Farmville 2

FarmVille 2

Farmville 2 was announced on6 June 2012, it is said to be more 3D and that new ways of playing the game have been added such as items that have been farmed in game can be used to create other items. this in turn creates a more realistic farming experience.

how is it marketed?

farmville is unlike any AAA games as it is not advertised on the television or in magazines etc. it is advertised through the social network sites such as facebook, it may be advertised on your facebook homepage. To advertise farmville 2 to the people who are interested zynga look at the persons history of games like farmville and they then advertise it on the persons homepage. or they advertise it on the app centre on facebook.they also advertise farmville through other zynga games with adverts by the side or on it may pop up with an option to download farmville 2 as the game is loading.

zynga- how do they make money?

Zyga uses 2 business models, using credit card payments or partner business. firstly they make money through these free games using credit card payments as there are parts of the game that if you want them you have to pay. also they have points in game that you have to pay for so you can buy items in game. or you can buy game credits directly from Zynga for example it would cost $5.00 for 21 points. also in 2012 they started selling prepaid cards with game points on in 12,800 stores across America.

They can also use advertising sponsorship which involves some games having advertisement for films etc. they have partnered up with Hasbro that is based on zynga properties and brands. they have also joined with facebook and are now running facebook advertisement and sponsored stories. they have also decided to start a new platform of social gaming which has published other developers to the new platform.

Skylanders Giants

Skylanders giants was developed by toys for bob and was published by activision. It is the second in the series, the first being skylanders spyros adventure.

 Skylanders giants is a game for console which is aimed at the younger audience. it involves you playing out the game but instead of the game giving you everything you have to buy the characters for certain parts, for example if you have to climb something that's to tall you have to buy another character to be able to do that part.

This game is unique as it is the only game out there were you have to buy the characters separately. As you have to buy a figure of the character which you put on a pedestal, called "the portal of power", which then downloads into the game. it is also unique as it has made a link between the physical toy and the in game character.

 From amazon it costs £52.47 for the starter pack, this contains 3 characters from the game the portal and the actual game. you can also buy characters separate which cost in the region of £17.00. you can also buy other merchandise that is linked to the game such as strategy guides and stickers of the characters.

this game is an example of symbiosis as it involves the toy which can be used separate from the game as well as in the game. also other companies have created merchandise such as toys and trading cards.

Synergy and sybiosis

Synergy:
This is the  production of a product by a group of different developers that could not be made independently. Regarding video games this may mean two or more sections of the same organisation working on one final idea that could not be possible if worked on alone.

Symbiosis:
This is when a group of companies use the same idea to promote it in different ways for example McDonald's bring out toys from films which will advertise the film. The original developer of the game takes a small profit from this.

An example in the game industry is angry birds which was originally created by rovio has allowed other companies to use there idea to create merchandise, such as plush toys which promote the angry bird game.

Rockstar Studios

Rockstar Japan:

Became part of rockstar in 2005 and was known as the Japanese localisation headquarters of Rockstar Games. It has worked in conjuction with capcom. 

Rocklstar leeds:

Became part of rockstar in 2004. they were previously called mobius entertainment amd they are based in lower wortley, leeds, England. they have sreated games such as Grand theft auto: liberty city and chinatown wars, max payne. Recently they have worked on L.A. Noire.

Rockstar north:

they became part of rockstar in 2002. It is located in edinburough, scotland and was previously called DMA Designs before rockstar took over.they are well known for thetre Grand theft auto series which was the best selling series of 6th generation consoles.

Reality is Broken

 

1.  Globally, the online gamer communityincluding console, PC and mobile phone gamingcounts more than4 million gamers in the middle east, 10 million in Russia,105 million in India, 10 million in Vietnam, 10 million in Mexico, 13 million in Central and south america, 15 million in Australia, 17 million in South Korea, 100 million in Europe and 200 million in China.
2. A typical gamer plays for justan hour or two a day, there are now more than 6 million people in China who spend at least 20 hours a week gaming which is the equivalent of a part time job.
3. We have turned digital games for our computers, for our mobile phones and for our home entertainment systems into what is expected to be a $68 billion industryannually by the year 2012.
4. The scientific journal cyberpsychology, behaviour and social netwotking reported that in 2009 61% of surveyed CEO's, CFO's and other senior executives say they take daily game breaks at work.
5. Some recent relevant statistics from entertainment software associations annual study of game players - the largest and most widely respected market research report of is kind says: 69% of all heads of households play computer and video game, 97% of youths play video games, 40% of all gamers are women and one out of four gamers is the age of 50.

Indie games: Minecraft

Independent games: Minecraft

Independent video games also known as indie game are video games created by individuals or small teams of game designers that are without larger publisher support. Indie games are often innovative and creative and mainly depend on digital distribution. Indie gaming has seen a rise in popularity in the last few years, this mainly due to new online distribution methods and digital download. Depending on the complexity and size of the project. These games may take years to be built from the ground up or if they are quite simple they can be completed in a matter of days or even hours.

Minecraft is an example of an indie game. Minecraft is an independent video game originally created by Swedish programmer Markus Persson also known as NOTCH and as now developed by his company, Mojang. In 2011, Jens Bergensten, also known by his pseudonym Jeb, took full creative control over Minecraft.

Minecraft is a game that involves using a variety of different blocks to create structures. Minecraft was originally a PC game which is sold for around £15.00. It has recently been made available due to digital download on the Xbox 360; it is sold for 1600 Microsoft points which are around £17.00 in money. There are also other indie games such as angry birds created by Rovio which sells for £0.79 as an ios app on android and smart phone.

The Hot coffee mod

The Hot Coffee Mod

1) the hot coffee mod was when a modder called Patrick windenborg (38 years old) from the Netherlands messed with the coding of San Andreas. It released a patch that involved a mini game that included you being able to enter your girlfriends house, which was not in the original game, and engage in either fully clothed or nude sexual intercourse. It also gave you full control in the way your character performed the mini game. at first this was meant to be in the actual game but at the last second it was taken out but it was not taken out completely is was just hidden in the coding so it was the fact that it was not removed completely that allowed patrick access to the hot coffee mod.

2) the hot coffee mod changed the age rating was originally rated Mature (M) to 18+ but in 2005 rockstar released a "clean" version of the game with the hot coffee codes removed and those scenes removed, which allowed the game to be marketed as mature 17+.  (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 1.01)

3) in the united states 85% of the game's market in the country, removed the PC and console versions of the game from their store shelves. Rockstar were also forced to remove the game and bring out a clean version. in December 2005, the 'Family Entertainment Protection Act' was passed which gave federal enforcement on ESRB ratings. Along with the government and Rockstar, Take-Two interactive were also extremely annoyed.