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Abstract/Syllabus:
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Weaver, Christopher, CMS.610 Media Industries and Systems, Spring 2006. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed 09 Jul, 2010). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

Playing with a handheld video game controller. (Photo courtesy of Jon Jordan.)
Course Highlights
This course features a guest lecture on interactive storytelling by Steve Meretzky in Week 6 of the extensive list of readings and a complete set of lecture notes. In addition, links to sample video games are available in the related resources section.
Course Description
This course examines the interplay of art, science, and commerce shaping the production, marketing, distribution, and consumption of contemporary media. It combines perspectives on media industries and systems with an awareness of the creative process, the audience, and trends shaping content. There will be invited discussions with industry experts in various subject areas. Class projects will encourage students to think through the challenges of producing media in an industry context. CMS.610 is for undergraduate credit, whereas CMS.922 is for graduate credit. Though the requirements for graduates are more stringent, the course is intended for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Special Features
Technical Requirements
Special software is required to use some of the files in this course: .mp3.
Staff
Instructor:
Dr. Christopher Weaver
Course Meeting Times
Lectures:
One session / week
3 hours / session
Level
Undergraduate
Feedback
Send feedback on this course.
Syllabus
A list of topics covered in the course is available in the calendar.
Course Description
The past thirty years have changed the media environment dramatically. Ever more powerful computers and graphics coupled with a variety of related technologies have forever changed the way that young consumers now choose to spend their leisure time. The choices available today compared to a generation ago are almost staggering and only promise to increase in the years ahead. The focus of this course is on the most rapidly growing segment of this new media domain: videogames. Last year, the sales of videogames exceeded the domestic Box Office for Hollywood movies. What is the videogames industry and how does it operate? What creative processes and business decisions go into shaping the development of a commercially successful game? How do industry insiders handle the mix of art, science and business necessary to make commercially successful games?
This class will look at the history, principals, seminal programs and implications of this encompassing new medium as well as help the student to develop a critical appreciation for how to apply that knowledge to conceive, develop, market and sell videogames domestically and internationally.
There will be guest lectures by media experts intimately involved in the videogames industry where students will have a unique opportunity to learn from, and interact with, some of the most important people in the industry today--from key designers and programmers to publishers and writers. Students will also participate in hands-on projects designing, creating, planning and marketing videogames.
Tentative guest lecturers include: Ernest Adams, Bob Bates, Seamus Blackley, Julian Lefay, Richard (Lord British) Garriott, Robert Garriott, Steve Meretzky, Matt Firor, George (Fatman) Sanger, Warren Spector and Johnny Wilson.
Students are responsible for checking the readings section for the most up-to-date listing of readings.
Course Requirements
Grading
Grading criteria.
ACTIVITIES |
PERCENTAGES |
Interpretive Questions |
20% |
Project Update Papers |
20% |
Final Project |
50% |
Class Participation |
10% |
Interpretive Question
Each week students will submit at least one interpretative and thoughtful question based upon the written materials for that week and one question intended for class discussion. The questions should show a solid grasp of the course material as well as provoking reflection on the part of your fellow students, the instructor, and the guest speaker. Your questions will help guide discussion of the course material. A copy of all the questions will be provided to the class each week. Questions should be emailed in by noon the Wednesday before each Friday’s class to allow for compilation and distribution.
Project Update Papers
Each Student shall submit a paper on games that were important to them as well as write a paper that proposes a game development project. The goal is for your proposal to be chosen by classmates as one of the four or five Final Projects that students shall work on as part of a team.
Final Project
Each student will participate as part of a design and development team that will be responsible for developing a working presentation, business plan, and marketing plan for a videogame. Each plan should take the overall videogame and multimedia industry into account and its various offshoots, remembering that each media genre represents a distinct user base. In most cases, these different media are sold into and consumed in some relation to each other. The ideal game would allow non-initiated consumers to derive pleasure from the experience, while still being of interest to a hardcore gaming audience. The student teams should consider the full panoply of hybrid media where a consumer can follow a story or experience across multiple channels thereby developing a more complex and rewarding overall experience.
Each student will choose to participate on one of the four or five chosen game proposals and help execute a plan for the original property and outline its development by each team member. Sales materials should include a description of the game, a graphic presentation and an account of how you propose to develop it across multiple media (PC, console, X-Box (hybrid), handhelds, posters, records, etc.). You should also have an idea of the most likely audience for your game and how to market it to different audiences as well. Each team should be prepared to lead a discussion of the overall business strategy for their product(s) and provide some comparison to other, similar games or genres. As part of your overall strategy, each team should have a plan to expand your user base by enabling users a more participatory relationship to the property. Your team should be prepared to deliver a thirty-minute presentation of your game, including gameplay, as well as strategies for the intended property which should include a range of support materials. Your materials might include: an interactive demo, a video, a graphic presentation, a Web site, story boards, graphic designs, logos, art, photos, advertising campaigns, posters, etc. Each Team Project, and the students contributing to that Team, will be judged on the basis of the product's overall quality, creativity and originality, your understanding of the core course concepts, the Team's technical competency and your grasp of the current business environment into which you would need to sell and support the product.
More detailed instructions for the final project are available in the projects section.
Class Participation
While I do not take formal attendance, I am aware of who attends regularly, participates actively, and asks insightful questions.
Plagiarism
The use of another's intellectual work without acknowledgement is a serious offense. It is the policy of the Department faculty that students who plagiarize will receive an F in the subject, and that the instructor will forward the case to the Committee on Discipline. Full acknowledgement for all information obtained from sources outside the classroom must be clearly stated in all written work submitted. All ideas, arguments, and direct phrasings taken from someone else's work must be identified and properly footnoted. Quotations from other sources must be clearly marked as distinct from the student's own work. For further guidance on the proper forms of attribution consult the style guides available in the Writing and Communication Center, and the MIT Web site on Plagiarism.
Calendar
Course calendar.
WEEK # |
TOPICS |
KEY DATES |
1 |
(Brief) Trip Through Time |
|
2 |
Game Basics |
Paper 1 due: Describe your favorite game and detail its attributes and flaws |
3 |
Game Basics (cont.) |
|
4 |
Designing Games |
Paper 2 due: Submit game design proposal for your game |
5 |
Class Workshop: Teams and Projects |
Class Exercise: Vote on last week's game proposals
Choose development teams |
6 |
"Storytelling and Narrative" |
Project material due: The team leader/producer will submit a flow chart detailing each member's tasks broken down by date. The chart should indicate the project milestones believed necessary to deliver a product demo by the first week of May 2005. The flowchart will need to take into account possible time off for vacations and weekends |
7 |
Team Building |
Project team leaders: The four team leaders/producers will report on their progress assembling their teams |
8 |
"Using Outside Resources" |
|
9 |
Play Balance and Online Games |
|
10 |
"Introduction to Marketing and Intellectual Property" |
|
11 |
Selling your Game |
|
12 |
Workshop: Polishing the Presentation and Business Plan |
Work on your presentations and we will discuss more presentation specifics in class |
13 |
Team Presentations |
Judges Panel I: Fellow classmates
Judges Panel II: Games industry insiders |
14 |
Discussing Last Week's Presentations |
|
15 |
Final Team Presentations |
|
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Readings
Special software is required to use some of the files in this section: mp3.
These files are also available for download from iTunes®.
Course readings.
WEEK # |
TOPICS |
READINGS |
1 |
(Brief) Trip Through Time |
Jenkins, Henry. "Games, the New Lively Art." In Handbook of Computer Game Studies. Edited by Joost Raessens and Jeffrey Goldstein. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005. ISBN: 0262182408.
Crawford, Chris. Chapters 1-4 in Chris Crawford on Game Design. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders, 2003, pp. 6-53. ISBN: 0131460994.
Reference: The Dot Eaters: Video Game History 101. |
2 |
Game Basics |
Bates, Bob. "Concepts/Principles of Game Design." Chapters 1-2 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 4-46. ISBN: 0761531653.
———. "Storytelling." Chapter 4 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 76-102. ISBN: 0761531653.
Murray, Janet. "A New Medium for Storytelling." Part I in Hamlet on the Holodeck. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998, pp. 13-65. ISBN: 0262631873.
Aarseth, Espen. "Genre Trouble." First Person, 2004.
Wolf, Mark J. P. "Genre and the Video Game." Chapter 6 in The Medium of the Video Game. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2002. ISBN: 029279150X.
Demo: Videos of Game Genres. |
3 |
Game Basics (cont.) |
Bates, Bob. "Getting to Yes." Chapter 1 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 1-20. ISBN: 0761531653.
———. "Project Lifecycle." Chapter 10 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 206-218. ISBN: 0761531653.
Crawford, Chris. Chapters 6-8 in Chris Crawford on Game Design . Indianapolis, IN: New Riders, 2003, pp. 71-106. ISBN: 0131460994. |
4 |
Designing Games |
Bates, Bob. "Game Design Issues." Chapter 3 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 48-74. ISBN: 0761531653.
