"You're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat!"

Monday, 7 December 2009

Marketing Video Games

After completing the research of a video games company of your choice and your case study of video game regulation, you are now ready to have a crack at marketing.

Choose an important release (a recent one will help) and see what you can find out. Some things to look out for will be:

Trailers - audio and visual
Examples of viral marketing
Internet advertising
Promotions, tie-ins and point of sale material
Social networking
Launch day activities
Magazine activity
Soundtracks
Posters

Maybe a starting point would be the recent Modern Warfare 2 by Infinity Ward. Here is the trailer produced for release day:

And here is an example of blog that has content about the marketing campaign or alternatively in the LA Times.

The more detail you can find out about different marketing techniques the better off you will be in the exam.

The Marketing of GTA4

Grand Theft Auto 4 - Marketing

View more presentations from Media Studies.

Tuesday, 1 December 2009

Video Games Developer Case Study

You should produce a case study of a video games company of your choice.

You should include:

The origins of the company
Examples of the games that they have developed or are developing
Information about the size of the business (local, national, international etc)
Turnover / profits

Monday, 23 November 2009

Essay on Video Game Regulation

How are video games regulated in the UK and why is regulation needed?

You must cover:

The role of the BBFC
The role of PEGI
Examples of games and why they have gained their age classification
The concern over children accessing inappropriate games
The status of the law in regard to supplying games to underage children
Examples of games causing controversy. Look here for good examples.

There is no guidance on a word count except to say that all of the points above have to be covered in some detail. No plagiarism please. Use pictures as illustrations wherever necessary.

Regulation and Video Games

Videogames in the UK are classified by two regulatory bodies. The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) classify approximately 10% of all videogames released. PEGI (Pan-European Game Information) classify the other 90%.

Are a non-governmental regulatory body
Their age classifications are enforced by law.
They classify videogames which contain video footage of, or depictions of the following:
Human sexual activity
Acts of gross violence towards humans and animals
Criminal activity
Drug use

Go to the website: http://www.pbbfc.co.uk/guides_Videogames.asp

Are a self-regulatory body (set up voluntarily by the videogame industry to regulate their own products)
Their classifications are guidelines for parents and retailers and are NOT enforced by law.
If any game contains depictions of human sexual activity, acts of gross violence towards humans or animals, criminal activity or drug use, by law the game is exempt from PEGI classification and must be classified legally by the BBFC before sale.

Go to the website: http://www.pegi.info/en/index/id/28/

PEGI ratings: