5. Who was the publisher for 'Dishonored'? Bethesda Softworks

Wii Party Case Study

General research

1. When was Wii Party released on the Nintendo Wii? It was released on October 25th, 2013
2. Which developer/institution created Wii Party? Nintendo Software Planning and Development and Nintendo Gamecube
3. How many copies has the game sold since release? 1.24Million

Broadcast

1. What are the key conventions of a videogame TV advert? What would you expect to see in most videogame TV adverts? Gameplay footage, age rating, credits, special features and release dates. I mostly expect to see gameplay footage, it will determine whether you like the game or not.
2. How many of the key conventions you have listed above appear in the Wii Party TV adverts? List them with specific details from the Wii Party TV adverts. There was gameplay, showing different minigames with different people being played. They were showing special features like a camera on the Wii game-pad, also there was a online leader board, but they didn't' show the age rating off the game.
3. What is the typical setting for Wii Party TV adverts? Why is that setting used? In a modern house. They used that to show its a game for any demographic group.
4. How might the setting appeal to families? In the trailer it shows different races of families, so it is saying the game is for anyone.
5. What celebrities do the adverts feature? They promote the game. e.g. If loads of people like JLS and see them playing the game, they will want it because JLS have it.
6. What do you notice about the celebrities' costume and make-up?
7. Why do you think those particular celebrities were chosen? Because they are really popular on the music charts at the time of release.
8. What do the celebrities suggest about the Wii Party target audience? They suggest that making different celebrities play the game must show an interest they have in the game, e.g. The Redknapps were playing a football game so football fans might want it. JLS were playing it, so loads of girls might want it.
9. What else can you learn about the Wii Party target audience from the TV adverts? Suggest a demographic profile: gender, age, social class etc.
10. Both male and female, 50% male 50% female, most likely 10-20 age range, demographic class ABC1. Most likely to own a decent house and car, spend time with family and go out a lot. They are also most likely to wear known brands of clothing and likely to own Samsung or iPhones 3-5s.
11. What audience pleasures do the Wii Party TV adverts offer to viewers? Refer to Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory when answering this question.
12. What examples of branding can you find in the Wii Party TV adverts - either for the game itself or Nintendo Wii?
13. Do you think the TV adverts were effective for promoting the Wii Party game? Yes, because they got different celebrities with different interests in sports or other games they have in it, and Wii Party would have it, also the fans would get it if there favorite celebrity has got it.

Print

1. Find a Wii Party review from a magazine or newspaper. What does the review suggest about the target audience for the game? The telegraph says the Wii U is a great game, that appeals to families with many different mini games, they believe it is great for them to play and have fun with.
2. Is the review positive or negative about the game? Copy and paste one quote from the review to support this view. This review is positive 
   Wii Party U may be seen by many as another mini-game compendium churned out to appeal to families but there is more to it than meets the eye
3. Do you think magazine reviews are effective in promoting the game to Wii Party's target audience? Yes, they are vital because if people end up reading lets say 5 negative reviews to 1, chances are they are not going to buy the game.

E-media

1. Visit the Wii Party website. How does it attract and maintain the interest of a Wii Party fan? The website is quite bright and colourful so it would grab attention quite quickly, there are also other parts of the website you can go to showing different types of game modes like mini games, party games, all to do with the one game.
2. What do you notice about the people in the scrolling central image featured on the website? I can see that it shows different cultures/races of different families playing the game as well as shots of game play footage in there.
3. How many times can you find the words 'friends' or 'family' used on the official website? Why do you think the website emphasises this aspect of the game? The website uses friends and family to show, its for everyone.
4. What is the colour scheme for the website? What does this suggest about the target audience? They have used this colour scheme to show its for male and female genders, there is pink which most girls would be known to like and there is blue which most males will like, but maybe all colours to show they are for everyone, not just focusing on one gender.
5. Look at the 'Video Gallery' on the official website. What do the 'Invitation' videos suggest about the Wii Party target audience?
6. How many 'likes' has the Wii Party/Wii Party U Facebook wall had? 119k
7. How does the Wii Party Facebook wall cross-promote other Nintendo games? Find three examples and explain why they appeal to the Wii Party target audience.
8. Wii Party does not have such a strong presence on other social networking sites. Why do you think this is?
9. Which platform do you think is strongest in promoting Wii Party to its target audience - broadcast, print or e-media? Why? Broadcast, because if someone writes a review for the game, and multiple people agree, more people will be more likely to buy the game as well as gameplay trailers too, they are quite effective because you can get different people to play the game which shows its for anyone.