———. "Managing Development." Chapter 11 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 48-74 and 220-238. ISBN: 0761531653. |
5 |
Class Workshop: Teams and Projects |
Bates, Bob. "Level Design." Chapter 5 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 90-122. ISBN: 0761531653. |
6 |
"Storytelling and Narrative" |
Rollings, Andrew, and Ernest Adams. Chapter 4 in Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design . New York, NY: New Riders Games, 2003, pp. 89-119. ISBN: 1592730019.
Bates, Bob. "Managing Development." Chapter 11 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 48-74 and 220-238 [reread]. ISBN: 0761531653.
Guest Lecture: Steve Meretzky, one of the most respected writers and designers in the industry, Steve Meretzky has written Infocom™ games, including The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and is currently working with Paul Neurath on mobile games. For further reference, read his interviews with the BBC and Gamasutra.com.
Hear his lecture about interactive storytelling: (MP3 - 24.4MB). The following portions of audio were removed due to copyright restrictions:
Sheldon, Lee. "Prelude in a Fire-Lit Cave." In Character Development and Storytelling for Games (Game Development Series). Boston, MA: Thomson Course Technology, 2004, p. 1. ISBN: 1592003532.
Campbell, Joseph. Prologue, paragraph 3, in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 2nd ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1972. ISBN: 0691017840.
Card, Orson Scott. Excerpt p. 258, middle of paragraph 3 to end of paragraph 5 in "The Originist." In Maps in a Mirror: The Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card. New York, NY: Tom Doherty Associates, 2004, pp. 214-262. ISBN: 0765308401.
|
7 |
Team Building |
Bates, Bob. "The Development Team." Chapter 8 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 143-180. ISBN: 0761531653. [Or 2nd ed. 2004, pp. 151-182. ISBN: 1592004938.] |
8 |
"Using Outside Resources" |
Bates, Bob. "The Development Team." Chapter 19 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 182-202. ISBN: 0761531653.
Stone, Allucquère Rosanne. "Cyberdammerung at the Atari Lab." Chapter 6 in The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996, pp. 122-155. ISBN: 0262691892.
Also review the following article: Jassin, Lloyd J. "Working with Freelancers: What Every Publisher Should Know About the 'Work for Hire' Doctrine." CopyLaw.com, 2000. Adapted from Jassin, Lloyd J., and Steven C. Schechter. Copyright Permission and Libel Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers. New York, NY: Wiley, 1998. ISBN: 0471146544. |
9 |
Play Balance and Online Games |
Rollings, Andrew, and Ernest Adams. "Internal Economy of Games." Chapter 8 in Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. New York, NY: New Riders Games, 2003, pp. 239-288. ISBN: 1592730019.
———. "Online Games." Chapter 17 in Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. New York, NY: New Riders Games, 2003, pp. 499-532. ISBN: 1592730019. |
10 |
"Introduction to Marketing and Intellectual Property" |
Bates, Bob. "The Development Team." Chapter 12 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 237-253. ISBN: 0761531653. |
11 |
Selling your Game |
Bates, Bob. "The Development Team." Chapter 13 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 248-260. ISBN: 0761531653. |
12 |
Workshop: Polishing the Presentation and Business Plan |
Salisbury, Ashley. "Pitch Materials." Chapter 3 in Game Development Business and Legal Guide. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 87-91. ISBN: 1592000428. |
13 |
Team Presentations |
Crawford, Chris. "Themes and Lessons." Chapter 27 in Chris Crawford on Game Design. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders Games, 2003, pp. 424-454. ISBN: 0131460994. |
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Further Reading:
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Readings
Special software is required to use some of the files in this section: mp3.
These files are also available for download from iTunes®.
Course readings.
WEEK # |
TOPICS |
READINGS |
1 |
(Brief) Trip Through Time |
Jenkins, Henry. "Games, the New Lively Art." In Handbook of Computer Game Studies. Edited by Joost Raessens and Jeffrey Goldstein. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005. ISBN: 0262182408.
Crawford, Chris. Chapters 1-4 in Chris Crawford on Game Design. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders, 2003, pp. 6-53. ISBN: 0131460994.
Reference: The Dot Eaters: Video Game History 101. |
2 |
Game Basics |
Bates, Bob. "Concepts/Principles of Game Design." Chapters 1-2 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 4-46. ISBN: 0761531653.
———. "Storytelling." Chapter 4 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 76-102. ISBN: 0761531653.
Murray, Janet. "A New Medium for Storytelling." Part I in Hamlet on the Holodeck. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998, pp. 13-65. ISBN: 0262631873.
Aarseth, Espen. "Genre Trouble." First Person, 2004.
Wolf, Mark J. P. "Genre and the Video Game." Chapter 6 in The Medium of the Video Game. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2002. ISBN: 029279150X.
Demo: Videos of Game Genres. |
3 |
Game Basics (cont.) |
Bates, Bob. "Getting to Yes." Chapter 1 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 1-20. ISBN: 0761531653.
———. "Project Lifecycle." Chapter 10 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 206-218. ISBN: 0761531653.
Crawford, Chris. Chapters 6-8 in Chris Crawford on Game Design . Indianapolis, IN: New Riders, 2003, pp. 71-106. ISBN: 0131460994. |
4 |
Designing Games |
Bates, Bob. "Game Design Issues." Chapter 3 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 48-74. ISBN: 0761531653.
———. "Managing Development." Chapter 11 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 48-74 and 220-238. ISBN: 0761531653. |
5 |
Class Workshop: Teams and Projects |
Bates, Bob. "Level Design." Chapter 5 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 90-122. ISBN: 0761531653. |
6 |
"Storytelling and Narrative" |
Rollings, Andrew, and Ernest Adams. Chapter 4 in Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design . New York, NY: New Riders Games, 2003, pp. 89-119. ISBN: 1592730019.
Bates, Bob. "Managing Development." Chapter 11 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 48-74 and 220-238 [reread]. ISBN: 0761531653.
Guest Lecture: Steve Meretzky, one of the most respected writers and designers in the industry, Steve Meretzky has written Infocom™ games, including The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and is currently working with Paul Neurath on mobile games. For further reference, read his interviews with the BBC and Gamasutra.com.
Hear his lecture about interactive storytelling: (MP3 - 24.4MB). The following portions of audio were removed due to copyright restrictions:
Sheldon, Lee. "Prelude in a Fire-Lit Cave." In Character Development and Storytelling for Games (Game Development Series). Boston, MA: Thomson Course Technology, 2004, p. 1. ISBN: 1592003532.
Campbell, Joseph. Prologue, paragraph 3, in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 2nd ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1972. ISBN: 0691017840.
Card, Orson Scott. Excerpt p. 258, middle of paragraph 3 to end of paragraph 5 in "The Originist." In Maps in a Mirror: The Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card. New York, NY: Tom Doherty Associates, 2004, pp. 214-262. ISBN: 0765308401.
|
7 |
Team Building |
Bates, Bob. "The Development Team." Chapter 8 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 143-180. ISBN: 0761531653. [Or 2nd ed. 2004, pp. 151-182. ISBN: 1592004938.] |
8 |
"Using Outside Resources" |
Bates, Bob. "The Development Team." Chapter 19 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 182-202. ISBN: 0761531653.
Stone, Allucquère Rosanne. "Cyberdammerung at the Atari Lab." Chapter 6 in The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996, pp. 122-155. ISBN: 0262691892.
Also review the following article: Jassin, Lloyd J. "Working with Freelancers: What Every Publisher Should Know About the 'Work for Hire' Doctrine." CopyLaw.com, 2000. Adapted from Jassin, Lloyd J., and Steven C. Schechter. Copyright Permission and Libel Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers. New York, NY: Wiley, 1998. ISBN: 0471146544. |
9 |
Play Balance and Online Games |
Rollings, Andrew, and Ernest Adams. "Internal Economy of Games." Chapter 8 in Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. New York, NY: New Riders Games, 2003, pp. 239-288. ISBN: 1592730019.
———. "Online Games." Chapter 17 in Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. New York, NY: New Riders Games, 2003, pp. 499-532. ISBN: 1592730019. |
10 |
"Introduction to Marketing and Intellectual Property" |
Bates, Bob. "The Development Team." Chapter 12 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 237-253. ISBN: 0761531653. |
11 |
Selling your Game |
Bates, Bob. "The Development Team." Chapter 13 in Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. Prima Tech's Game Development Series, ed. André LaMothe. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 248-260. ISBN: 0761531653. |
12 |
Workshop: Polishing the Presentation and Business Plan |
Salisbury, Ashley. "Pitch Materials." Chapter 3 in Game Development Business and Legal Guide. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2001, pp. 87-91. ISBN: 1592000428. |
13 |
Team Presentations |
Crawford, Chris. "Themes and Lessons." Chapter 27 in Chris Crawford on Game Design. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders Games, 2003, pp. 424-454. ISBN: 0131460994. |
Related Resources
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.
E3 2004 State of the Industry Address - Delivered at E3 2004, Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association, talks about the previous ten years.
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.
Video Game News - Good general industry electronic magazine.
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.
MMOG Information Site - This is a privately maintained site that has some of the most current data on the MMOG industry. It examines trends and provides analysis as well.
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