Antonia's A-level Media Blog

  1)  Videogames: Henry Jenkins - fandom and participatory culture 2) Videogames: The Sims FreePlay - Language & Representation 3)  Videogames: The Sims FreePlay - Audience & Industries 4)  Learner response: OSP assessment 5)  Videogames: Women in videogames &  Further feminist theory 6)  Videogames: Horizon Forbidden West - Language & Representations 7)  Videogames: Horizon Forbidden West - Audience & Industries

 Create a blogpost called 'Horizon Forbidden West: Audience and Industry' and work through the following tasks. Audience Look at  this YouGov blog on the console gaming audience  and answer the following questions: 1) What statistics can you find for the number of male / female players for the major consoles?   PlayStation 5 (68% male; 29% female) and Xbox Series X|S (68% vs. 32%) have the highest proportion of male compared to female gamers. 2) What is the difference between 'hardcore' and 'casual' gamers - and which do you think would play Horizon Forbidden West?  Casual gamers play games as a pass time whi9lst hard core gamers invest and make games their number one priority. 3) What are the different reasons YouGov researched for why players play games? Which of these would apply to Horizon Forbidden West? Relaxing/ wind down time making a world of their own Interact with other gamers Look at  the PlayStation website page for Horizon Forbidden West ...

  Language Introduction Read  this review of Horizon Forbidden West in the Financial Times  (should be non-paywalled but you can  read the text of article here if needed ). Answer the following questions: 1) Why does Guerrilla Games have 'a serious case of bad timing'?  2) What is the narrative for the original game Horizon Zero Dawn?  The game takes place a thousand years after rampaging machines have wiped out most of humanity. Survivors have clustered into tribal communities who view relics of technology as objects of either suspicion or religious relics. 3) How is the central character Aloy described?  A complex mysterious character 4) What is the narrative and setting for sequel Horizon Forbidden West? It is more diffuse, and it smartly explores themes of climate catastrophe. 5) What does the review say about animation and graphics? It is realistic and smooth. 6) What do we learn about the gameplay and activities in Horizon Forbidden West?  T...

  Women and videogames: blog tasks Work through the following blog tasks to complete our work on women in videogames and further feminist theory. Part 1: Background reading on Gamergate Read  this Guardian article on Gamergate 10 years on . Answer the following questions: 1) What was Gamergate?  A modern culture war. 2) What is the recent controversy surrounding narrative design studio Sweet Baby Inc?  Being accused of secretly forcing game developers to change the bodies, ethnicities and sexualities of video game characters to fit the 'woke' ideology.  3) What does the article conclude regarding diversity in videogames? Nobody is forcing diversity into games. Part 2: Further Feminist Theory: Media Factsheet Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) or  here using your Greenford Google login . Find Media Factsheet  #169 Further Feminist Theory , read the whole of the Factsheet and answer the fo...

  Audience Read  this App Store description and the customer reviews for The Sims FreePlay  and answer the following questions:   1) What game information is provided on this page? Pick out three elements you think are important in terms of making the game appeal to an audience. Ratings, Age rating,  Category, Developer Important:  Ratings Age Rating Category of Games 2) How does the game information on this page reflect the strong element of participatory culture in The Sims? The active and honest reviews from players along w their personal ratings of the game shows the interactive participatory nature. 3) Read a few of the user reviews. What do they suggest about the audience pleasures of the game?  The graphics/ cartoonish nature Quests Different ages for roleplay Ability to create a family and have romantic interests How it resembles actual life Participatory culture Read  this academic journal article - The Sims:  A Participatory Culture...

  1. Type up your feedback in   full   (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential). WWW: Essay is clear and demonstrates knowledge of how both OSP CSP's have adapted to digital convergence . EBI: Offer more clear examples Reference more audience and industry Refer to other CSP's 2. Read the whole mark scheme for this assessment carefully (posted on your Google Classroom). Identify  three  specific aspects from Figure 1 (the Bioshock Infinite game cover) that you could have mentioned in your answer (e.g. selection of images, colour scheme, text etc). The cover shows Booker DeWitt, the male protagonist, in a three-quarter pose. He’s holding a gun (slung over his shoulder), with a serious or determined expression. Zeppelin / airship: Connotes an alternate-history, steampunk or early 20th-century technological aesthetic. It emphasizes the “floating city” idea — Columbia is not a typical city, but one suspended in the sky. Myth ...