Games Britannia - Joystick Generation

Games Britannia - Joystick Generation

In the final episode of game Britannia we looked at Space Invaders and packman talking about games that were played then compared to how it is played now. Technology brought gaming to the tv screens on everyone making it more advanced and addictive. They also talked about 3D games and how like lara craft that was made in the 90’s and how different the game was. This episode was a way to show how they got the payers to be more involved with the characters giving it a better story.

La Decima Vittima

In critical games design we watch a movie called “La Decima Vittima” or “The Tenth Victim” this was a movie created in 1965 and was directed by Elio Petri. This was a very interesting movie to watch as it was about contract killing. The movie was fun yet strange at the same time. I enjoyed the movie in the end as it had a lot of scene’s that made me laugh.

We later on went to talk about the game killer which had a lot of similarities to this movie. Players are being hunted while they hunt other players. This game is a very nun harmful game as players find non-harmful ways to kill each other.

Tweaking and Iterations

One of our classes in critical game studies we went through game tweaking and iterations. This was done so we would have better understanding for one of our assignment where we had to make changed to the ancient game that we choose.

This was very interesting as you had to understand the main components of the original game, this was the best way to understand the game that will allow you to make successful changes to the games that will make the game a more efficient version.

We looked at the Royal Game of Ur, this game was very interesting and simple but it was very long, the game being very slow passed made me think of ways to make the game faster allowing other people who was spectating not have to wait a long time before they had a turn. The game only had one mechanic that allowed a player to have another go as I thought this was a good a mechanic I thought adding more mechanics will make the game more interesting and completive.

This was one of the best classes for me as we have all play games and wondered what if the game was like this and how will it affect the game, this session allowed me to see how my changes to a game can affect the outcome of the game.

Remediation

The Term ‘Remediation’ comes from the work of Bolter and Grusin.

We call the representation of one medium in another remediation, and we will argue that remediation is a defining characteristic of the new digital media. What might seem at first to be an esoteric practice is so widespread that we can identify a spectrum of different ways in which digital media remediate their predecessors.

IMMEDIACY:- Media that aspire to a condition of transparency. The aim is to make the viewer ‘forget’ that they are watching a movie, for example, and be drawn in to the experience.

 •Immersive virtual reality

•Photo realistic images Media that aspire to a condition of transparency. The aim is to make the viewer ‘forget’ that they are watching a movie, for example, and be drawn in to the experience.

 •Immersive virtual reality

•Photo realistic images

HYPERMEDIACY:- Artefacts that are aware of and wish to display their own constructed nature. They call attention to their own constructed nature all the time.

•WWW

•Video Games Huds

Remediation and refer to a whole range of conventions.

‘Photorealism’ an example of ‘immediacy’ is not the preserve of the medium of ‘photography

British Museum

During the time I spent in my critical games studies we had a trip to the British museum. This was a very interesting trip for me as I’ve never been to a museum before. It was very interesting to see the different ancient artefacts. The reason for the trip for me was so that I could get information on the ancient game I would be doing my assignment on, this was very useful as the information that I collected was very efficient for the assignment I had to accomplish. It was an every educating trip.

Narrative and Games

Narrative and Games

In this lecture we looked at how signs have particular meanings and how we interpreted these signs with their meanings.

Ferdinand Saussure

Signifier – Denotation: - Marks on paper, Sound in the air, An Object. (A real physical entity)

Signified – Connotation: - The mental concept in my mind when I hear the sound, look at the object.

(A cultural experience)

The Iconic Sign

This is where you look at a photo and you think or know they look like a person that you know i.e. seeing an actor play different kind of roles but still know who the actor is initially, this is easily explained by Johnny Depp as he is known to play many types of characters.

We can also look at this with signs on toilets in public, we know which sign goes with which as they represent a person or object this giving us the knowledge on which one to use and which ones we can’t.

A diagram can also represent an object but the diagram will not be an exact interpretation. This is best describe with the map of the London underground as it does not have the exact distance mapped out but it shows upcoming stops and changes.

The Symbolic Sign

The letters do not look like a ca t, the word is not the ‘sound’ of a cat. The relationship to the creature is established by Convention.

Conversation

The more symbolic the signifier, the more conventional the sign is. This is where you are having a conversation and using words the other person will know what you are talking about. Cat is the same as Clog they are both signifier of a cat (the pet), but showing the picture of a cat will then become signified in the conversation.

Misinterpreting Signs – Anchorage

This is where according to the information we get we can interpreted what is going on in a particular image. This will be different every time if we had an image of a car and we told someone this is a getaway car from a robbery, this will have a lot more to say when it comes to why this car was selected for this particular job. Thinking about speed or even its ability to blend in with other cars. This will be different if we told the person this the car was for a new car company, they will then think about how the car can be used is it suitable for everyday use, thinking about cost efficacy and spay more than speed or looks. 

Games Britannia: “Monopolies & Mergers”

Games Britannia: “Monopolies & Mergers”

This was the second episode in the Games Britannia series, I was looking forward to this episode as it was going to cover ancient board games and how they were made into the games we play today.

Games like Monopoly, The Landlord Game and Cluedo were board games created to demonstrate gaining territory they were created to intertwine with the way that politics was. These game made players strive to earn more money and more territories than their opponents this was where the similarity to real like was noticed.

The most interesting thing that I learnt from this episode was that in the world war monopoly boards also had maps printed to the back of them, I thought that it was a very smart idea.

By the end of this episode they showed how games were being developed vastly as started to become more than just a simple thing we do for fun games became collected by many. There were other great advancement in the gaming industry where games were just not on boards anymore and they started to appear on your Tv screen this was the next big advancement in gaming.