Writing and Games Journalism, an overview.
There are many forms of games writing in the world today, but the two main categories are formal and informal. There is the Games Journalism which will be for magazines such as pc games or PSX. These forms of writing are very professional and are written so that the majority of readers will understand. These come in the form of reviews, news, events ect. In the gaming world. The wages for these writers would be paid for by the publisher, for example the new games blog is published by the guardian online and also they do some writing in their newspapers. But there is a lot of informal work out there, unpaid, by people who just want to get the message out and people who are passionate about games and writing.
I’ve had a look at some of the websites and the style of writing does alter between each one. In the unpaid blogs the writing is very informal and is generally written how the person would talk. The formal writing uses a lot more technical terms and usually gives an unbiased view if it’s a review.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Games 2000 - the future
The "current" history of games
In the 00's Games are becoming ever more expensive to make and require usually somewhere between 50-200 people to make a successful game, however with this a game that’s a 'hit' can reap in many more millions in profits for the producer. A good example of this which I sourced from http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/crossplatform.ars/2 shows the comparison between developer costs and profits of two of the most successful games of their time. The first being the 1982 release of Pac-man for the Atari compared with the 2004 game halo 2 for the Xbox. Pac-man cost only $100, 00 usd to make but sold over 10million copies and $30 each, and was written by 1 programmer over a few months, where as Halo 2 needed 190 staff of artists, programmers etc and cost more than $40 million usd to make, but sold for $50 a time and to use its full capabilities needed a subscription to Xbox live online service for up to $20 a month. This just showing that games are increasingly becoming more expensive to manufacture but are turning over roughly the same profits as 20 years a go.
This leads me to my next subject which is the increase in power and technology of consoles. With the introduction of "next gen" consoles, the Xbox 360 being the first in November 2005 (I debate whether or not it is next gen) and the ps3 well this blog is a little late so coincidently today in approximately 12 hours in the US will be on sale. I have learnt to believe some people have been queuing since the 6th of November for this, eherm I won’t say any more. The Nintendo Wii is also set for release in December which will no doubtable take Japan by storm with its innovated new controller which, I think is awesome and its what Nintendo do best by showing you don’t need ridiculous budgets and ridiculously real graphics to be a hit and stay true to just having good, new and exiting games.
I think form here things can only get better and more expensive and soon enough i'm sure there will be thousands of game artists working on matrix like games where they appear real by accessing the mind. Either way it’s good, more jobs for me ha-ha.
I think there will be some significant pressures on the gaming industry if the hardware continues to increase in power as it could drive smaller companies out of existence, I’m willing to bet Nintendo won’t be around in 20 years time and I’m pretty sure Google will have there own platform out by then too.
The "current" history of games
In the 00's Games are becoming ever more expensive to make and require usually somewhere between 50-200 people to make a successful game, however with this a game that’s a 'hit' can reap in many more millions in profits for the producer. A good example of this which I sourced from http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/crossplatform.ars/2 shows the comparison between developer costs and profits of two of the most successful games of their time. The first being the 1982 release of Pac-man for the Atari compared with the 2004 game halo 2 for the Xbox. Pac-man cost only $100, 00 usd to make but sold over 10million copies and $30 each, and was written by 1 programmer over a few months, where as Halo 2 needed 190 staff of artists, programmers etc and cost more than $40 million usd to make, but sold for $50 a time and to use its full capabilities needed a subscription to Xbox live online service for up to $20 a month. This just showing that games are increasingly becoming more expensive to manufacture but are turning over roughly the same profits as 20 years a go.
This leads me to my next subject which is the increase in power and technology of consoles. With the introduction of "next gen" consoles, the Xbox 360 being the first in November 2005 (I debate whether or not it is next gen) and the ps3 well this blog is a little late so coincidently today in approximately 12 hours in the US will be on sale. I have learnt to believe some people have been queuing since the 6th of November for this, eherm I won’t say any more. The Nintendo Wii is also set for release in December which will no doubtable take Japan by storm with its innovated new controller which, I think is awesome and its what Nintendo do best by showing you don’t need ridiculous budgets and ridiculously real graphics to be a hit and stay true to just having good, new and exiting games.
I think there will be some significant pressures on the gaming industry if the hardware continues to increase in power as it could drive smaller companies out of existence, I’m willing to bet Nintendo won’t be around in 20 years time and I’m pretty sure Google will have there own platform out by then too.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Week 3 task: Video Games 1980's-90's
the 1980's was the decade of the computer games industry. Companies began to produce video games just for the commercial market. The early games produced by these companies were replicas of the existing games except technology now enabled them to be created much cheaper and smaller for a mass market.
The 3 main computers developed in the early 80's were:
Commodore 64
Apple II
Atari 800
The 80s was also known at 2the golden age of games". Many games in the 80s contained elements of what is used today. The game Defender, a scrolling shooter game(a shoot 'em up with a scrolling background) was the first game to contain a viewport outside of the players view, this was simply a radar displaying the enemies but it is still used widely today on the same to much bigger scales.
The game "Dungeons of Daggorath was the first to use a "heartbeat" health monitor which is widely adopted in most modern games.
Pole position a racing game from 1982 incorporated a rear view mirror (using pseudo 3D graphics) where the player could view what or who was behind them in a race.