Fifa 14 case study

1.

This poster promotes the game by it saying "Real leagues, Real teams, Real players," which tells us that this game is for everyone as there are a wide range of leagues and teams for a wide range of places where the game is available as the game is not focused on one thing or one place.

2. The conventions used for the poster are the Fifa 14 logo, the slogan and the team Barcelona with Lionel Messi celebrating a goal in his football gear.

3. Realism in football games reaches its maximum.

FIFA 14 is still the amazing soccer simulation we know, with a host of improvements and the most complete set of players, teams and game modes.

Although lacking a bit in terms of innovation when compared with previous iterations, FIFA 14 remains a well balanced, profound and addictive soccer experience, that will be enjoyed by rookies and veterans alike.

These reviews from Game Critics are positive, probably because the developers try hard to get the game better than normal, using real ball physics and such.

4. Magazine reviews are effective because a lot of gamers read magazines about the games on the front cover or on specific consoles because they want to see what other gamers has given the game they might want to buy as firstly, if its negative it will decrease the chance of the game being sold however if the reviews for the game are positive, the game will have a higher success rate of the game being sold.

5.Print, because you can place posters and flyers on billboards or your local game store so when your either going somewhere or are going to get a new game it would be quite visible un-like on the internet as people would only use the internet to search up specific things and or think that somethings related to the game are just pop-ups or ads.

Broadcast:

1. The advert attracts the audience as it shows almost a whole range of different types of people and races playing the game which symbolises the game is for everyone to play,

2. Messi is driving the van to lead a whole group of people to victory and kinds of let the people follow the steps to becoming as a good as Messi.

3. It features the Fifa 14 brand in bold letters on the back of the van, where it opens, with released game play, along with the current number one football player, Lionel Messi

4. Because the game is meant to be played by everyone such as normal people to A- list celebrities.

5. It is different from the TV advert itself as on the TV advert, it focuses the game op people but on the other hand, the game trailer features with gameplay coming directly from the game including the new features mentioned and how good the game is.

6. The trailer is effective in promoting the game as the trailer shows the new features that has never been seen before on Fifa such as the realistic movements and effects also it includes high-definition gameplay to show how this game advances from previous Fifa games.

E-media:

1. The Fifa 14 website attracts and maintains the attention of a Fifa 14 fan as almost the whole home page for the game is almost filled with the number one footballer, Messi.

2. The Fifa 14 facebook wall has 21 million likes.

3. The ones i have chosen seem to like to get the audience involved as if they were there in-order to get their personal opinions. A way of doing this is by hosting/entering competitions to try and interact with the Fifa fans.

4.

5. The twitter hashtag for Fifa 14 is #FIFA14  which is used to spread information or your personal opinion or a comment on whether the game is good or bad suggest why or how.

6. The three most recent tweets were about the Fifa 14 ultimate team and in-game player packs as this appeals to the audience by saying that the people playing Fifa 14 wants the players from the pack they posted about.

7.

Need For Speed Rivals Case Study

Print

1. What print adverts were used to advertise the game? Find examples and post them on your blog.
2. What key conventions of print adverts can you find on the example you have chosen? Product name? Font? Slogan? Central image? Colour?
3. Find three reviews for your game that were originally published in videogame magazines. Are they positive or negative about the game? Copy and paste one quote from each review.
4. Did your game feature on any videogame magazine front covers? Find examples and explain why a front cover feature is so successful in promoting a game to its target audience.

