Video games (Assassins Creed)

 First Video game

• Spacewar! (1962) First game on video screen
• Drafts (Nimrod Computer, 1952) First game technically although no video screen but instead with lightbulbs
• Computer Space (1971) First Commercial video game 
• Pong (home version, 1974) First game available at home 

Arcade

Japanese Arcade Boom - Game called Space invaders released in 1979

American Arcade Boom - Centipede and Asteroid 

Bedroom coders and UK micros 

1980s video game crash

Japanese console BOOM - Mario comes out and Street Fighter 2 (1991)

 

Playstation/Sony would advertise at Ministry of Sound 

Doki Doki got talked about on the Sun about its extreme themes 

Games are mainly digitally distributed 

Specialised - does one thing very well 

What makes it specialised?

• Exclusivity to certain platforms 
• Has a specific audience of a core gamer 
• Interactive form of media 
• Often competitive 
• Specific goals/achievements
• You can play with other people 
• Immersive - provide escapism 
• More expensive than other media forms 
• Freemium games - "Free" game with micro-transactions
• Longer length spent on games 

Pre production:

• Core concept of the game - target audience, gameplay mechanics, story 
• Proving there is a market - making sure there is an audience for your game who would be interested in playing it 
• Figure out the game mechanics
• Market Research 
• Story planning 
• Planning and designing 
• Making a timetable - establishing a deadline for certain tasks 
• A prototype is made - usually to show investors 

Production and Post-Production:

• Source code is developed 
• Character models are designed 
• Voice actors are hired and assigned to roles 
• Coding 
• Use engines (Unreal, Premiere Pro, Unity)
• People get contracted in 
• Animations are made 
• Mo-cap (motion capture) make realistic movements in the game 
• Game is tested for bugs 
• Alpha and Beta builds are made 
• Patches are released to fix certain issues 
• Maintenance 
• If a game is never finished... it gets stuck in development hell 

Marketing and Promotion:

• Games are shown at trade shows like E3
• Teaser trailers 

Assassins creed Valhalla:

• 17.2 million views on trailer 
• Costumes connote viking theme 
• Narrative of battle 
• Binary opposition of how the king presents the vikings of how they actually are 
• Dark lighting gives it a gritty feeling 
• Fantasy setting - escapism and wish fulfilment - the opportunity for audiences to live out violent fantasies 
• Historical references - appeals to history fans - history mode included 
• Intense soundtrack, dark electronic pop music which allows the game to appeal to a larger audience 
• Highly immersive using film techniques with a range of cinematic shots
• The king casted as the villain through dark lighting around him and their smug facial expressions 
• The viking hero is represented as the underdog  
• Makes many intertextual references to films - garners a larger audience 
• No gameplay 

Xbox one:

• Dashboard full of games 

Assassins Creed Unity:

• Hybrid genre of science fiction and history 
• Game gives several disclaimers 
• Was developed by Ubisoft Montreal 
• Lets the player know that it saves automatically 
• Game starts off with a tutorial 
• Provides settings allowing the player to adjust visuals, audio and other things 
• Barriers to entry with people struggling to play 
• Soundtrack is suitable for action 
• HUD
• Stealth 
• Uncanny valley of faces looking realistic but not quite
• High production value
• Escapist 
• Multiplayer aspect 
• Rated 18 

Fallout 4:

• The pad vibrates to create tension
• Post apocalyptic game 
• Offers character customisation 

Video games are highly polysemic - offer a variety of responses 

How does Ubisoft guarantee financial success? 

• Mainstream - high production values 
• Cinematic cutscenes 
• Open world 
• High budget 
• Advertising and promotion 
• Pre orders 
• Early copy reviews from streamers or influencers 
• Pre-made audience 
• First game was not a critical success but sold very well 
• Genre: Historical, Action, Stealth, RPG, Open world, Sandbox, Sci-fi
• Offers escapist fantasy 
• Social interaction (fomo)
• They all look the same except location changes and sometimes the character as well 
• Continuation of the story 

Ubisoft 90s

Rayman:

• Platformer 
•  Android, Atari Jaguar, iOS, Microsoft Windows,
• Children 
• It was praised for level design 
• Loved by fans 

Assassins Creed Brotherhood:

• Action adventure, Open world, Stealth

Ubisoft are a conglomerate that focus on games 

• Just dance is a family game that people who don't play games might play 
• Output a variety of games for different audiences 

