Sunday, June 1, 2008
Exam Revision
The Battlefield bad company demo released today. Exciting. Gold rushing time. And My Gamerscore? 13,215 and upwards!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Is the growing importance of Downloadable Content for the Xbox 360 console a good or a bad thing?
Games need to make money. They are a business, and one that makes a large amount of money. Professor Espen Aarseth states that “The industry only wants to make a certain kind of game: games that people spend money on. It sees games as a kind of product, or as a sellable service.” (Aarseth,2002) When looking at DLC for the 360 there are two main examples of this, but in far different ways.
The first example is EA Games and their treatment of the Godfather Videogame for the Xbox 360. The game was released for essentially every current system on the market at the time. Each version contained the full amount of weapons and access to in-game cheats, except for the Xbox 360 version. These parts of the game were sliced out and presented on the Xbox marketplace as enticing bundles which such descriptions as
“Become a ‘made man’ with the ultimate collection of weapons, money and in-game items.” (Xbox.com.au,2008). These bundles were sold for 800 Microsoft Points, roughly $15.
The second example, and a far more positive one, in fact the way in which it is hoped all downloadable content will be handled in the future, is the issue of Mass Effect and the ‘Bringing down the Sky’ downloadable episode. This episode adds around an extra 4 hours of game play, furthering the story and keeping the player engaged with a over arching story. There are planned episodes for the future, periodically put out until eventually Mass Effect 2 is released. This an example of that “sellable service” a technique which has already been used effectively for MMORPG, such as World of Warcraft and the Lord Of The Rings Online game. It allows developers to make “opportunities for adventures in downloadable content, presenting new information, through a very compelling storyline,” stated Casey Hudson, Project Director for Bioware in a 2008 interview with IGN.com.
This is a new and exciting way of getting content to your gamer. Once done by the expansion pack, which took up a large amount of time and money, it is now been achieved for a smaller price and in half the time it takes to get an expansion pack on the market. It allows games not to be just seen as standalone stories, or ‘movies,’ but rather as the starting block for a series of episodes, much like a TV show. This will not only allow developers to make their games more expansive in the long run, but also allow greater opportunities for the exploration of the various characters and locations contained within the videogame.
But there are still negative ways in which DLC is being used, or more accurately, was going to be used, is once again concerning EA and their treatment of the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company. According to their press statement they intended to charge people for the use of better weapons. These weapons could be purchased off the Xbox Marketplace for a certain amount of money. Not only is this an erroneous business tactic, but it also threatened to create a highly unbalanced online playing field, with essentially the richer players having access to the better weapons. EA soon retracted this statement, stating that you would no longer have to pay for better weaponry, but instead participate in a special BETA test to receive the weapons. Many online websites, see this as “EA testing the waters.”(Kotaku,2008) Meaning that in the future it is possible that we will see more games than wish to utilise a system of ‘money over skill’.
DLC is no longer the gimmick that it was when the Xbox Live system was first launched. Back during the networks launch in November of 2002 it was mainly used to distribute minor patches and insignificant game changes, such as a flowery cover for your favourite steed in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. But now it is a huge factor when a game is being constructed. A most recent example of this pre-planning of DLC is with Grand Theft Auto 4. Microsoft paid out an alleged $50 million for exclusive rights to two ‘episodes’. This excitement over DLC can only mean good things for Xbox owners, and will no doubt result in some excellent content being released soon.
Whilst the Xbox Marketplace is still being used as an excuse to chop up games and sell the pieces later, these instances do not weigh down overall advancements being made. With episodic content already being released and more games being shaped with downloadable content in mind, it is easy to see the see how this is an area which will keep improving.
Bibliography
Books
Bates, B. (2001) Game Design: The art and business of creating games California : Prima Tech (division of Prima Press)
Chaplin, Heather. (2005) Smartbomb : the quest for art, entertainment, and big bucks in the videogame revolution
Game Studies Journals
Aarseth, E (2002) The Dungeon and the Ivory Tower: Vive La Difference ou Liason Dangereuse, Volume 2 Issue 1, July 2002
Castranova, E (2003) On Virtual Economies, Volume 3 Issue 2, December 2003
Websites
Gizmodo.com
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/xbox-360-elite-interview-with-microsofts-albert-penell
AI Wisdom.com
Gamasutra.com
FT.com
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2c08ef9a-b776-11da-b4c2-0000779e2340.html
Gamepro.com
http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=82497
Kotaku.com
http://kotaku.com/371407/ea-responds-to-bad-company-weapons-charge
Ign.com
http://au.xbox360.ign.com/articles/854/854699p1.html
Xbox.com
Is the growing importance of Downloadable Content for the Xbox 360 console a good or a bad thing?
