Videogames 10 - Playing games: alternatives to the mainstream

A counter example to the assassins creed franchise:

sky: children of the light (mobile game)
  1. what is the narrative style of the game?       there is a quest that the characters follow, they save spirits and collect ancient treasures along the way, in a way the narrative is linear, it is partly cinematic and partly interactive and there is not a dilema as such but the players have to find something in order to travel to the next platform or area.
  2. what genres can you identify?       it is described as a social indie adventure game. it conforms to the adventure genre of games as it involves the player moving around and uncovering parts of the story line. 
  3. how are we as an audience interacting with the game?      we can customise characters and collect ad ons, the game allows for not only interaction with objects and artefacts around us but with other players also.
  4. does the game appeal to a mainstream or niche audience and how?     the game appeals to a more niche audience, it has not had any huge or major advertising to reach a wide audience like assassins creed has. it is a mobile game so could be argued is for the average "casual gamer".
  5. what is the prefered reading of the game?       the preferred reading is that it takes you through a story as a group of collective spirits, it is a game intended to entertain and bring people together. it is simple and calming.

Asphalt 9 legends 

  1. what is the narrative style of the game?      linear narrative where the player goes through "seasons" of races in their "career". however they can go off course and play daily challenges that earn points, coins or "blueprints" for other cars.
  2. what genres can you identify?              racing genre and action. is targeted at an audience that is into cars and racing, targets pre exsisting fans of the genre. iconography of 
  3. how are we as an audience interacting with the game?         it has many different modes like career and daily challenges which get the player to play for longer and invest more time in it. the game has different events every day and week and gives the audience the chance to play with other players. we are an active audience as we make decisions and chose our own paths in the game.
  4. does the game appeal to a mainstream or niche audience?               in a sense it appeals to a mainstream audience because car fandoms stretch wide and it is a popular hobby/ interest so will appeal to a wide audience, it is also mainstream a it is part of a mobile game franchise. however it can be seen as niche as it not a AAA console game that has a high production value. it has also not had the same marketing to a wide audience suggesting it fits a niche.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

key theory 3- Steve Neale- Genres + set text 3- "Kiss of The Vampire"

Image
Genre - categories genres help producers follow a pattern or a set of genre conventions which can often make it predictable as the audience has clues as to what they should expect. Genre paradigms, also known as genre conventions, are aspects of a media text that demonstrates to the audience what genre a media product fits into. Key theory 3- steve neale- theories around genre repetition + difference helps to further make sense of our world  Neale believes that genre is essentially instances of "repetition + difference". he suggested that texts need to conform to some generic paradigms to be identifies with a certain genre. Over time, genres change (generic fluidity), combine with one another (generic hybridity) and form entirely new genres and subgenres.  Set text 3- "Kiss of The Vampire"                                          what we see: bats- a swarm at...
Read more

Videogames 3 - Assassin's Creed: the role of trailers in marketing

The role of trailers -  Assassin's Creed: Valhalla  pre-release trailer David Hesmondhalgh: it is essential for media industries to minimise risk, and to maximise profit context: the exam board has moved from looking at one game to an entire game franchise: Assassins creed. assassins creed: Valhalla is unreleased but we can refer to the trailer and online disscussions around the upcoming game. Valhalla is a triple A game ( AAA is an informal classification used for video games produced and distributed by a mid-sized or major publisher, typically having higher development and marketing budgets. AAA is analogous to the film industry term "blockbuster") this means its expensive to make and will equally be expensive to buy. RRP is currently £59.99, a somewhat common price tag for a big game (pre-order currently as its not released) video games decrease in price after their release, as new bigger, better games are in progress or are released. most people will no...
Read more

Adbusters set text + analysis

Image
ADBUSTERS (may/ june 2016) Detournment- "culture jammin" hijacking well known icons and questions them and the ideologies they perpetuate. Adbusters are anti- brand and anti-establishments + capitalism. they dont follow traditional rules so can be seen as controversial. can be seen as anarchist as it rejects traditional hegemonic values. context: is published 6 times a year, and started in 1989. price is £10.99 circulation is 120,000 readership independent magazine (very niche) "based in vancouver, british colombia, canada Adbusters is a not for profic magazine fighting back against the hostile takeover"                         unconventional layout, non-consumerist bold text, large, white and blocky powerful main image, only image on the cover. masthead is grainy and almost blends into the image  commodity fetishism- "is the process of ascribing magic "phantom-like" qualities to an object, wher...
Read more