Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a historical action-adventure open world stealth hybrid video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal. It was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2010, Microsoft Windows in March 2011 and Mac OS X in May 2011.

It is the third major installment in the Assassin's Creed series and the second chapter in the "Ezio Trilogy". The game is a direct sequel to Assassin's Creed II, with Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Desmond Miles returning as the main protagonists, and it takes place right after the conclusion of the previous game's story. It is the first game in the main series to feature a multiplayer mode. Assassin's Creed: Revelations is a sequel to the game, concluding Ezio's story as he travels to Constantinople.
The story involved the characters escaping and finding hidehouts, with missions such as finding the Apple Of Eden.
 In the gameplay, the player can invest in the city (primary setting Rome) and unlock rewards. The player has to conquer and destroy Borgia towers to free city zones from the family's influence.Completing this unlocks new missions and opportunities. Rome is the biggest city ever created after the first two installments.

It won best Action Adventure game in the Spike TV Video Game Awards 2010. The game has also been nominated for 7 British Academy Video Games Awards in 2011, including Best Game. It won an award in the Action category, losing to Mass Effect 2 in the category for Best Game. The multiplayer portion of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was generally well received by critics.

The game passed the one million sales mark in less than a week after its release. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood has become Ubisoft's fastest-selling European title ever. It also had the best Ubisoft's launch in Europe and is the best-selling launch title ever as of November 2010. As of May 2011, Ubisoft announced the game had shipped 8 million copies and helped the entire Assassin's Creed series to achieve over 28 million units sold. It made around 1.87 billion dollars.

The effect that changing technology is having on the computer game industry

Computer/video games have constantly changed and evolved in the way they are created due to the changing technology in our modern society. 

The first video games were arcade ones, on big screens on all-in-one gaming devices that could only be afforded in arcades and pubs, with very simple graphics from use of large pixels. These were mostly black and white games. As technology developed, a lot of these games began to be available in colour.

When computer technology became available for enough memory for online gaming websites, simple cartoon animated games were first created.

When the ability to store information on discs was founded, and a more micro technology could be used to enable a screen for the game and the information storer to be separate, then consoles were created.

Consoles developed to be able to store more information and support more applications on them when this technology was founded mostly through computers. Sensor technology was also developed which allowed consoles to be compatible with sensor-affected wireless gaming (Xbox kinect, Nintendo wii).

Game graphics have developed majorly, when 3-D technology was founded rather than just 2-D, by at first just from the addition of shadows. This aided the computer gaming industry by creating games that were more realistic and therefore more appealing.

When wireless internet was made available in society, this gave the gaming industry an opportunity to use it within their own technology. This allowed them to connect players to play online to make their games more competitive, which is appealing to a lot of their target audience. It also allowed them to add internet applications to their consoles, such as internet browsing and bbc iplayer. 

More microtechnology was invented which allowed the computer game industry to create small technology and portable gaming consoles which appealed to their audience if they wanted to carry them around or use them in an environment with no room for the larger consoles, and also showed more affordable to the players.

Bluetooth and camera technology could be added to smaller consoles for more appealing interactive features, to the actual consoles as well as the games.

With all these additional features, computer games and consoles were more appealing, interactive and realistic, which racked up sales and more companies are being made, meaning more jobs also, and more money is involved in the industry, making it one of the biggest industries in the world. As the technology is rising, so does the video game industry.

Upcoming Game Release

MARVEL Avengers: Battle For Earth

This game is based on the 'secret invasion' storyline and is to tie-in with the 2012 film 'The Avengers.' It will be released by Ubisoft Quebec for Xbox 360 on 20th October 2012 in North America and Nintendo Wii on 4th December 2012; no dates for the UK have yet been announced. The development of the game was announced after the cancellation of the original film-based game by THQ.
 The developers are confident for the success of the game because Marvel have a fanbase for Marvel Comics already, and with most households owning consoles, a lot of fans are likely to buy it if they have a suitable console. Also a lot of fans have been gained from the movie, and with the movie being a box office hit, the game is also likely to be a success. 
 The inclusion of most Marvel characters with features allowing you to play as most of them, could be an attraction for fans to want the game. Each character has 4 unique powers and on story mode different tasks need to be carried out for the overall aim of saving the Earth.
The game is being released towards the end of this year as a marketing scheme for Christmas, with the idea as a Christmas present in mind, which would get more sales.

Here is the trailer:

Most Important Video Games Of All Time

After researching several games, it was hard to choose only 5 games that are important to the industry, considering there are so many different ways to play games (consoles, computers, mobiles etc.) so instead, I chose 10. 