Games need to make money. They are a business, and one that makes a large amount of money. Professor Espen Aarseth states that “The industry only wants to make a certain kind of game: games that people spend money on. It sees games as a kind of product, or as a sellable service.” (Aarseth,2002) When looking at DLC for the 360 there are two main examples of this, but in far different ways.
The first example is EA Games and their treatment of the Godfather Videogame for the Xbox 360. The game was released for essentially every current system on the market at the time. Each version contained the full amount of weapons and access to in-game cheats, except for the Xbox 360 version. These parts of the game were sliced out and presented on the Xbox marketplace as enticing bundles which such descriptions as
“Become a ‘made man’ with the ultimate collection of weapons, money and in-game items.” (Xbox.com.au,2008). These bundles were sold for 800 Microsoft Points, roughly $15.
The second example, and a far more positive one, in fact the way in which it is hoped all downloadable content will be handled in the future, is the issue of Mass Effect and the ‘Bringing down the Sky’ downloadable episode. This episode adds around an extra 4 hours of game play, furthering the story and keeping the player engaged with a over arching story. There are planned episodes for the future, periodically put out until eventually Mass Effect 2 is released. This an example of that “sellable service” a technique which has already been used effectively for MMORPG, such as World of Warcraft and the Lord Of The Rings Online game. It allows developers to make “opportunities for adventures in downloadable content, presenting new information, through a very compelling storyline,” stated Casey Hudson, Project Director for Bioware in a 2008 interview with IGN.com.
This is a new and exciting way of getting content to your gamer. Once done by the expansion pack, which took up a large amount of time and money, it is now been achieved for a smaller price and in half the time it takes to get an expansion pack on the market. It allows games not to be just seen as standalone stories, or ‘movies,’ but rather as the starting block for a series of episodes, much like a TV show. This will not only allow developers to make their games more expansive in the long run, but also allow greater opportunities for the exploration of the various characters and locations contained within the videogame.
But there are still negative ways in which DLC is being used, or more accurately, was going to be used, is once again concerning EA and their treatment of the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company. According to their press statement they intended to charge people for the use of better weapons. These weapons could be purchased off the Xbox Marketplace for a certain amount of money. Not only is this an erroneous business tactic, but it also threatened to create a highly unbalanced online playing field, with essentially the richer players having access to the better weapons. EA soon retracted this statement, stating that you would no longer have to pay for better weaponry, but instead participate in a special BETA test to receive the weapons. Many online websites, see this as “EA testing the waters.”(Kotaku,2008) Meaning that in the future it is possible that we will see more games than wish to utilise a system of ‘money over skill’.
DLC is no longer the gimmick that it was when the Xbox Live system was first launched. Back during the networks launch in November of 2002 it was mainly used to distribute minor patches and insignificant game changes, such as a flowery cover for your favourite steed in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. But now it is a huge factor when a game is being constructed. A most recent example of this pre-planning of DLC is with Grand Theft Auto 4. Microsoft paid out an alleged $50 million for exclusive rights to two ‘episodes’. This excitement over DLC can only mean good things for Xbox owners, and will no doubt result in some excellent content being released soon.
Whilst the Xbox Marketplace is still being used as an excuse to chop up games and sell the pieces later, these instances do not weigh down overall advancements being made. With episodic content already being released and more games being shaped with downloadable content in mind, it is easy to see the see how this is an area which will keep improving.
