Stereotypes In TV Drama

Tom Branson - Downton Abbey:
Tom is an Irishman whose early storyline followed his typical 'Irish hatred' for the British aristocracy, including the Crawleys. In one episode, his brother, who is also Irish, came to visit, which resulted in a drunken argument and resulted in him being asked to leave, this is somewhat stereotypical of the irish. Such drunken behaviour was also portrayed by Tom in a different episode.

T-Dogg - The Walking Dead:
He in an African-American character, whose name is stereotypical in itself. The clothes that he is hsown to wear are stereotypical as they portray the gangsta/rapper style that was popular within the African-American culture of the 1990s, with a baggy/gold chained/ military type look. He is also shown to be quite clumsy, which can be a stereo type of black characters, as in one episode he easily, and quite sewriously slices his forearm on a cashed car.

Dev Alahan - Coronation Street:
Dev is a somewhat stereotypical indian corner shop owner, who owns a chain of shops throughout the UK. He has also been shown to be sleazy or arrogant, which can also be related to this stereotype. Such a stereotype is very common within TV programmes.

Audience Localisation Essay

Audience Localisation

As the games industry has grown, it has become increasingly important for developers to localise their games, in various ways, to make sure they can reach the largest audience possible. Some have chosen to target a broad national audience, while some opt to tune the game more specifically to a local audience. I believe it is a convenient option but still more important for a developer to target a national audience. By doing this, it means it is easier for developers to cater for specific people without increasing production time or cost too drastically as would be the case if games were frequantly altered for smaller audiences. On a whole, localisation limits the amount of critisism or offence caused through the inclusion of inconsiderate content within a game, such as nuclear references in a game to be sold in Japan, ergo this content would be altered or removed.

Localisation of a game can have a significant effect on the production of a game or even the console that the games were to played upon, which can often  cause problems for developers and platform holders alike. An example of modifications made by platform holders would be Sony, who in a bid to try and out-whit the 2000 games console ban in China, created a unique, more basic version of the Playstation 3, that was ultimately passed by the China Quality Certification Centre. This undoubtedly had a negative effect on Sony's profits, as their console had been denied entry into a country with one of the world's largest population of gamers, but however meant that they could now target an audience who other consoles are still denied access. Furthermore, games are also often altered for a number of reasons, and one a scale that larger and more frequent to that of hardware. Video games are often 'localised' to try and minimise any cultural, legal or hardware problems/limitations, which can often entail the alteration or removal of certain music tracks, linguistics or in-game events (such as those resembling 9/11 would not be included in the American version of the game). Such alterations cost a varying amount of money and time to implement, which can, and often has a negative effect to some degree on the profits of the companies involved. Developers and publishers have to make a joint decision wether to release a game to its primary audience and then delay the release of the 'localised' versions as changes need to be made, or to post-pone the release of all versions until all alterations are made, then have a simultaneous global release date. In comparison to a global release date, profits can often be damaged if a staggered release is decided. An example of this would be the 7 month gap between the Japanese release of Final Fantasy VII, and it's arrival in the United States. In relation to the alteration of offensive material, an example of 'localisation' would be the Japanese PSP version of 'Persona 2'. In this remake, 'Hitler' was changed to 'The Fuhrer', who was given sunglasses and a coat to somewhat disguise his Nazi uniform. Also, All swastikas were removed and replaced with the Iron Cross.

The representation of a game through it's marketing is just as important as that of the game itself. The same criteria for 'localisation' still have to be considered when internationally marketing a game. If something cannot be included in a game due to a particular reason, such themes should and are not used in the game's marketing. For example, swastikas are outlawed in Germany, meaning posters, adverts and other forms of advertisement for say a WWII game, will not include such an emblem in Germany. On a lighter note, however, marketing can be 'localised', not due to restrictions, but as a form of personalisation. An example of such, would be the recent advertisements used for Just Dance 4. In the US version, the advert is longer and includes a typically large american house with players that could be indentified with America, whereas the UK version is notably different. In this version, the rooms and houses are of a smaller, British style,  with the participants wearing items that include union jacks, and that are deemed more 'British' due to factors such as climate. While tailoring advertisements in such a manor may be subtle, it has been proven that it makes a difference, as it creates more of a connection with possible consumers on a more personal level, such as creating some sort of national expression.

