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CMS.610 | Spring 2006 | Undergraduate

# Media Industries and Systems

### General

Fighting Fear in the Digital Age - A short article on how utility fees might solve a host of problems regarding copyrighted materials. Recently a severely restrictive and punitive copyright bill was submitted for a vote before French legislators. The result, however, was nothing short of a rather amazing turn of events that should give hope to all IP users.

### Links to Videogame Examples Mentioned In Class

Halo 2™

Grand Theft® Auto: San Andreas

Gradius® V

Resident Evil® 4

Fatal Frame®

Jak II™

Technic Beat®

Mario Power Tennis®

Burnout™

### Miscellaneous Videogame Articles

Dirty Harry Debut for Videogame - Actor Clint Eastwood is to reprise his most famous role - in a computer game version of Dirty Harry.

Alternate Reality Gaming - Alternate reality gaming is an obsession-inspiring genre that blends real-life treasure hunting, interactive storytelling, video games and online community and may, incidentally, be one of the most powerful guerrilla marketing mechanisms ever invented.

VR Participatory Experiment - A virtual-reality drama by University of Buffalo researchers is driving the development of increasingly “self-aware” computational agents that are able to improvise responses to the spontaneous actions of human users. The virtual-reality drama, “The Trial The Trail,” is a brand new type of dramatic entertainment, where instead of identifying with the protagonist, the audience becomes the protagonist.

2005 Game Developers Conference Keynote Address - This is the official transcription of Satoru Iwata’s keynote speech. 2005 Game Developers Conference Keynote Address Delivered by Nintendo President Satoru Iwata.

The Blind Fragging the Blind - A growing library of computer games has been built specially for blind gamers, using sound instead of visuals to let players know what’s going on around them.

Tommy Tallarico Interview - Tommy Tallarico is a well known musician in the games industry and has been writing music for over 15 years. He currently hosts two TV shows on the gaming network G4. GameDAILY BIZ interviews Tommy who discusses his career, and where he thinks video game music is headed

A Star Wars Sequel (Except It’s Not) - Interesting NYT article on Jade Empire and how it seems like a very well done Star Wars (except, of course, Bioware does not have a Lucas license…).

Herold, Charles. “Game Theory; A Star Wars Sequel (Except It’s Not).” New York Times, April 22, 2005.

The NPD Group Reports Annual 2004 U.S. Video Game Industry Retail Sales - The NPD Group provides global sales and marketing information. They combine consumer information with point-of-sale data collected from retailers and other distribution channels across a wide range of vertical markets, including apparel, appliances, automotive, beauty, cellular, consumer electronics, food and beverage, foodservice, footwear, housewares, imaging, information technology, movies, music, software, toys, travel, and video games.

Retro Redux-Atari Competition - It was all part of Retro Redux, a competition last weekend at the Parsons School of Design in Greenwich Village that gave nine teams of aspiring designers a mere 24 hours to create complete games based on the Atari 2600, the classic 1978 console that helped spawn iconic titles like “Asteroids,” “Centipede” and “Pong.”

Schiesel, Seth. “Retro Redux: When Yellow Blobs Ate Other Yellow Blobs.” New York Times, April 6, 2005.

A New Reality in Video Games: Advertisements - Game publishers seek new sources of revenue to offset the growing cost of producing games, which can reach $10 million to $20 million, excluding marketing expenses. At the same time, advertisers are looking for new ways to reach 18- to 34-year-old males, a sought-after audience that is increasingly abandoning television (and TV commercials) and spending more time playing video games. The confluence of these trends is likely to make product placement in games more appealing. “This is the next big way publishers are talking about growing their revenue,” said Evan Wilson, an industry analyst with Pacific Crest Securities. Mr. Wilson added that the use of commercials was “almost inevitable in mass-market games.”

Richtel, Matt. “A New Reality In Video Games: Advertisements.” New York Times, April 11, 2005.

The Matrix Online - “The Matrix Online, from Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment, is one of the boldest efforts yet to appeal to hardcore players like Ms. Carkner as well as to a wider audience. Massively multiplayer games, which are considered mainstream entertainment in Taiwan and South Korea, still represent a small fraction of the United States video game business. Unlike traditional video games, which have their roots in arcades, these games have more in common with role-playing pastimes like Dungeon & Dragons. “We certainly could be the kind of game that expands the market,” said Jason Hall, senior vice president for Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment, which co-publishes The Matrix with the Sega Corporation.”

Levine, Robert. “Technology; The Matrix Ever-Loaded: Online Game for the Committed.” New York Times, April 25, 2005.

EA monopoly in Sports - CNN article from last year illustrates the lengths that companies will go to protect their premium brands.

The Psychology Behind Games - An interesting Gamasutra article this week on the subject.

Savage Pastimes - Harold Schechter, a Professor of Literature at Queens College in New York, makes a compelling argument about the benefit of video games. Professor Schechter’s thesis is that man is hard wired to be violent. As a result, we have a need to express our violent dispositions in culturally acceptable ways without doing harm and videogames supply that way. (from Next Generation Magazine 2/6/06)

Transition Nightmare - Hardware delays, console shortages and dull games have turned the promise of a smooth transition into a wasteland. Who is going to carry the can? NextGeneration’s Editor, Colin Campbell, weighs in…

### Useful Research Sites

Entertainment Software Association - The primary videogame industry association in Washington, DC. The ESA site has various studies and metrics on the industry that are free.

Game Rankings - Offers consumer ratings.

Game Spot - Offers news, reviews, hints, guides and forums covering all the top games. The platforms included in their content include GameCubeTM, Xbox®, Playstation® 2, DreamcastTM, Nintendo 64TM, Playstation®, Game Boy® Advance and Game Boy® Color as well as a separate section for PC games.

GamePro - Good general site covering all major platforms with discussion forums and cheats.

Half.com - Half.com is one of the largest online trading sites for games managed through eBay. Gamers buy and sell used games.

IGN.com - IGN.com won the 2001 “People’s Voice” Webby award for the best games site. They offer news and reviews, strategy guides, competitions and much more for games across all platforms.

NPD Group - NPD is a major supplier of marketing data across a variety of industries, including entertainment software.

Nuclear Winter Gaming Network - General underground site with descriptions and cheats as well as links to other sites.

Boston Games Companies - Boston area companies that do game related work.

Moby Games - MobyGames is one of the best known repositories of games, reviews and industry profiles.

## Course Info

##### Instructor

- Dr. Christopher Weaver

##### Departments

- Comparative Media Studies/Writing

##### As Taught In

Spring 2006

##### Level

Undergraduate

##### Topics

- Fine Arts
  - Media Studies

##### Learning Resource Types

equalizer Lecture Audio
notes Lecture Notes

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