The first "cult" game of the 80's was pacman however which acclaimed world wide popularity and was the game industries first "celebrity"
the 1980's was the decade of the computer games industry. Companies began to produce video games just for the commercial market. The early games produced by these companies were replicas of the existing games except technology now enabled them to be created much cheaper and smaller for a mass market.
The 3 main computers developed in the early 80's were:
Commodore 64
Apple II
Atari 800
The 80s was also known at 2the golden age of games". Many games in the 80s contained elements of what is used today. The game Defender, a scrolling shooter game(a shoot 'em up with a scrolling background) was the first game to contain a viewport outside of the players view, this was simply a radar displaying the enemies but it is still used widely today on the same to much bigger scales.
The game "Dungeons of Daggorath was the first to use a "heartbeat" health monitor which is widely adopted in most modern games.
Pole position a racing game from 1982 incorporated a rear view mirror (using pseudo 3D graphics) where the player could view what or who was behind them in a race.
The first "cult" game of the 80's was pacman however which acclaimed world wide popularity and was the game industries first "celebrity"
The 3rd Generation console’s
the first of the 3rd Generation consoles was the early Famicon also known as The Nintendo Entertainment system (NES) which dominated North America with Super Mario bros in the Mid 80s. This undone by the sudden rise in the 3rd generation consoles. The Sega Master system was one of these. The master system dominated the UK market.
The 3rd Generation consoles adopted the gamepad as opposed to the joystick and paddles, and it was on these consoles that many of the modern games consoles’ develop their ideas.
1987 bore the first Final Fantasy, an RPG which has now has over 10 sequels and won numerous awards and become the most successful RPG franchise. 1986 the first Zelda game was released and 1987 saw the first metal gear solid hit the shelves, all introducing a new genre into the gaming community.
The 1990's
If you were to consider the 1980's the decade of the rise and development of the computer game the 90s was surely the 'Hollywood' era where games were given huge budgets and increasing amounts of staff who worked on them. Larger companies were soon to take over the market being able to produce games of better quality and cheaper.
3D was the new format hitting the 90's, and Demo's. Shareware became a very popular way of selling games by giving the user a demo before they buy the game. Doom was one of these to adopt it and soon became one of the great games of the early 90's.
1992 saw the release of Dune II an RTS, not the first in its genre but help set the game mechanics for future blockbusters such as Warcraft and Command and Conquer. Alone in the dark (1992) set the standards for the now very popular survival horror genre.
The 1990's saw maxis develop the first Sims games such as sim city and sim earth.
The fourth generation consoles
These included the megdrive and the Snes and dominated the commercial market introducing games such as Sonic the hedgehog and super Mario to a new level and becoming increasingly popular.
Fifth generation consoles
These sprang up in the late 1990's and included the Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn.
This also introduced the first commercial CD-Rom based console (possible excluding the Sega CD extension for the megadrive, which indecently was appalling I’m not sure) both the Saturn and playstation adopting this format. The Nintendo 64 stuck with cartridges however which could be considered a bad move because it caused the final fantasy series to move to playstaion. All the 5th Generation consoles wanted to show off their 3D capabilities, the 64 used Mario 64 as its flagship title and became a milestone for 3d gamers.
the first of the 3rd Generation consoles was the early Famicon also known as The Nintendo Entertainment system (NES) which dominated North America with Super Mario bros in the Mid 80s. This undone by the sudden rise in the 3rd generation consoles. The Sega Master system was one of these. The master system dominated the UK market.
The 3rd Generation consoles adopted the gamepad as opposed to the joystick and paddles, and it was on these consoles that many of the modern games consoles’ develop their ideas.
1987 bore the first Final Fantasy, an RPG which has now has over 10 sequels and won numerous awards and become the most successful RPG franchise. 1986 the first Zelda game was released and 1987 saw the first metal gear solid hit the shelves, all introducing a new genre into the gaming community.
The 1990's
If you were to consider the 1980's the decade of the rise and development of the computer game the 90s was surely the 'Hollywood' era where games were given huge budgets and increasing amounts of staff who worked on them. Larger companies were soon to take over the market being able to produce games of better quality and cheaper.
3D was the new format hitting the 90's, and Demo's. Shareware became a very popular way of selling games by giving the user a demo before they buy the game. Doom was one of these to adopt it and soon became one of the great games of the early 90's.
1992 saw the release of Dune II an RTS, not the first in its genre but help set the game mechanics for future blockbusters such as Warcraft and Command and Conquer. Alone in the dark (1992) set the standards for the now very popular survival horror genre.
The 1990's saw maxis develop the first Sims games such as sim city and sim earth.
The fourth generation consoles
These included the megdrive and the Snes and dominated the commercial market introducing games such as Sonic the hedgehog and super Mario to a new level and becoming increasingly popular.
Fifth generation consolesThese sprang up in the late 1990's and included the Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn.
This also introduced the first commercial CD-Rom based console (possible excluding the Sega CD extension for the megadrive, which indecently was appalling I’m not sure) both the Saturn and playstation adopting this format. The Nintendo 64 stuck with cartridges however which could be considered a bad move because it caused the final fantasy series to move to playstaion. All the 5th Generation consoles wanted to show off their 3D capabilities, the 64 used Mario 64 as its flagship title and became a milestone for 3d gamers.
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