Exam Questions
(1)(a) According to the passage, which three companies are soon to invest in encouraging online console gaming? (6 marks)

Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.

(b)Give three pieces of evidence from the passage which suggest that there will be a market for online console gaming. (6 marks)

Extension of broadband access, people have been competing in contests over local networks for years and IDC recons it will be worth $21bn (£14bn) by 2003.

(c)Outline the significance of broadband to the success of this project. (8 marks)

Broadband is a major contributor to the success of the project as the fast constant internet access means people will be able to play for long periods of time. It has speed, international dimension, it is always on, it is reliable and has multiplayer potential.

(2)(a)Explain what is meant by 'gain dominance of a market'. (8 marks)

It is the idea that one company will try to become the biggest in a particular area and thus control it, making it more profitable e.g. Microsoft and Apple.

We become an active audience

•Video on demand (VOD) allows us more choice
•VOD or timeshift technology such as Sky+ does allow us more choice and freedom

Scheduling

•Scheduling is even more important and competition is high for prime time viewing (7pm to 9pm)
•Schedulers employ a variety of techniques to create a sense of channel loyalty including hammocking new programmes between established shows

Proliferation

•Choice, choice and more choice; from 5 channels to a multi-channel environment with specialist, narrowcast channels for niche audiences
•Censorship has eroded – make your own “intelligent” viewing decisions
•Control over your own “schedule” – democratised the nature of television, rather than the “elite” public service broadcasting – with a moral duty to educated and inform the masses

HDTV-Who will pay?

The consumer… eventually
•Government funding for HDTV (taxes)
•Pay per view
•Investing in hardware to enjoy experience

Programme makers

•Having to revamp studios
•Heavily invest in cameras and upgrade equipment
•Broadcasters – more satellite time (expensive) to transmit the “larger” data files
•Actors are seriously concerned about viewers seeing “warts and all”

Quality

•Unprecedented level of sharpness and definition in picture quality
•Reduction in interference
•Digital quality sound
However…
•We have to invest in hardware (LCD/plasma) where the digital signal is decoded. Without this we only notice a slight improvement
•Compression of digital images which is necessary to multiplex the existing bandwiths might also effect the quality of the image
•They need to turn off “analogue” signal before there is enough bandwidth to provide HDTV more than a few channels

What about analogue?

•Terrestrial channels are obliged by law to maintain an analogue service until government believe there is sufficient digital coverage
•The the “switch-off” will take place by 2007 to be completed by 2012

What do you get?

•Familiar channels – terrestrial television channels and additional channels created by these institutions such as BBC Four and E4
•However there is now more competition – narrowcasting to audiences based on specific interests or genres
•Additional services; e-mail, shopping, banking, pay-per-view

What is digital TV?

•Digital television broadcasters make use of the established means of television reception to carry digital television signals: Aerial, satellite dish and cable.
•DTT – ITVDigital, Freeview – picked up by set-top box
•DST – SkyDigital, signals are received by satellite dish
•DCT – Telewest, NTL – fibre optic cabling connected to subscriber television texts

History of the TV

•1936 – 400 black and white sets available for BBC’s first broadcast
•1952 – a million homes had a set - BBC covered the Coronation ceremony and everyone wanted one
•1967 – colour television
•1984 – Sky Channel Satellite TV and bidding wars for coverage of key sporting events 1998 Digital satellite television (DST) was introduced with a 200 channel service, internet and full interactivity within 2 years

Digital terrestrial television (DTT) has been heralded the future of television…
•New advances include; remote control, plasma screens, digital surround sound, HDTV, PVR (personal video recorder), timeshift technology

Home Entertainment

•High Def at home - competing with cinema experience
•High Def sound? 5.1 surround sound - currently working on 10.2 sound (2 subs and 10 speakers). More complex sound editing - but a near reality experience. - horisontal and vertiaal sound. In japan - 22.2 but ridiculous. complex.
•Cinemas - maybe invest in htis area in future - need to offer something extra to home. But v.expensive outlay.

