Monday, 9 January 2023

OSP & Videogames: An introduction

Our new media topic is called Online, Social, Participatory media and Videogames - an in-depth area of study on new and digital media with two Close-Study Products.

Over the next few weeks, we need to study the following CSPs:

Lara Croft GO
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood
Marcus Rashford's online presence

We need to study these products using all four key concepts: Language, Industry, Audience and Representation. 

Videogames

We will start by focusing on videogames. Both Lara Croft GO and Kim Kardashian: Hollywood are good examples of the changing nature of the videogames industry.

Watch the video below on the history of videogames in order to see how the industry has developed over the last 50 years.


A brief history of videogames: blog task



Watch the YouTube video outlining the history of the videogames industry from the 1970s to the 2010s. Now answer the following questions:

1) What were the first videogames like?

2) How have videogames changed over time?

3) What do the most successful games have in common? Answer this in as much detail as you can. Think about audience pleasures - what do people like about playing videogames?

4) What criticisms have been made towards videogames?

Read this Guardian feature from when Fortnite first became sensationally popular and watch the original trailer below.



Now answer the following questions:

1) At the time of the article, how many Fortnite players were there worldwide? (Bonus question - how many are there now? Try Googling it.)

2) Why is it so popular? What are the audience pleasures of the game?

3) Why might some people criticise Fortnite?

4) Copy and paste two comments from 'below the line' of the Guardian article - these are comments written by Guardian readers in response to the feature. Select one comment you agree with and one you disagree with and explain why.

Extension task: read this news story reporting that Prince Harry has called for Fortnite to be banned. Why does the Prince think Fortnite producer Epic Games is irresponsible?

You will have lesson time to work on this but will need to complete for homework - due date on Google Classroom.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Coursework: Foundation Media Summer Project 2023

The summer project is a fantastic opportunity to start planning your Media coursework. Your summer project contains compulsory and optiona...