Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Thursday, 22 March 2018
Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Markus 'Notch' Persson
Minecraft's Swedish creator, Markus "Notch' Persson started creating the game in May of 2009 having been inspired by similar games, such as Dwarf Fortress, a single-player construction and management game; his goal was to produce a RPG variation of such a game. Minecraft's initial reception wasn't commercially viable, seen more as a niche product for players with expert knowledge of computers and programming.
Without the commercial backing of a mainstream publisher, and no money spent on advertising revenue, the game relied on word to mouth between gamers and featured on sites such as the Penny Arcade web comic to generate interest amongst gamers. Consequently, by January 2011, the beta-version had passed ver one million purchases in just only a month, and by April 2011 Persson estimated that $33 Million of revenue had been made.
Without the commercial backing of a mainstream publisher, and no money spent on advertising revenue, the game relied on word to mouth between gamers and featured on sites such as the Penny Arcade web comic to generate interest amongst gamers. Consequently, by January 2011, the beta-version had passed ver one million purchases in just only a month, and by April 2011 Persson estimated that $33 Million of revenue had been made.
Minecraft
Miecraft is a sandbox game, created and developed by swedish based Mojang Studios. The game has been described as a virtual world of Lego that involves following simple instructions in order to play it: explore, mine and build. Users only have to log in and proceed to create aworld full of textured 3D cubes. There are predominately two game modes: creative and survival, although more recent additions include adventure, Spectator and also Multi-Player modes.
Key terms- video games
Digitally convergent media- Video games consoles are an excellent example of a digitally convergent device you can not only play games but access social media, surf the internet, stream films and TV content and upload content into cloud based servers. Cross-media content helps maximise profits and also improve reach to new customers.
Production- This refers to all phases of designing, developing and making the media product.
Distribution: This refers to all processes linked to developing the media product to audiences both through tangable (disc) and digital (Cloud based) media.
Consumption: Explores the way in which the media text is used by audiences for pleasure but also explores the ride of user generated content across several platforms.
Production- This refers to all phases of designing, developing and making the media product.
Distribution: This refers to all processes linked to developing the media product to audiences both through tangable (disc) and digital (Cloud based) media.
Consumption: Explores the way in which the media text is used by audiences for pleasure but also explores the ride of user generated content across several platforms.
Tuesday, 27 February 2018
Minecraft Essay
Minecraft
Minecraft is a sandbox computer game created and designed by
Swedish programmer Marcus ‘Notch’ Perrson in 2009 and fully developed and
published by Mojang. Perrson got the idea for the game from another
procedurally generated game, named ‘Infiniminer’, in which platers would
co-operate to tunnel through the earth in search of minerals. Minecraft was originally
called ‘Cave Game’, but the name was dropped in favour of ‘Minecraft: Order of
Stone’ when Perrson realised he wanted to create a game with Role-playing
elements. Eventually, this was shortened to just ‘Minecraft’.
In
Minecraft, a single world is built from millions and millions of cubes, each
covered in a distinctively low-res texture. If each block were to be a single
metre cubed, it would follow that each world is around eight times as big as
planet earth. There are hundreds of different blocks to choose from, with more
than 450 different variants and other items with which to fill your created
worlds. The creative and building aspects of Minecraft allow players to build with a variety of different
cubes in a 3D procedurally generated world. Other activities in the game include
exploration, resource gathering, crafting, and combat. Multiple gameplay modes are
available, including a survival mode where the
player must acquire resources to build the world and maintain health, a
creative mode where players have unlimited resources to build with and the
ability to fly, an adventure mode where players can play custom maps created by other players, and
a spectator mode where players can freely move throughout a world without being
affected by gravity or collisions. The PC version of the game is noted for its modding scene, where users
create new gameplay mechanics, items, and assets for the game.
The
very first version of the game was created in just six days, between May 10th
and May 16th 2009. This version was released the very next day,
alongside an official forum where players could discuss it. The game reached
100,000 players in January 2010. The crafting system also came to be in early
2010, along with the crafting system and infinite maps. The game reached the 200,000-player
mark in June 2010, and officially entered the alpha stage of its development and
its price rose to $10. Just six months later, in the run up to Christmas 2010,
the game entered the beta phase and rose in price further to $15. By July 2011,
the game had more than 10 million registered players. In November 2011, the
full version of the game was released for PC. It cost $20. In May 2012, the
game was released for Xbox and sold nearly half a million copies in less than
24 hours. In November 2014, Microsoft stepped in and brought Mojang, the games
developers, for an estimated $2.5 billion.
On the basis of conventional video game sales leader boards, Minecraft sold
over 144 million copies across PC, mobile and console in the pocket, as of
January 2018. Minecraft is now officially second only to
that all-time, all-platforms, indefatigable puzzling juggernaut, Tetris. The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft became profitable within the first day of the game's
release in 2012, when the game broke the Xbox Live sales records with 400,000
players online. Within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Minecraft sold upwards of a million copies. GameSpot
announced in December 2012 that Minecraft sold over 4.48 million copies since the game debuted on Xbox Live Arcade in May 2012.
In 2012, Minecraft was the
most purchased title on Xbox Live Arcade; it was also the fourth most played
title on Xbox Live based on average unique users per day.
In 2012, at the British Academy Video Games Awards, Minecraft was nominated in the GAME Award of 2011 category and
Persson received The Special Award. In 2012, Minecraft XBLA was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the Best Downloadable Game category, and a TIGA Games
Industry Award in the Best Arcade Game category. In 2013 it
was nominated as the family game of the year at the British Academy Video Games Awards. Minecraft Console Edition won the award for TIGA Game Of The
Year in 2014. In 2015, the game placed 6th on Usgamer’s the 15 Best Games Since
2000 list. In 2016, Minecraft placed
6th on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list.
Wednesday, 7 February 2018
New Technology and PSB
New Technology:
- New technology has helped the radio industry evolve and increase in popularity.
- There's been a huge increase in the number of people downloading podcasts and streaming internet radio. Most radio stations archive past broadcasts on their official websites, for listeners to access on-demand.
- Studio webcams and social media have changed the audience relationship with radio by making listeners feel more connected to the presenters.
- This type of media convergence is also achieved through the use of blogs and forums on radio websites.
- Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) refers to broadcasting intended for public benefit rather than to serve purely commercial interests. It has to be for PUBLIC SERVICE (the responsibilities of the broadcasting authorities such as ITV, BBC, Channel 4 and Five as dictated by the state).
- PSB broadcasters have to cater for all ages/gender/race/religion/class etc. They also have to achieve a mix of education, information and entertainment.
- Different remits for different channels:
- The BBC has a 100% PSB remit.
- ITV has a much smaller PSB remit.
- Channel 4 has a large, but slightly different PSB remit (this is mostly tackled through its enforced aim of showing lots of niche programming.).
- Channel 5 has a tiny PSB remit (basically news) and all digital channels have no PSB remit
- OFCOM are in charge of ensuring broadcasters keep to their PSB remits.
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