videogames – Media Matters

November 11, 2020November 11, 2020

Beginning of the End for Video Game Consoles?

This week Sony and Microsoft are launching their next-generation consoles in the form of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. It’s been 7 years since the last major upgrade, and this one is shaking things up with serious gamers. Some of the new technologies include: ray tracing, 3-D audio, ultra-fast frame rates, and a controller that incorporates vibration-based haptic feedback.

At the same time, some industry analysts are wondering if this is the beginning of the end for consoles with the rise of cloud video gaming services as the next big thing. Google’s Stadia (“no console, no download”), Amazon’s Luna, Apple’s Arcade and Facebook Gaming are all vying to be the future of video gaming.

To keep things in perspective, the video game industry is three times as big as the Hollywood movie industry. Yes, that’s right…video games generate three times the revenue as Hollywood blockbusters…and that doesn’t even take into account the hit that movies theaters have taken with the pandemic. But even with success measured on this level, the gaming industry needs to be nimble and quick to respond to consumer demand. Whoever comes up with the next big development in video gaming will be richly rewarded.

August 20, 2020August 27, 2020

Gaming Graphics: The Sky’s the Limit

For those who have only been playing video games for a few years, you might not fully appreciate just how far computer graphic technologies (hardware and software) have come. But if you want to see for yourself, the release of the latest version of Microsoft’s Flight Simulator is a great case study.

From the earliest days with crude monochromatic vector drawings to the modern day visuals that look like a feature film, video game graphics have soared to new heights. From vector graphics to full-motion video, and from 2D to 3D (and beyond with VR), faster processors and graphics accelerator cards have changed the look and feel of modern game play. Alvy Ray Smith famously said, “Reality is 80 million polygons per second.” It appears that we’re approaching reality at warp speed.

August 14, 2020August 27, 2020

Free Fortnite

In what may be the greatest TV commercial of all time, Apple introduced the macintosh computer to Super Bowl viewers in 1984. Flash forward more than 35 years to the present where Epic Games has turned the table. According to their website…

Apple has blocked Fortnite from the App Store, removing everyone’s ability to install and update the game on iOS devices, while instructing Epic to “remove the ‘Epic direct payment’ feature”. Apple is keeping prices high so they can collect 30% of your payments, and is blocking Fortnite in order to prevent Epic from passing on the savings from direct payments to you! Join the fight against @AppStore on social media with #FreeFortnite
https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/news/freefortnite

Here’s the remake…

The Apple App Store has been a tightly controlled asset for many years, contributing to Apple’s dominance in the mobile gaming market. Maybe this is part of the reason why Apple is approaching a net value of $2 Trillion. With Epic Games worth a tiny fraction of that amount, this could be shaping up to be an epic David v Goliath battle, and if history is any indication, it may be wise to put your money on the underdog.

UPDATE: Spotify and Match Group (dating app powerhouse) are showing support for Epic Games by speaking out against Apple’s 30% “App Store tax.” It’ll be interesting to see who else jumps on this train.

February 18, 2020February 18, 2020

Sonic Boom!

It was a big weekend for Sonic the Hedgehog, the new videogame movie release from Paramount Pictures. Earning upwards of $70M domestically in its 4-day opening weekend gave Sonic the biggest-ever opening for a movie adapted from a video game.

But the path to success was not without a few bumps in the road. Last year’s November release was delayed after fans took to social media to pan an early trailer because of a creepy looking Sonic.

https://youtu.be/SXDa8i75PpM

With fans up in arms, Paramount did the right thing by delaying the opening and spending another $5 million bucks to give Sonic a makeover. The new Sonic turned out to be a vast improvement and led to this weekend’s big open. Turns out bigger eyes, smaller (less-human looking) teeth, and a less-elongated body is a better look for SEGA’s little speedster.

Knowing your audience and taking the time to get it right appears to be the lesson to be learned. Audience research can be expensive, but bombing at the box office is even more expensive. That’s a lesson that we could only have wished the producers of Cats would have learned.

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020

Esports, It’s a Thing

Just in case you hadn’t heard, Esports has arrived. If you’re not already familiar with the term, Esports refers to organized video gaming competitions. You can find plenty of background information on the Esports wikipedia page.

So, how big of a thing is Esports? Well, you know something has entered popular consciousness when SNL and Chance the Rapper poke fun at it.

Esports exists on various levels from amateur to college to pro. Professional Esports players earn on average $300,000/year, not too bad for playing video games, but far less than the average salaries for major league sports.

Among colleges and universities in the region, Colorado College in Colorado Springs has a well-established program. Last spring they won first place at the SCAC Esports Showdown where they competed in Overwatch, League of Legends, Smash Bros Ultimate, and Fortnite.

This year the Summer Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo, Japan, and while Esports will not be an official game of the 2020 Olympics, it will be featured in the days preceding the official games. According to engadget, “Players will compete in Street Fighter V and Rocket League for a price of $250,000 for each game.”

And for those who like to watch, VENN is launching this year and promises to be a new 24/7 post-cable network aimed at gaming, esports and entertainment audiences.

Maybe my next post should explore the idea of a “post-cable network.”

May 29, 2018

First Person [School] Shooter Videogames

First person shooter (FPS) video games have been around for quite a few years. Even if you haven’t played them, you’ve probably heard about Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Call of Duty, and Halo. While the idea of putting a virtual gun in the hands of young, impressionable gamers creates angst for parents and other adults, the fact that little Johnny is killing Nazis, monsters or aliens softens some of the objections.

