Oct 17

VIDEO GAMES

The move from console gaming to handheld gaming. How has this change effected us and why?

Video games/gaming has slowly become the number one activity of choice by many. Video gaming devices has evolved from console gaming to gaming on handheld devices, making it highly assessable and desirable. With console you are able to move the system from one place to another, but, when traveling you have to conduct yourself in meticulously in order to move from one destination to another safely, awareness is key, with consoles your daily access is limited to your home or a place with a television and electrical socket. However handheld device with handheld gaming you aren’t restrict to you home and/or the use of a television, you are now able to play video games as you walk which is a huge distraction. For example, Pokémon Go is one of the latest applications that allows you roam freely on the game and in person in search of Pokémon.
Needless to say there are a variety of different kind of video games ranging from your computer/laptop, at home on your TV, to wherever you go from your phone. The gaming world, has expanded tremendously, giving social media an run for it’s money (as in being number one source of social interaction). You are now about to communicate over online gaming. Video has has become the focal point of many households, where people of all ages can come and engage in friendly competition and socialize. The gaming industry is now focusing in on the older generations who didn’t have these kind of gaming systems and/or online activities. The positive affects of video games are the enhancements it makes on your ability to follow instructions, improves your eye to hand coordination, and improves your resource management and logistics. Some negative affects a video game are lower performance skills academically, in addition to gaming can make social relationships suffer, and it’s very time-consuming. However, video gaming is a great way to bring together people of all ages, sizes, and colors in a virtual world.

Oct 17

GAMES

Anissa Mayhew

MCS

A console game is a form of interactive multimedia used for entertainment. The game consists of manipulable images, generated by a video game console and displayed on a television or similar audio-video system. This would be considered the traditional way of gaming. My favorite game system was the PlayStation 2, and my favorite game was grand thief auto San Andreas. I had got the game for my birthday, I knew it contained Crime, violence, sex, drugs, and alcohol = not for kids. I would never play it around my mom. It became addicting I never wanted to leave home. Much like the first article my mom felt “There are people out there who say that they have no redeeming social value, that they are damaging to the mind, and that they are incapable of being art.” A handheld game console is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls, and speakers. In the early 2000’s there were Gameboys, Gameboy pocket, and Gameboy advance. Gaming has changed so much since then, now we game on the go, from our smart phone to Nintendo New 3ds Xl. It so convenient to just download a game to your phone to occupy you time. The second article give many reasons such as the spectator experience, virtual reality, 360 degrees of freedom, on how the game Industry is changing fast. “The blurred lines between games and social media” Facebook allows you to invite people to play games, and even gives you points or bonuses to share your scores on Facebook. The game want to become interactive in your social online life as well your reality. The new gaming system everyone wants is the PlayStation VR. I personally don’t keep up with the game industry; I know nothing about the latest games. I agree with the first article because games can be use for so many great things, they challenge the brain and make helps your problem solving strategies. I remember as a child I had a many educational toys my favorite one was my V-tech laptop to help me with math, spelling, grammar, and I enjoyed playing with them as I was learning. People want to feel they have control, and they are apart of something and Molyneux understood that and “Populous was a hit”! Populous showed that video games could be more than movies with joysticks they could be a radically new narrative art form. Gamers didn’t have to be just members of an audience; they could write their own stories. Gaming is changing right along with technology and it has an impact on everyone whether they play games or not.

 

 

 

Oct 13

Is TV all about apps? – Case Study Apple TV

Television has evolved from the its late appearance in the everyday person’s life of the late 1950s. Keeping up with technological advancements of today, every major manufacturer now offers “smart TV’s” that can access the Internet directly and a host of streaming devices, such as Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV just to name a few, transform any set into what’s effectively a very large tablet computer. I believe TV will become all about the apps and people will continue cancelling cable subscriptions. Since the launch of Apple TV in 2006, companies have introduced a string of over-the-top (OTT) streaming Internet video devices and will continue to do so. According to Gary Myer’s article The Future of TV Isn’t Apps. We Need All Our Channels in One Place, none of these new OTT devices and services are comprehensive, because right now they are all add-on services to existing pay-TV services. I feel eventually nobody will pay for cable subscriptions, but rather subscriptions through their OTT devices at rates about ¼ of cable providers. This is the internet age, where most people stream their entertainment directly through their televisions or OTT devices. As long as a person has an internet connection and a subscription of some sort to what they want why would we need cable. I personally have Netflix and Hulu and recently ended my cable subscription because I rarely found time to be in front of the television and more than often use my laptop for such entertainment.

