GTA 4

This website (from BBC News, 2nd May 08) has some facts and figures about GTA 4:

• The title sold a record 609,000 copies on its first day of release, generating an estimated £24.4m ($48.5m).
• The previous record holder was GTA: San Andreas, which sold 501,000 copies in 24 hours in October 2004.
• despite its success the game has been hit by reports of software problems and crashes on some consoles.
• The game currently has an average review score of 98.7%, according to Gamerankings.com, which amalgamates reviews from all publications.
• The title cost approximately $100m to make but could quickly recoup the costs.
• According to Chart Track it not only recorded the highest sales for any game in its first 24 hours, it also set new records for first day sales for any game on both the PS3 and the Xbox.
  The title smashed the PS3 record by nearly 200,000 copies. Previous record holder Gran Turismo 5: Prologue sold just 80,000 copies.
  However, it was a closer run race on the Xbox 360. Microsoft's Halo 3 had previously notched up first day figures of 266,000 compared to GTA's recorded 335,00.

20 mark mock question

Question: Using your wider knowledge of new media technologies, discuss how far young people's use of media technology differs from that or their parents.

As the media ecosystem has developed over the years with, audiences have been able to experience a more personalised experience of consuming the media. However, parents are often less inclined to buy into new media technologies as they feel more comfortable with their consumption habbits. For example, younger generations are keen to buy films on blu-ray discs, as they are more educated over the extra capacity offered, providing extras and improved visual and sound quality. As blu-ray evolved with the development of high definition television (HDTV), another new media technology, parents often don't feel the need to follow the ideology of consumption that institutions rely on to attract audiences.
Younger audiences have also driven the change in the music industry, as institutions realised the potential new revenue streams available due to the high demand of pull technologies such as the iPod. Again, technology before was not nearly as developed as the process of digitisation was unable to perfom as highly as it can today, so parents dont have the aspiration to 'keep up to date' as it is seen as un-necesary, and conformist.
However, it is clear that parents are not completely dismissive of new media technologies, with the introduction off BBC iPlayer. Adults are the key target audience, and this has proved successful with......watching the apprentice. This may be because the BBC is an institution which parents are familiar with and feel a connection based on trust.

Key Terms:

Obsolescence: The state of being out of use or no longer useful.
RFID: Radio Frequency Identification. THIS link gives more info.
Peer-to-peer software: The generic name for software such as KaZaA that allows users to connect directly to each other in order to share resources.

Gavin Luhr-the perils of new media technologies

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/engine/mm/subscribe_mm/base/past_base.php?Link=New%20technologies

A summary of this article (the key points)
They take your money …

• Obsolescence is purposely built into new media products in order to perpetuate the consumer cycle e.g mobile phone upgrades every 12/18 months
• Average household spending on new media has risen dramatically in the last ten years. Mobile phones, multi-channel TV, broadband subscriptions, and online gaming subscriptions; products or services which 10 years ago either didn’t exist or were considered luxuries are now ‘essentials’ for modern existence.

… they steal your privacy

• Google has the ability to remember every search you’ve made, Amazon remembers the items you’ve browsed on its site, supermarkets know what you’ve bought; your ISP can track the websites that you visit etc. By taking advantage of the opportunities new media technologies offer, we often unwittingly give up our privacy.
• Many institutions are concerned about the security implications of mobile phones and PDAs as they may be used to steal valuable information, given their ubiquity and improved features such as data storage and good quality camera functions.
• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are another innovation that could have consequences for civil liberties. They can be almost invisible to the naked eye, yet are capable of reporting on the exact location of the object to which they are attached. Retail makes biggest use of them at the moment, but who knows how else they could be employed.

… and they turn you to crime

• Billions of music files have been illegally swapped using peer-to-peer software such as the original Napster and KaZaA
• The culture of the Internet is seen as privileging collaboration and community; to many it is a symbol of what can be achieved without corporate interference.
• NMTs often provide environments in which the unacceptable becomes acceptable: the theft of ‘virtual’ items such as songs or films on the Internet; the assault and murder of innocent bystanders for entertainment on games consoles. Manhunt and the Grand Theft Auto series have been cited in legal cases involving young people apparently copying the violence they have already ‘practised’ in a virtual environment
• The dark side of Second Life for example, researchers found areas where child prostitution and indecent behaviour were found.
• Traditional systems of censorship and classification are futile; sex, violence and crime are increasingly available online or in console games. Operation Ore, the police investigation into child pornography on the Internet, has thrown up a shocking result: there were initially too many offenders to pursue them all. Are there no limits to what is acceptable when packaged as ‘virtual’?

Environmental issues:

• We all contribute to the environmental disaster inflicted by the production, and rapid discarding of, the latest must-have gadgets.
• UK: one million tonnes of electronic waste is generated each year, much of it full of hazardous substances.
• US: 70% of the heavy metals found in landfill sites originated from ‘e-waste’, an enormous health issue, particularly if allowed to contaminate groundwater.
• A UN study in early 2004 found that 1.8 tonnes of raw material is consumed during the production of the average desktop computer.

The phone mast threat:

• The potential danger posed by mobile phone masts has meant that local protest groups are abundant around proposed sites for new masts, particularly when they are to be located near schools.
• Some dismiss such objections as alarmist, but in an Internet search you will find lots of ‘evidence’ of the dangers. e.g. increased electromagnetic waves are suspected by some to have interfered with the reproductive capabilities of sparrows. There are now 75% fewer sparrows in London since 1994, a period that has seen the dramatic growth of mobile phone use.
• As our cities, schools and homes become increasingly reliant on wireless communications, what will be the consequences for our health? This is particularly relevant since the publication of research showing that under-10s should not be using mobile phones.
• In the media, new technologies are frequently presented as liberating, empowering and inspiring forces. However, their ‘newness’ means that their longer term implications are still not yet fully known. Only time will tell whether we should celebrate their massive potential – or beware their dark side.

4OD ad-funded shows

This article taught me that Channel 4 makes money through the advertising on its 4OD version of on demand telvesion.
QUOTE: "The shows will be supported by pre-roll advertising and sponsorship packages.
The first advertisers include Dulux, sponsor of Ugly Betty, L'Oreal, Tourism Australia and Bodyform.
"We want Channel 4 viewers to be able to see our shows in a format, time and platform to suit them and to make the process as simple as possible," said Jeff Ford, director of acquisitions and Film4."

BBC iPlayer risks overloading the internet

This article from the times online, called BBC iPlayer 'risks overloading the internet' informed me of a number of key points, facts and figures to include in my exam:

• BBC iPlayer is estimated to be worth approx £831 million
• Viewers are now watching more than one million BBC programmes online each week.
• iPlayer accounts for between 3 and 5 per cent of all internet traffic in Britain, with the first episode of The Apprentice watched more than 100,000 times via a computer, according to the BBC
• There were 17.2 million requests to watch programmes last month, an increase of 25 per cent on February.
• The BBC is trying to increase the scope of the service by making its iPlayer service available via the Nintendo Wii, allowing owners who are unable to stop playing in time for their favourite programmes to catch up with them later (approx t2.5 million homes with a Wii)

Digital TV Timeline

Click HERE to see a timeline showing the development of digital tv and changes in how we consume tv over time.