David Hesmondhalgh - Cultural industries 

• Ubisoft have minimised risk and maximised profit at every stage 
• Horizontal integration is when a company acquires other companies in the same sector 
• Ubisoft are highly specialised 
• Their movie allowed them to diversify to a larger audience 

Ubisoft facts:

• 4th largest company 
• Established in France 1986 
• Focus on producing AAA games 
• Publishes game in variety of genres 
• Horizontally and Vertically studio 

Curran and Seaton - Power and media industries

• Media is controlled by small number of companies driven by profit and power 
• Media concentration limits variety, creativity and quality 
• More diverse patterns of ownerships can create more varied and adventurous media productions

Ubisoft suck

• Milk their games 
• Provide high barriers of entry - limit competition
• Games are extremely similar 
• Games are too big 
• Ubisoft offer a standardised and generic product 

Explain how ownership shapes media products. Refer to Assassins creed 

• Ubisoft 
• Ubisoft montreal 
• Circulation 
• Ideological implications 
• Curran and seaton
• Funding 
• Political bias 
• Funding 
• Hesmondhalgh 
• Multiplatform 
• Major, multinational publisher

How does Assassin's creed being made by a really big company make it what it is?

• Big budget means more money for resources 
• High production value 
• Brand loyalty from other games 
• Extremely detailed open world offers audiences escapism 
• English to appeal to international audiences 
• Multiplatform release 
• Iconography of assassin on front cover 
• Extreme hybrid genre 
• Appeals to many audiences 
• Sold a million copies 
• Game is bland
• Game is boring 

The effective of regulation of media products is largely impossible due to digitally convergent technologies 

PEGI is an advisory regulation:

• Not very effective regulation in the UK 
• Can get parents to purchase game for you 
• Can download it digitally 
• Some game shops might sell it either way 
• Pirate games to get the for free 

Why is Assassins creed offensive:

• Depicts Christianity as the bad guy 
• Actual racism in the game 
• Discriminatory language 
• Lots of killing 
• Fantasy violence
• Sexualisation
• Sexual threat 
• Blood (however audiences are given the option to turn it off)
• Swearing 
• No choice to be male or female 
• No options for non binary
• Imitable behaviour 

Grand theft auto murder in Thailand 

Manhunt game about snuff film 

Doki Doki suicide cases 

Moral Panic - story blown out of proportion 

Hypodermic needle theory:

audiences were passive. One of the reasons for this is because of Albert Banduras. EEF media has a direct effect on audiences. Audiences accept whatever they see

• A doll is not a person. Its a toy]
• Children are watching a role model 
• Children are more easily influenced 
• Those with cognitive disabilities might be vulnerable 
• Those with mental issues are more likely to be affected by certain depictions 

Henry Jenkins - Fandom

George Gerbner - Cultivation 

Stuart Hall - Reception - an assumption that there are many ways in which an audience can receive ideology of producer 

Reception:

Preferred 

• To be successful or powerful, you must kill 
• To become powerful, you must become the strongest and most dominant 
• Violence is normal 
• That thinking and acting fast should be rewarded 
• That violence is in fact essential 
• Being an assassin is an acceptable occupation 
• Sometime takes an anti-monarchy and anti-establishment ideology 
• Story is complicated and involving and audiences should concentrate really hard to understand it 

Oppositional

• Violence is bad 
• Assassins are bad 

Negotiated

• Violence isn't good but if it's to beat the monarchy then its acceptable 
• I hate violence but I love playing the game for story
• I hate the story but I love the violence 

Aberrant

• I play assassins creed to become an assassin in real life 
• The game is actually real 

Cultivation:

Seeing something over and over again reinforces an idea 

Fandom: 

People make video games a social interaction 

Violence in assassins creed is fantasy violence 

Fandom:

• Create their own media products from it such as fan edits 
• Share their love for it on fan forums and discuss things about them
• Create their own fanfic of it 
• Cosplay to find other people that like the thing they do and get to be their favourite character
• Textual poaching - when fans view a media product, they're taking it and doing something very different with it 
• Deciphering secret language found in games. By including this language they are appealing to the super fans 
• Fan music videos
• Fan pony edit of assassins creed genre hybridity 
• Nintendo always takes down fan made things 
• Allowing fans to interact with media products allows free promotion

Clay Shirky - End of Audience 

argues there is no such thing as audience anymore as we create our own 

• audiences writing their own version of the game's events 
• creating weapons from the game
• Experts recreating parkour moves from assassins creed 
• Reaction videos 
• Create own fan trailer for a WW2 assassins creed. Borderline professional choreography with decent editing

A lot of fan created stuff lets them show off their artistic and editing skills