Oct 13

GAMES ; Console or Handheld

Let me just begin with no matter what, I believe games will always be here! Whether it’s on a console or a handheld device. I truly believe that console games aren’t coming to its ends, in fact it’s still extremely popular. The only reason I believe handheld games has become very popular as well is because it is convenient to us when we aren’t in our comfort zone. As fellow New Yorkers, we are ALWAYS on the go. Some of us enjoy playing games no matter what age or no matter where we’re location. On the bus? Why not pull out your phone to play subway surfers? On the train? Why not pull out your phone and play piano tiles? In the passenger seat of your friend’s car? Why not pull out your phone and play whatever game that has you hooked at the moment? According to The Guardian 16 trends that will define the future of games, a recent survey that the UK participated in showed that 75% of parents play video games with their children and I’m more then sure is done at home in their Living room. Which is again equivalent to The Guardian’s article, when it stated that families are spending more time together in the living room. However, this brings us back to what I previously stated, console games are not coming to an end or losing its significance to handheld games. They’re both on the same level, it’s just that one which is handheld works in our favor when we aren’t on our couches being sluggish individuals playing popular games such as 2K17, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto etc. Overall, I think the changes in the gaming world has its pros and cons. Pros being the console game, reason being, most of the time is requires us to be social. Whether you’re playing right next to someone at home or at a friend’s house of even online through your online headphones. It still requires interaction. As for handheld games, well this would most definitely be the con because it’s one device which requires one person. Unless you’re a child and you like sharing, there is no way another person will be playing on your device at the same time as you are.

Oct 11

Where are Electronic Games and Entertainment Going?

When I was younger, I would always rush home  just so I can turn on my TV and play PacMan. I would get so excited when I heard my teacher dismiss the class. It seems as if the evolution of gaming has changed tremendously. The usage of console gaming is being used less and handheld gaming is becoming more of an epidemic. Where are electronic games and entertainment going? Where are they disappearing to? According to Chapter one in A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster, “As I age, games move from one to the other, just as tic-tac-toe did for our children”. It appears to me that the new gaming system is becoming more and more of an attention grabber.

The change in games has effected us worldwide. I think we, especially being a younger generation, appreciate the gaming system a little more now. According to a news article written in The Guardian by Keith Stuart and Jordan Erica Webber, “Through a recent survey of UK families, the channel found that 75% parents they surveyed now play video games with their children…” It looks like children are no longer locking themselves in their rooms, but they are spending quality time with their families playing video games. This can be a new way for a parent to interact with their child. They can build a connection with them and share a special bond. That can be their way of having family time.

Lastly, I would like to discuss how games are becoming more advanced. Back in the day, there were never gadgets that allowed a video gamer to feel like they were in another world, or another dimension. “…most game designers saw themselves as something like film directors— they created fictional worlds then guided audiences through them, scene by scene (wired.com)”. I like the idea of  playing a game that allows you to feel like you are in a character in a whole new element. For example, my name is Wynter but in an ‘underworld’, I can change my name to W09XJ!

Oct 10

How has the Music industry changed with digital media?

The music industry has changed significantly with digital media as most people don’t buy their music, but rather stream it. When it comes to buying a song for about 1.29 versus a $10 a month subscription with access to over 30 million songs, making such a switch is beneficial to most people today. Apple was the last of music services to offer streaming to its customers, its $3 billion acquisition of Beats Music helped them join the everyday person’s means of getting and enjoying their music. Also, the fact that Apple music is built right into iPhones gives them a chance to gain more subscribers that were once apart of other music streaming services. The popularity of music streaming led to the necessity of new licensing rules in 2015. In the article titled “Music streaming demands new wave of licensing rules” of the Chicago Tribune, one learns that the government-mandated compulsory music licensing system forces songwriters to let others use their works at very low, fixed rates. Artists make thousandths of a few cents per play as compared to when the music industry was mainly CD’s that were about $10-$15 for a copy. Songwriters do not have control of who copies and or what price to set for their music but instead Congress, the Copyright Office, and the Department of Justice, in conjunction with large performing rights organizations, set the prices for many types of music licenses. The rate of pay that musicians get due to the streaming platform is ridiculous and get back little to nothing, even with hit songs.