1. Space Invaders
Since the release of the first ever video game of ping pong, space invaders (1978) proved the next biggest hit in the video game industry. It used the binary opposites theory of good vs evil, which then became the stereotypical theme of most video games, which makes it very important. Because of it's wide success, it lead on to the success of games like Pac-man, and even with it's simple graphics and simple concept, it is still very popular today on a wide range of devices.

2. Snake
Snake was an arcade game developed in the 1970's, and gathered most success when it became the pre-loaded game on nokia phones, which launched the industry of video games for mobile phones. This became popular with the younger age group and encouraged more people with the sales of mobile phones. Due to its popularity it is now widely available in different styles on a range of different devices.

3. Super Mario bros.
The original Mario Bros was created in 1983 for Nintendo, about two Italian plumbers defeating creatures in the sewers of New York, later developed to a quest of Mario fighting to get back his kidnapped girlfriend, Princess Toadstool (in later games, Princess Peach). It is important because it is now one of the most popular games in the world today, and makes the most money for Nintendo. As well as using the concept of good vs evil, it is the major breakthrough in the industry of the hero rescuing someone as their mission, which is now a common theme in a lot of video games. It was also popular for being one of the first story mode themed games, where a 'walk-through' setting is used, rather than just the simple 'mini-game' types like Pac-man and Space Invaders. It is available on mostly just Nintendo devices.

4. Halo
Halo (2001) is a science fiction game created by Bungie and owned by Microsoft studios. It centres around an interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens. It is important because it was a major breakthrough with the quality of graphics, and also as well as inspired by other game releases, is part of the start of popular war-type shooting games games such as the Call Of Duty series. Because of its success, it later released other sequels.

5. The Sims
The original Sims (released in 2000) was just for the computer, and gained most of it's success because it allowed the player to take control of the game and do what they want. It allows the player to create their own city of houses and families and get them to do day-to-day things like in the real world. This form of realism made it unique. Due to its success, many more games of Sims have been released - some with certain themes and stories, and has been released on many more devices. This form of player control later inspired the creation of popular games such as Minecraft, Zoo Tycoon and Animal Crossing.

6. Space Race
Space Race (1973) was one of the earliest video games to be made, and is important because some of the most successful games around today are racing games, which all evolved from the first. It involves a space ship racing against other space ships, either multi-player or against CPU. Racing games are easily one of the most competitive games, which keeps a person transfixed with the game and eager to play. Some of the most popular racing games around now are the Forzer series and Mario Kart.

7. The Legend of Zelda
The first of 'The Legend Of Zelda' series was released in 1986 for Nintendo and is one of the most popular Nintendo games alongside Super Mario. Like Super Mario, it involved a hero (Link) defeating several creatures in search of a Princess (Twilight Princess Zelda), and was successful because of the use f the popular theme. It is important because it launched the success of fantasy based games based in ancient times, where more controversial weaponry can be used such as swords and shields, and creatures like dragons and fairies can be used which are familiar to the audience. These type of games are successful today, such as games like Skyrim, World Of Warcraft, the Final Fantasy Series and Runescape. Due to the popularity of this theme, The Legend Of Zelda has released several sequels on many consoles.

8. I, Robot
I, Robot was originally an arcade game that became popular on computers, published in 1983. The object of the game is a 'servant bot' turning red squares to blue going through certain levels to defeat the 'big brother eye'. It was the first game that involved 3-D graphics, just by simple use of shadow to 2-D shapes, which is important because it launched the idea of 3-D to video games, which are now proved most popular today and are considered the best graphics, with even the original 2-D based games releasing 3-D versions of the new games. It's popular theme of robots has also influenced many new popular robot games.

9. Tomb Raider
The first tomb raider was released in 1996, and was one of the most major games to have a female heroin as the protagonist, subverting the female stereotype, which made it unique and controversial, which is important to the game industry as it lead to future games of female heroins against the stereotypical male heroes. The female character had a 'sex appeal' to the males that made the game more popular, and due to its success made several sequels on several consoles, and a film featuring Angelina Jolie, which made 'Lara Croft', the protagonist, a major recognised name, even to those who haven't played the game. This fame and global recognisation of the game in the media and in society brought a higher status to the video game industry.

10. FIFA
FIFA football and FIFA soccer were the first of the FIFA series of football games for EA Sports. It was developed from games in the 1980's, with the actual FIFA series starting in 1993. Many sports games had been developed in the past which FIFA was inspired by, but this is the main one that gained popularity because it has an official license from an official sporting event. Gamers who are familiar with the sport would be more inclined to buy the game. Basing it on a true event caused it to be more popular with how the players can relate to it or create their own outcome - an important breakthrough for the video game industry. It's success lead it to carry on creating FIFA games with improved graphics to make it seem more real, and inspire other games to be created from events such as the Olympics.