Bibliography
Books
Bates, B. (2001) Game Design: The art and business of creating games California : Prima Tech (division of Prima Press)
Chaplin, Heather. (2005) Smartbomb : the quest for art, entertainment, and big bucks in the videogame revolution
Game Studies Journals
Aarseth, E (2002) The Dungeon and the Ivory Tower: Vive La Difference ou Liason Dangereuse, Volume 2 Issue 1, July 2002
Castranova, E (2003) On Virtual Economies, Volume 3 Issue 2, December 2003
Websites
Gizmodo.com
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/xbox-360-elite-interview-with-microsofts-albert-penell
AI Wisdom.com
Gamasutra.com
FT.com
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2c08ef9a-b776-11da-b4c2-0000779e2340.html
Gamepro.com
http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=82497
Kotaku.com
http://kotaku.com/371407/ea-responds-to-bad-company-weapons-charge
Ign.com
http://au.xbox360.ign.com/articles/854/854699p1.html
Xbox.com
Monday, May 26, 2008
essay DRAFT
Monday, May 12, 2008
Using Microsoft like you were born within its fleshy digital walls
In the second, more interesting half of the tutorial we explored virtual worlds. W#e decided to take a trip through Active worlds, a chat room in which you are given an avatar and made to float around whilst discussing politics, food and other non-threatening topics. At one point i mentioned a rude word, which is actually a scientific term, and was warned for language by a floating pixie. I told her off and fled into a portal which led me deep into what i could only assume was an ocean. These chat rooms seem to be fun places for some, with alot of the members knowing each other quiet well, suggesting that a few regulars frequent the rooms. But not my cup of tea, really, i prefer the friendship forged on the battlefield, specifically in Battlefield 2 whilst storming a desert palace in the middle of a dust storm.
GTA4 soon, i assume.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Wikipedia Analysis 2: Mass Effect
If I could change anything, I would expand the characters section, giving more detailed background. After all the story is the best part of Mass Effect (the combat is horrible, the menu system has been simplified to the point where it is ridiculously simple and although there are claims of huge worlds to explore, most of the planets look the same). I would also maybe mention that, but then that would be bias. A fair spat of reviews is given from various online "professionals", i would have removed these, because most of them are unreliable (Iup.com for example, the site which claimed that Sega Superstars tennis was a better game than Assassins creed. Come on.)
Gs:12,350
Wikipedia Analysis 1:Radiohead
There is not a particularly large amount of bias in this article but it does show the band in a favourable light, making note of lead singer Thom Yorke's charity work and the bands concerns over carbon emissions as a result of their touring.
I don't see much that could be changed about this wikipedia entry. It is accurate and provides a useful overview of the history of the band and their various recordings.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiohead
Monday, April 7, 2008
We need to talk, Benjamin you sly dog!
The realm of music and music production is an area in which we can see great leaps forward in reproduction. Orignally one would have to go to see a musician play live, or later listen to the radio or buy a floppy, highly breakable "45 from a record shop if they wanted to hear the latest art. But now it has all changed, music is accesible at the click of a mouse ( both illegally and legally) Artists have a much greater access to their audience. Is this a bad thing for art? Sure it may have lost the intimacy and authenticity of been right there at one unqiue performance, but now musicians have a way of pushing their art to a greater amount of people.
I don't think this is entirely bad for art. There is still a certain area for art that is painted, that is created by hand and still retains some sort of "aura". But this aura does not apply to digital art forms, even less than it did to print, photographs and the other aura-less art forms that Benjamin described. The digital age not only allows for the reproduction of art, but for this reproduction to be performed by almost anyone with access to a computer and some photoshopping programs. Skilled proffesionals do still have a market though, sure by Benjamins reasons we should look at something created digitally as being aura-less, but why cannot we not see it as being original under a completely new set of rules?
A photoshopped photo would not be considered authentic. It is a digital representation of a piece of art that is being tampered with, altered from it's original authentic state, plucked from the very domain that made it a traditional piece of art.
So it can be seen quite clearly that digital "things" would not have an aura in Benjamins terms, in that they are reproductions of an original piece, even more so they are based on a set of templates that are based on reality. But does this make them products of the domain of the unskilled? Methinks not. There is still alot of skill required in digital arts. Sure everyone can use the technologies, but they doesn't mean they use them well, just like even though I can go out and start painting, I might not be very good at it. Interesting.
GS: same as below.