FPS games played in more natural settings, e.g. inner cities, elevated concerns once again and games like GTA: San Andreas led to protests and calls for greater restrictions on content and labeling.

But it took a Colorado resident who created a video game based on the Columbine High School shooting to really fire things up. Danny Ladonne made Super Columbine Massacre RPG in 2005 and a documentary about his experience a few years later.

In 2011 another video game based on Columbine was released as a modification for Half-Life 2 and received equally harsh criticism. School Shooter: North American Tour 2012 was cited in the Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association. The 7-2 opinion established protection for video games under the First Amendment.

Most recently, a new release slated for June 6 is renewing the controversy around FPS video games in school settings. Active Shooter is designed to give players the option of the role of S.W.A.T. team or shooter. According to a news report,

Steam said in a statement on its site that the game does not promote any sort of violence, especially any sort of a mass shooting, referring back to the phrase dynamic SWAT simulator.

However, in light of recent and strong criticism the game maker is considering removing the option to take the role as shooter.

If you believe that FPS games set in high schools is a bad idea, sign the petition at Change.org

March 6, 2018

Media Violence: Cause or Effect?

The age-old question about media content and make-believe violence comes up every time we have a horrific incident of violence in real-life. Movies, video games, and now fully-immersive VR are the focus when well-meaning crusaders attempting to explain, or reduce, violence and mayhem in our schools and streets.

An editorial by Jeremy Bailenson, director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab and a professor in the Department of Communication, asks serious questions about modern mass media and its consequences. It is definitely worth a few minutes of your time before continuing with this blog post.

I just had a Facebook “discussion” with a colleague who is a Clinical Psychologist and his take is that the research connecting social learning theory with violent media exposure fails to draw a direct cause-and-effect line between the two. But I would like to suggest that this failure to provide significant research findings is more about the limitations of our research methodology and ethical restraints imposed on experiments with human subjects than it is about real effects. The fact that the military uses video games and VR to train soldiers is important, and it suggests that there is evidence that the newest technologies in video gaming and VR can make players more effective shooters/killers in real life.

Fully immersive VR with input control devices that mimic real weapons, and simulated virtual environments that can map the game onto real (not virtual) physical spaces (e.g. a 3-D simulation of a high school) could be a deadly combination.

If we’re serious about taking away “assault” weapons we might also consider taking away “assault” media. Or perhaps, as Bailenson suggests, video game companies should follow the lead of major retailers who are pulling certain products and increasing the age requirements for purchasing. Software manufacturers could avoid regulatory oversight by imposing their own restraints on what they make available on the open market. But I wouldn’t suggest holding your breath.

November 3, 2014

#GamerGate

Over at Vox, Ezra Klein has written an interesting, 25-paragraph essay Gamergate and the Politicization of Absolutely Everything. For those who have not been introduced to the raging debate swirling around the video game industry, gamergate is a controversy that touches on many of the media topics and themes that we’ve been addressing this semester: media effects and concerns related to sexual and violent content, politically incorrect stereotypes, censorship, and journalistic ethics just to name a few. Here’s Gawker‘s attempt to explain what all the fuss is about. Want more? Here’s a great article by Erik Kain at Forbes.

Klein’s thesis is premised on the idea that everything has been politicized in the extreme. The gamergate battle lines have been drawn between waring factions. On one side the “young, white, male” demo (that has historically been at the core of the gamer community) and on the other side, feminists (more here). It’s hard to ignore the fact that real differences exist between gamers who like to blow things up and those who like to build things together. And finally, differences exist between those who feel marginalized by the present systems and,…well…those who feel marginalized by the present system. In fact the entire controversy has something to offend nearly everyone. It’s as though the controversy is a kind of ink blot test on which we are invited to project our own worldview and moral objections. As Klein notes, “Video games are the excuse for this fight, not the cause of it.” For those with political biases on the left, it’s about “sexism and online harassment,” but for those on the right it’s about “political correctness and speech policing.”

Klein’s essay ends on a cautionary note that predicts other battles, like gamergate, but with even greater consequences. As the culture wars escalate and battles lines are drawn, the battlefield itself will be the online space where digital avatars battle to the death over controversies large and small. Thankfully, digital wars are not nearly as painful as analog wars. After all, when your digital self is mortally wounded or killed a quick reboot is all that’s needed to get back in the fight.

February 16, 2013

Violence and Media

Correlation does not prove causation. That is research-speak that calls into question the claim that watching violent movies or playing violent video games makes the player a more violent person. But despite the difficulty of finding causal links, the events at Newtown and other scenes of gun violence will likely increase funding for research that attempts to uncover connections between violent media consumption and violent behavior.

Here’s a video clip that frames the issue…

[youtube=http://youtu.be/IdY7ehahp2M]

Even though most gun deaths are suicides and gang-related shootings, it is the mass shootings, such as the ones in Aurora and Newtown, that focus the public’s attention on violent video games and movies.

However, despite concerns about the media’s contribution to gun violence, most of the response from politicians has focused on certain types of guns and large-capacity magazines…much to the chagrin of 2nd Amendment absolutists. There are several reasons that may explain this. The first is because the media-violence link is still not conclusive in the minds of many researchers. And the other reason is something called the 1st Amendment and Freedom of Speech. Attempts to limit speech (content of TV, movies and video games) results in some pretty difficult legal challenges. Even before you consider the competing interests of the 1st and 2nd Amendments this is a difficult issue.