The Structure Of The Computer Game Industry

The Structure Of The Computer Game Industry

Computer games or video games are one of the largest industries around today, probably because of societies constant need for owning the newest technologies. The gaming industry has been a massive technological progression to society, and will continue to in the future. Most households in technology reliant countries today own a game console, PC or smartphone, and 49% of these households own at least two consoles.

The industry is made up of different layers. These include:

1. The Capital and Publishing Layer

This is using money to create or develop new titles and seeking returns through licensing of titles.

2. Product and Talent Layer

This includes the developers, designers and artist who actually made the game.

3. Distribution Layer

Working with retail and online shops to market and sell the game.

4. Hardware Layer

The people who create the hardware for the games to be played on. The 'major players' are console based such as Sony (Playstation), Nintendo (Wii) and Microsoft (Xbox), but hardware can include online media or mobile devices, and virtual machines like Java and Flash, and software platforms like internet browsers and facebook.

5. Consumer Layer

The people who buy, download or play the games.

The basic structure of how the industry works is the process it takes from concept to consumption:

Developer>Publisher>Marketer>Distributor>Hardware>Retail>Consumer.

A game normally takes a few years to create and complete and there are usually six main stages of the game development.

• Prototyping: These are made fairly quickly in pre-production to test ideas and concepts before making the actual game.
• Game Design: The designing of the actual game by a team of people such as producers, game artists, copyrighters, other programmers and artists.
• Production: The games programmers work with the lead programmer, the art staff and 3-D graphics programmer to create the actual game.
• Testing: Professional game testers test the game and the programmers fix bugs and errors.
• Nearing Completion: The beta testing period where stress tolerance is measured for servers and final bugs are fixed. It is sent off to the publisher when it is complete.
• Maintenance: The developers wait for enough feedback on bugs and the game goes through a patch which fixes bugs, alters game play and adds more features.
  
  
  
  
  

Sexuality essay paragraph improved

Essay answer: Sexuality

Improved paragraph.

*When the heterosexual woman is on screen, there is soft non-diagetic music, with happy-sounding, light, fast tones of a piano, to connote a buoyant and blissful atmosphere which could associate with her stereotypical feminine personality. Deliberately added together with some jump-cut shots of the homosexual woman, to imply a close relationship, it also shows a happy, comfortable relationship between the characters. This relationship is also represented in some fading shots between them, to suggest the calm and smooth relationship that the protagonist sees with the woman, compared to the staggered and sharp cuts between the scenes with her boyfriend, where there is a troubled relationship. The shots of the heterosexual woman are also sometimes longer, to represent how the homosexual woman stares at her longer and wants more from her, juxtapositioned with shorter more medium length shots of the protagonist to represent how oblivious the heterosexual woman is and is satisfied with the way things are.*

 

This is improved because a lot more terminology has been used to outline the media concepts I'm talking about more clearly. It is also longer and points more backed up  with uses of other examples from the clip.

Terminology

MEDIA TERMINOLOGY

Camera angles and shot types

EWS (Extreme Wide Shot)
The view is so far from the subject that he isn't even visible. Often used as an establishing shot.

VWS (Very Wide Shot)
The subject is visible (barely), but the emphasis is still on placing him in his environment.

WS (Wide Shot)
The subject takes up the full frame, or at least as much as comfortably possible.
AKA:

MS (Mid Shot)
Shows some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject.

MCU (Medium Close Up)
Half way between a MS and a CU.

CU (Close Up)
A certain feature or part of the subject takes up the whole frame.

ECU (Extreme Close Up)
The ECU gets right in and shows extreme detail. Could be used for the audience to feel uncomfortable.

Cut-In
Shows some (other) part of the subject in detail.

CA (Cutaway)
A shot of something other than the subject.

Two-Shot
A shot of two people, framed similarly to a mid shot. Shows the relationship between two people or a contrast.

(OSS) Over-the-Shoulder Shot
Looking from behind a person at the subject.

Noddy Shot
Usually refers to a shot of the interviewer listening and reacting to the subject.

Point-of-View Shot (POV)
Shows a view from the subject's perspective.

Weather Shot
The subject is the weather. Can be used for other purposes, e.g. background for graphics. 

Rule of Thirds

placing the subject of the shot on one of the 'thirds' of the frame.

Camera Movement

Tracking Shot – moving camera in or out, to draw into the scene or away from the scene. Sideways tracking shot allows audience to keep pace with action.

Tilt Shot – create a sense of height or power

Zoom – alternative to tracking shot, adjusting focus in or out from camera into object or away

Crane shot – follows action in a vertical direction

Panning – camera stays on its axis, moving left to right, searching around or revealing

Arc shot – moving around in semi-circle

Framing – How the subject is positioned in the shot

Editing

Cut 
A visual transition created in editing in which one shot is instantaneously replaced on screen by another.