Research Techniques

• Develop a hypothesis. This helps focus your internet research.
• Visit the product website as a starting point. Interesting to see how they present the product.
• Initial research into the technology will have raised some areas that need further investigation – for example in the case of my research here, Xbox and Wii would need comparing, and I would google search Edi and Sony’s game 3.0 philosophy for
  related articles. For our purposes today, I decided to look into ‘Home’.
• Reading reviews is very useful as they often summarise the pros and cons of a new technology, however you must recognise them as opinions.
• Statistics are useful, easy to revise and add depth to your study if used in a relevant context. You should make a note of the date and source of the statistic on your blog. Look out for data on sales, profit and loss, consumption audience, demographics…
• Read articles and summarise key points.
• Then reflect on what you have found and relate to audiences and institutions.
• Keep focused and detailed and cover both audience perspectives as well as the media companies.
  
  
  

Push and Pull technologies

Push

• Any technology which relies on media producers making the most of the choices for using a push technology.
• Cinema pushes new releases at us.
• Games producers push their products at us and within the games we are generally pushed through.

Pull

• Pull technologies are those which offer us more choice.
• We pull the content we want from the mediaproducers.
• Satellite TV is more pull than terrestrial and interactive TV even more so.
• The internet is the most pull factorin the current medium.
• Technologies are moving towards offering us more pull than before.
• However, research of Sky viewers has suggested that viewers with multiple channel TV end up watching less than they did before they had all the choice.
• Many viewers of DVDs watch them straight through like VHS.
• Many of us search the internet using 'portals'- sites like Yahoo. These appear to give us the freedom of the web, but in fact are pushing us in particular (often sponsored) directions.

What are the advantages of digital projection for the consumers?

The big advantage of digital projection is the picture quality. With film, every imperfection gets shown as the 35 mm print passes through the projector, including scratches, fluff, blotches and so forth; not exactly what the director intended for their creative vision.

Why has there been a slow take-up?

It's taken so long because it's been a question of agreeing in advance," said David Hancock of Screen Digest. "It's been a consensus building process, which started in 1999 with the first commercial release of Star Wars Episode One.
"Since then we've had five years of testing the technology, building a consensus and agreeing the business models and technology to be used, and this took longer than most people expected."

Why is 'Hollywood' driving this technological change?

The Hollywood studios are driving this transition because they stand to make enormous savings, which they can pass on to the cinemas themselves

What does digital projection offer in the way of the "future" for cinemas?

With a digital projector you can input virtually anything into it," said Steve Knibbs of Vue cinemas. "[We can screen] a DVD, a clip downloaded from YouTube, gaming from a digital projector with multiple players on the screen at the same time, a live feed from satellite, cable and whatever.
"Anything we can get as an input we can put up on screen. That means we go from being a place where you can just see 35mm films to becoming a true general entertainment place providing everything from gambling to gaming, educational lessons to movies they might not have seen for 40 years, and all sort of things like that."

Googlezon
Googlezon is the name of a fictional future company created when Google merges with Amazon.com in the popular dystopian flash movie EPIC 2014, released in November 2004. As the story goes, Google, having consolidated all of its services into the Google Grid – a "universal platform that provides a functionally limitless amount of storage space and bandwidth to store and share media of all kinds" – and Amazon.com, with its "social recommendation engine" and "huge commercial infrastructure" combine forces to battle with Microsoft and its fictional Newsbotster in the "News Wars of 2010" which are "notable for the fact that no actual news organizations take part". Googlezon triumphs and unleashes EPIC (Evolving Personalized Information Construct), a universal, personalized news submission and distribution system that is so popular it effectively puts the fourth estate out of business.

What is a ‘my space phenomenon’?
MySpace is an example of a new online phenomenon, which is more appropriately called "online social networking." In online social networking environments, users register and establish a profile that provides personal information and photos. Then the user makes connections or links with other users who share interests or connections. Users engage in a variety of forms of communication and information sharing, which can include personal Web pages, blogs, and discussion groups.

What is an MMO style chat room?
A Massive Multiplayer Online Game (also called MMOG or MMO) is a computer game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously, and is played on the Internet. Typically, this type of game is played in a giant persistent world. Many argue why small player count games with 200 and under players online are called massive multiplayer online games.
MMOs can enable players to compete with and against each other on a grand scale, and sometimes to interact meaningfully with people around the world. Most MMOs require players to invest large amounts of their time into the game. Most MMOs require a monthly subscription fee, but some can be played for free.

What is Sony's Game 3.0 philosophy?
Sony's Game 3.0 philosophy is a game where Home users can decorate their room however they like, with wallpaper, furniture tweaked to their desire and even the option to put hard drive pictures framed on the walls.

What is an emote?
An emote means to express emotion, especially in aexessive and theatrical manner.