Oct 10

The Loss of Books, Newspapers & Magazines

In this day, digital media is on the rise and will soon lead to the end of print media indefinitely. Facebook and many other social media sites often send people their news thus making print media of all sorts obsolete. Both articles agree with the fact that advancements in technology will only keep leading to the decline of use of print media such as books, newspapers and magazines. Libraries “have been around too long” and are “no longer relevant”, according to Horrible Histories author Terry Deary, an apparently lone literary voice to believe that libraries have “had their day”. Deary goes on to explain how the concept of libraries have never been beneficial to authors and their financial gains. According to Deary, libraries give nothing back, whereas bookshops are selling the book, and the author and the publisher get paid, which is as it should be. What other entertainment do we expect to get for free?” he asked. I agree with Deary that libraries are unnecessary and are in a sense costly for the taxpayers that fund them, but do not use them often.  In the End of Books article, we learn of hypertext and how such a technology brings about the desertion of print media. According to the article, “Hypertext” is not a system but a generic term, coined a quarter of a century ago by a computer populist named Ted Nelson to describe the writing done in the nonlinear or nonsequential space made possible by the computer. Hypertext provides multiple paths between text segments, now often called “lexias” in a borrowing from the pre-hypertextual but prescient Roland Barthes. With its webs of linked lexias, its networks of alternate routes (as opposed to print’s fixed unidirectional page-turning) hypertext presents a radically divergent technology, interactive and polyvocal, favoring a plurality of discourses over definitive utterance and freeing the reader from domination by the author. I agree with both the articles that print media is on the steady decline and will eventually be nonexistent.

Oct 05

Flim and digital Television

The Culture of television  has  dramatically  changed through out the  past few years.

Since the introduction  of hand held gaits  such as  palm pilots, Kendal’s   and i-Pods

we no longer  have the urge  to be glued  in front  of  the television   those days are

long gone.Movies are also failing  due to digital  distribution  the effects of film production

has taken  over the way  people  watch  television. For Example,  the movie Avatar. It was

shown  in  3-D and the pictures were vivid and  the clarity of the film was good. Production

specialist are  now moving towards more 3-D filming  with two denominational  effect. Since technology

is always finding  new ways to out do it self, there will be less people  going out to the movies and less

people interacting with the general public  because every thing they need  is just a click away. The convenience

of pausing a show, rewinding your favorite part of a movie is all part of how we now watch television.

 

Oct 05

Digital Media

Digital Media has advansed drastically in the past couple of years. New technology such as phones have allowed us to communicate much better with people from all around the world. We are now able to send messages withojt having to pay extra for long distance. Digital media has also helped us save the planet by diminimizing the cut down of trees. Instead of picking up the news paper we use applications such as the New York Times or Journal and read the news on our phone. Digita media has allowed us toobtain more exposure to the workd through videos. Now youtube has allowed people to make their own videos and share its content all around the world. Years before, we would have to pay to watch videos and now we can watch home made videos or even music videos online free of charge. Streaming music has also been another success in the digital media world. Now we are able to stream music from applications such as apple music instead of buying cds and lisntening to music in that form. The world we live in now is infected with digital media and it has taken over many industries ans have allowed us to have easier access wether if its people, music or even books.

Oct 05

The lost of books

Many of us, well most of us, no longer go to the library. One of the main reasons why we no longer takw truos to the library is because the books we want to read are easily accessable now. With the helo of our phones and applications such as kindle and ibooks, we are able to buy the books we want and begin to read them within seconds. Tablets such as ipads and Kindles have also lowered the amount of people that go into a library. To be quite frank, libraries have become more irelevant each and every day. There is no point of going to the library to borrow books when you are already used to reading the books on new technology.  Based on the article “Libraries have had their day by Terry Deary, “I’m not attacking libraries, I’m attacking the concept behind libraries…” Its not just the library that’s the issue, its the strategy behind the library that is no longer necessary for todays society. Not many are in need of going into a library and renting out books. The only reason one might go to a library is to use the computers or study privately. Other than that libraries have lost their true value because of the technology that we use today.

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