Web Questions
- ask.com – Onel De Guzman – gathered info from CNN.com, reliable news website. http://premium.asia.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/29/philippines.lovebug.02/index.html
- William D. Middlebrook http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/paperclip.htm
- Named after the Ebola River In Zaire http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/filo/history.html
- Chile, 1960 http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question63269.html UNRELIABLE
- 1,000,000,000Kilobytes
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060607174017AAcnTPV
- Dave Crocker http://www.livinginternet.com/e/ei.htm Not to sure, seems like many hands passed through emails creation.
W32.Storm.Worm is a worm that seeks out Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) systems that have not applied the proper security patches. Any such systems that it finds are then infected with the worm. The payload of this worm performs a denial-of-service attack on http:/ /www.microsoft.com between between one million and 50 million estimated. UNSURE
- http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm Fill out a form and send it away.
- http://www.blackassassins.net/
- http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
Monday, March 17, 2008
How do I use New Communication Technologies?
The same cannot be said for my Xbox Live friends, a mix match bag of people from most parts of the globe and none of these people, excluding my friend moonface, have been met by myself in person. Does this make them any less my friends? Perhaps. Would I invite L33t Snip3r or Bloodangel_69 to my son's 3rd birthday?A chilling thought. Fictional son aside, my Xbox Live friends tend to send me more messages and various requests through the television than my flesh friends. Could this be because I consistently meet in person with my most gripping and likeable flesh friends? I believe so.
The issue of privacy is an engaging one and allow me to use an analogy to communicate my thoughts to you. When a person decides that they are going to become a member of any number of Italian American crime families, they take an oath and then burn a picture of the holy saint. This oath pretty much states that they are entering a different world now and that by entering this world they have to deal with the consequences of their actions within that world. So if Johnny decides that he is going to go back on his word to another member of the family and decides to take the truck full of expensive fur coats to a different salesman, he must be prepared to face the consequences of his actions. The same reasoning applies to the internet. If you wish to put photos of yourself on the internet, then you must be prepared for the consequences. Besides, you can put a filter on that stuff anyway. So do I block my photos on Myspace? Of course not. Everyone wants to, maybe even needs to , see my photos of a stuffed toy raccoon playing a guitar with a violin bow.
Forums and chat rooms would probably have to be my most used form of socialising. The bubbling brook of postdom! Constantly repeating your hatred of Host leaving servers to boost your post count. Making your sick Battlestar Gallactica signature that has Starbuck stabbing a Cylon with a samurai sword. Ahh the sweet smell of victory. I rambled.
Till next time.
GS:11,545
Monday, March 10, 2008
Introduction!
I've been told this is my blog to be kept for New Communications Tech. Part of this is correct, but there is another part that will become clearer to you as the weeks progress, like a kind of Lost vibe going on, you dig? I've recently become free from a terrible Achievements addiction, I have COD4 to thank for that, spewing life back into my gamer score ravaged hands. I currently sit at a shameful 11,345 and I have a feeling that my boat will be moored in the waters of Achievement inadequacy for quite some time, at least until GTA4 comes and banishes my old friend Perky (code word for COD4, this is one of those signs that you should probably observe and then note) hastily from my disc drive.
On to more pleasing topics, when will Radiohead tour? My old friend Gerald tells me Spring, but I found his tone to be misleading. Possible set list? Far too wearying a topic to even consider at this point, but recent concerts have yielded positive results. Song advice for this week, faithful Night Owl of the Blog World? Battles- Tonto.
On to more Academically pleasing topics, we discussed the ever raging battle between Myspace and Facebook today. I found myself at a crippling disadvantage, having never experienced the apparent delights of Facebook. My experience with Myspace is a mixed bag. On one hand I enjoy the ability to keep a minimal amount of contact with people whom I will most likely never engage in face to face conversation again, banishing them to some sort of foggy net- friends cavern, occasionally throwing comments their way. But on the other, far more bitter hand, I find the constant bulletins detailing my gruesome death at the hands of some sort of mirror jumping she-demon quite disconcerting. I have so far forwarded zero of these apparent doomsayers posts and have received none of the mentioned wounds or life failings that my non-compliance with the bulletins apparently will invoke. I am in the clear it would seem.
bye