Broadcast

1. Did your chosen game use a TV advert to promote the game? Embed it from YouTube if it did.
2. Is there a game trailer on YouTube? Embed it on your blog and explain why it is effective in promoting the game to its target audience.
3. Can you find any other broadcast features on the game - interviews, launch party events, video reviews, clips of the gameplay on YouTube etc. Write about how they effectively promote the game to its target audience.

E-media

1. Visit your chosen game's official website. How does it attract and maintain the interest of its target audience?
2. Are there any creative or interesting aspects to the game's official website?
3. Does the game have a YouTube channel?
4. Can you find any examples of user-generated content on YouTube that players have created and uploaded from the game? Embed any examples on your blog.
5. How does user-generated content such as gameplay videos help to promote the game?
6. How many 'likes' has your chosen game's Facebook wall had?
7. Choose five of the posts on the Facebook page's wall, screengrab them and explain how they appeal to the game's target audience.
8. What is your chosen game's Twitter hashtag?
9. How did the campaign use Twitter to promote the game?
10. Can you find any other creative uses of e-media to promote the game? This might include hashtags, competitions, Instagram, user-generated campaigns or anything else that is designed to draw attention to the game.

Print:

Advertisement used for this game involving print ads was:

• game release posters in shops such as Game, HMV, GameStation, GameStop etc
• Newspapers releasing reviews and quotes on the game 

The product name for my personal case study is Need For Speed Rivals, the font used for the game is a basic font but the letters are in capitals and the font colour is blue with a strip of red, the slogan for the game is "I've made my choices, now you make yours." The central image for the game is a red Ferrari and a Corvette cop car and the colour scheme used for the game cover image is blue, red, white and black.

The official XBOX magazine review on Need For Speed Rivals said that this game could've easily taken a wrong turn but Rivals passes inspection on Xbox One with flying colors.  Also the official Gamestop magazine give the game an 8 as it is great because Need for Speed: Rivals is very much in the tradition of Hot Pursuit, but that great, familiar gameplay has been infused with enough new elements to make it as thrilling here as it's ever been. However the official Playstation magazine says otherwise as Need For Speed Rivals feels like something you’ve played before.    
No, the game has not been on the front cover of any video game magazines as GTA 5 was being release that time and that was big news for everyone so that game would have been on the cover for almost all game magazines.

Broadcast:
The game for my case study did have a TV commercial :

The game trailer for Need For Speed Rivals is effective in promoting the game as in the trailer they introduce the next-gen graphics for the first time in the gaming world, they introduce the power-ups available for e.g. nitros, shock field etc and they also show a review from Hardcore Gamer.
Other broadcast features such as gameplay of the game and video reviews as they promote the game to the target audience by giving their personal opinion on it whether it is good or bad and since this game would have been played by the target audience, we can see the game being played by gameplay videos and decide if we should buy the game.

E-Media:
The official website for the game attracts the target audience by embedding a video which shows all the features and new concepts added to the new Need For Speed series and scrolling down the page they give a paragraph of summary to tell the target audience what has been included to the game as further down are snap shots of the game such as a cop car drifting while chasing a racer in the background and 3 more pictures of cars of a cop chasing a racer in a high speed pursuit, a For Mustang driving at top speed and a Bugatti cop car drifting with the labels "Watch now," "Buy now" and "Drive now."

Interesting aspects used on the official website is that the images used are not made but actually taken from someone playing the game so that shows how advanced next-gen has become that these images are not drawn. Also they update their website instantly when something new occurs involving the game such as a DLC pack from the new Need For Speed movie or new cars that would be soon available.

The next-gen game does have a YouTube channel, which is called "Need for Speed." The channel has created over 500 videos and has over 300 subscribers.

Examples of user generated are:

Both user generated videos are from next-gen consoles such as the PS4 and the X-BOX 1 as shown on the thumbnails.












Gameplay videos help promote the game by having a random person in the world play the game for free and give their honest opinion on the game by using in-game commentary so his/her viewers could see the proof they have provided via video or disagree with them as they may think differently and want to get or not get the game on  totally different reason.