In the world today, i believe that to some extent, it is vital for a company to make an effort to localise a game  to the best of their ability. Although in some ways, restrictions have become lax, there are still a number of areas, and cultures that are either easily offended or enhanced when the game nationalised. That is why i believe it is important to localise game, but with the condition that the research is thorough and alterations are made tastefully. It is clear that localisation is still a modern day necessity, with Infinity Ward recently having to alter Modern Warfare 2 almost two years after release as it was deemed offensive to islam by a group of Muslims (distasteful use of Mohammed's name). If localisation of games were to cease, then it would only have to take one in-game event/factor to offend a passionate or powerful group before the consequences were felt globally.  
   

The UK Retail Market: Today and the Future

The current game retail market in Britain is showing both signs of prosperity and decline. Throughout the country there are several major game retailers  such as; HMV, GAME, Blockbuster, as well as many supermarket chains offering a selection of games to appeal to a wider market. The high street also boasts some second-hand game retailers which arguably help to decline the games industry, but are still accounted for as the number of physical retailers begin to waver with the rise of digital distribution. There have undoubtedly been some problems for game retailers however, with a prime example being the administration and closure of stores belonging to the Game Group. Earlier this year approximately 277/609 GAME stores where closed, with Gamestation stores either closing or being converted into GAME, also the Gamestation website is now a redirection to the GAME website. This colossal closure is believed to be due to the reduced sales in physical copies of games, as more and more people turn to digital distribution equivalents to the high street.
I believe the fate of the UK's game retail market lies in the future progression of technology. If technology advancements are made, and all games become digitally distributed, or as illegally (as well as legally) accessible as the music industry has become, then high street retailers will surely bare the brunt of this. However, if games industry continues to have certain limitations to it's digital distribution systems, or provides benefits for the consumer for purchasing their physical copies, such as the merchandise/extras received with 'special editions', then retailers will not only survive, but prosper. There is a certainty of uncertainty concerning the true suture of the game retailers within the UK.    

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/store-closures-begin-at-game-and-gamestation/093365

Distribution #2 : Advantage Distribution

Advantage Distribution is a large distribution company, established in 2003, that supplies a multitude of various different pieces of both hard and software to the publishers and retailers of the entertainment industry. Advantage stocks games from some of the leading publishers such as Nintendo and Bethesda, as well as the latest in simulators and interactive games, with a stock of over 3000 software titles and an extensive range of hardware, Advantage can satisfy the needs of all gamers. They also supply high street retailers (in bulk) such as Littlewoods and Argos, often proving to be a popular and reliable choice.

Games Distribution

Distribution

The distributor for GTA V is Take-Two interative, which is perfect representation of the veritcal integration within such a large company, as Take-Two are both the parent company of Rockstar, (the creators of GTA), the distributors as well as all of the stages inbetween. This results in a cheaper production and distribution system. Skylanders: Giants is distributed by XPEC entertainment, an external Taiwan based distibution company. On a smaller scale (compared to the companies behind the GTA franchise), the iOS game Angry Birds was first distributed by Chillingo. The fact that they had to be externally sourced, shows the size difference and lack of vertical integration in comparison to Take-Two and the GTA IP.

Article Comparison (GTA & CoD)

http://au.gamespot.com/news/grand-theft-auto-series-shipments-reach-125-million-6400652

Last week Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick announced that Rockstar's GTA series has sold over 125 million units, with GTA IV accounting for 25 million of the units. In an interview, he compared the strategies used by Rockstar and that of Call of Duty's Activision, including his opinion on what he though was best for their IP (GTA) . He stated that "An IP that is annualized seems to hit the wall, and we don't want our IP to hit the wall". He used this years CoD title, Black Ops II as an example, saying the fact that it didn't as well as last years Modern Warfare 3 proves that the series is starting to slow. He said that this is not the case with the Grand Theft Auto titles,with them doing better each time and also believing that if an Intellectual Property is to be permanent, then it cannot be churned out annually (with the exception of sports games eg. Fifa), as it will inevitably cause the audience to 'fall out of love' with it.

User Generated Content (UGC)

UGC or User Generated Content is the term given to material that is created by consumers, for games, to enhance the creativity and variety of the gaming experience. An example of UGC would be Little Big Planet, which allows the player to have a multitude of different experiences as they are free to build and share their own levels.

UGC is having a positive effect in the sense it can prolong the life span of a game, as it allows the player to simply create new features (to a certain extent) which will allow for a new experience. The inclusion of content generation feature promoted creativity and gain popularity solely for this feature. UGc has had some negative effects however, with a main one being the possible decline of DLC. If a player can create their own levels/characters/ items etc for free as a part of the game, why would they pay money for DLC? They wouldn't. Although in reality, these fears are somewhat limited, as players often become bored and simply find it more convenient to just purchase rather than replicate the work of professionals.