Mia Clark A Level Media Course: The Videogame Industry

Videogame production, distribution and circulation:

1940, Edward Condon recreates traditional game 'Nim' on computer.
1950, Claude Shannon creates basic guidelines for programming a chess-playing computer in article.
In 1972 the world's first home gaming console was introduced

Japanese arcade bom:

Nintendo, Sega and Sony Computer Entertainment were some significant brands that came from Japan.
In 1978, Taito created the first wide selling video game, Space Invaders that took off world wide.
Namco produced the world wide famous game PacMan in 1980 that became one of the highest-grossing video games of all time. Namco also produced Galaxian in 1979 and Rally-X in 1980.

American Arcade boom:

The video game arcade would not have happened without Nolan Bushnell who in 1971 created Computer Space, the first commercially sold, coin operated video game. At the time was considered a failure but changed the industry forever.
When Warner acquired Atari, the game-maker was a small part of its overall business, but by 1982, Atari made up 70 percent of its revenue.
Atari created Asteroids(1979), Missile Command(1980), and Centipede(1981).

The 1980's videogame crash:

known as the Atari shock in Japan
a large-scale recession in the video game industry occurred from 1983 to 1985.
Revenues peaked at around $3.2 billion in 1983, then fell to around $100 million by 1985 (a drop of almost 97 percent).
Causes of the crash include a flooded console market, where there were too many products being released for the limited audience. Competition was also created with home computers, where people can play games at home rather than playing in the arcade.

Differences between American and Japanese games:

Typically, the games that sell best in America are ones in the genre of war, or shooting games.
Japanese games that sell best are more colourful games containing fantasy and quests.
Japanese video games often deal with themes related to the horrible cost of war, the danger of authority, and the value of relationships in times of crisis. Whereas American videogames concentrate more on glorifying war themes, and putting authority on positions of violence. This may be because of the history of war in each of these countries.
Some examples of bestselling videogames in Japan include: Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Pokémon, Yokai Watch, The Legend of Zelda, Mario.
Some examples of bestselling videogames in America include: Halo, Uncharted, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Call of Duty

Controversies surrounding representation in videogaming:

Tomb Raider represents a controversy with gener as the character you play in the game Lara Croft, wears tiny shorts and small tops that show off her feminine figure. Producers made this character choice as most of the players (being heterosexual males) would enjoy the view of their character from behind while playing the game.

How do videogames represent specialised industry?

Mia Clark A Level Media Course