The amount of likes the company Need For Speed has is over 16 million and the game itself has over 28 thousand. The Hashtag used on twitter for the game is #NeedForSpeed and they use the target audience to re-tweet the Hashtag to other people so the word spreads for people to hear and possibly buy the game.
(Note: I am having a little bit of trouble screen grabbing as it appears as a blank image.)

Other creative uses of e-media to promote the game involves a personal fan page for the game or Hashtags on Instagram or even fan mad websites of the game in order to promote the game and spread the word around about how good/bad the game is.

Music Video Analysis "Tristiam and Braken-Flight"

This music video has no singers in it and no lyrics so it is basically a track for other people to use. This track is quite famous on Youtube as the song has 4.3 million views and the channel on Youtube who produced the song has 1.3 million subscribers and the song Flight is said to have been their biggest and best album yet also they almost produce a daily song for their subscribers. The song uses a lot of concept but no narrative or visual effects at all which got the song a lot of views. This song is used by Youtubers for an intro to their videos and even the more famous Youtubers such as Videogames, Ali-A and TheSyndicateProject etc which gets the song more views and more subscribers. The concept used in this is the wide range of tones and melodies. The way the artists made the track is by making parts of the song fast pace for a bit of time than slow pace after that than make it fast pace. Also in the beginning of the track they don't play the song for 2 seconds then they start of the song quietly but gets gradually louder and louder, up to level of sound they want it to be. Another concept of this track is that quieten and make the track louder to make the whole track flow all in one go so there's not a very long pause in the middle. The song is made like this because in a dubstep track there are hardly any pauses. 

Film Pitch for Assignment 2

A man hungry for blood goes looking for the man who destroyed his family and life. He is The Hunter. The genre for this film is a Action-Adventure film which may contain a few scenes of violence and blood. This movie is quite similar to the Terminator as the Terminator sent from the future is here to terminate one person. My target audience is for people who love action-adventure movies and the age range for the movie is 12-37 and more males will watch my movie more than females. The main characters of this movie is Veerhain Keesoony and Emman Chaudhry who makes good videos on youtube and is a very good actor.

In the movie there will be a flash back of when The Hunter was still a little boy of the age of 5 and how he sees a guy walking out of his house in flames with dead bodies everywhere of his family but leave him alone and the flash back finishes. The guy who slaughtered his family is dead but has a son who is The Hunter's next target to get revenge.

Representation on film trailer Fast & Furious

Men: Good drivers, brave, no fear, on the wrong side of the law,

Women: Love interest, show girls,

Foreign people/un-american: Villain, partner, sidekick, henchmen, police force,

American: Only 1 or 2 people, like brothers, loyalty, never back down, follow their ambitions, go over their limits.

Propp:
Protagonist because Dominic and Brian has to find out the mystery of how letty died,
Antagonist because there has to be a evil mastermind but in this case a drugs smuggler who killed a girl precious to both Dominic and Brian, helper is close to Dominic to help solve the mystery of who killed letty by giving support and clues to the heroes, heroine is the relief of killing the person who killed letty in order to bring justice to them, donor is also the helper in this movie as she falls in love with dominic and wants to bring justice to the antagonist as he tries to kill her.

Equilibrium:
equilibrium: Both working on the same team as in the last movie they were in in the series the notorious outlaw Dominic Torreto made friends with a undercover cop alias Brian O'Connor
disequilibrium: After the guy who killed someone dear, harder/complicated challenges by heading into different countries and parts of Spain to seek revenge on the one who killed Dominic's girlfriend.
new equilibrium: Dominic Torreto is caught by the police and heading to a prison to do a life sentence but our hero Brian O'Connor, Mia Torreto and the spanish brothers are in fast cars tailing the prison bus which Dominic is in

Todorov:
enigma codes: why are they in a new country? Why are they still against each other? Why did Brian say "she is my friend to? Why was he chasing the guy?
action codes: changing his gear, the gasoline tank rolling down in flames, chasing the guy through various places.
Action codes: they shifted the gear to go faster, they chased a guy, dominic was holding something upside down outside a window, his car turned, his car accelerated, he shit his gun.