Continuity editing
Editing that creates action that flows smoothly across shots and scenes without jarring visual inconsistencies. Establishes a sense of story for the viewer.

Cross cutting
Cutting back and forth quickly between two or more lines of action, indicating they are happening simultaneously.

Dissolve
A gradual scene transition. The editor overlaps the end of one shot with the beginning of the next one.

Editing
The work of selecting and joining together shots to create a finished film.

Errors of continuity
Disruptions in the flow of a scene, such as a failure to match action or the placement of props across shots.

Establishing shot
A shot, normally taken from a great distance or from a "bird's eye view," that establishes where the action is about to occur.

Eyeline match
The matching of eyelines between two or more characters. For example, if Sam looks to the right in shot A, Jean will look to the left in shot B. This establishes a relationship of proximity and continuity.

Fade
A visual transition between shots or scenes that appears on screen as a brief interval with no picture. The editor fades one shot to black and then fades in the next. Often used to indicate a change in time and place.

Final cut
The finished edit of a film, approved by the director and the producer. This is what the audience sees.

Iris
Visible on screen as a circle closing down over or opening up on a shot. Seldom used in contemporary film, but common during the silent era of Hollywood films.

Jump cut
A cut that creates a lack of continuity by leaving out parts of the action.

Matched cut
A cut joining two shots whose compositional elements match, helping to establish strong continuity of action.

Montage
Scenes whose emotional impact and visual design are achieved through the editing together of many brief shots. The shower scene from Psycho is an example of montage editing.

Rough cut 
The editor's first pass at assembling the shots into a film, before tightening and polishing occurs.

Sequence shot
A long take that extends for an entire scene or sequence. It is composed of only one shot with no editing.

SFX
Special effects or devices to create visual illusions.

Shot reverse shot cutting
Usually used for conversation scenes, this technique alternates between over-the-shoulder shots showing each character speaking.

Wipe
Visible on screen as a bar travelling across the frame pushing one shot off and pulling the next shot into place. Rarely used in contemporary film, but common in films from the 1930s and 1940s.

Sound

Acousmatic sound - sound one hears without seeing their originating cause   Acousmêtre - akind of invisible voice-character with mysterious powers   Added Value - the expressive and/or informative value with which a sound enriches a image  Audiovisual Contract - an agreement to forget that sound is coming from loudspeakers and picture from screen    Anempathetic Sound - music or sound effects that seems to exhibit conspicuous indifference to what is goingon in the film's plot  Chronography  -  the stabilisation of projection speed madecinema an art of time   Diagetic sound  - Sounds and talking happening within the scene Non-diagetic sound  - Overlapping music or monologue that happens out of the scene Empathetic Sound - music or sound effects whose mood matches the mood of the action.

External logic - the logic by which the flow of sound includes effects of discontinuity as nondiegetic interventions   Internal logic - the logic by which the sound flow is apparently born out of the narrative situation itself    Magnetization (spatial) -  "mental pan" of the sound source  Materializing Sound Indices (M. S. I.) - sonic details that "materialize" the sound source  Rendering - the use of sounds to convey the feelings or effects associated with the situation on screen Synchresis - the mental fusion between a sound and a visual when these occur at exactly the same time    Temporalization - influence of sound on the perception of time in the image  Vococentrism - the privilige of the voicein audiovisual media  Light

Ambient Light	The light already present in a scene, before any additional lighting is added.
Incident Light	Light seen directly from a light source (lamp, sun, etc).
Reflected Light	Light seen after having bounced off a surface.
Colour Temperature	A standard of measuring the characteristics of light, measured in kelvins.
Contrast Ratio	The difference in brightness between the brightest white and the darkest black within an image.
Key Light	The main light on the subject, providing most of the illumination and contrast.
Fill Light	A light placed to the side of the subject to fill out shadows and balance the key light.
Back Light	A light placed at the rear of a subject to light from behind.
Hard Light	Light directly from a source such as the sun, traveling undisturbed onto the subject being lit.
Soft Light	Light which appears to "wrap around" the subject to some degree. Produces less shadows or softer shadows.
Spot	A controlled, narrowly-focused beam of light.
Flood	A broad beam of light, less directional and intense than a spot.
Tungsten	Light from an ordinary light bulb containing a thin coiled tungsten wire that becomes incandescent (emits light) when an electric current is passed along it. Tungsten colour temperature is around 2800K to 3400K. Also known as incandescent light.
Halogen	Type of lamp in which a tungsten filament is sealed in a clear capsule filled with a halogen gas.
Fresnel	A light which has a lens with raised circular ridges on its outer surface. The fresnel lens is used to focus the light beam.
Incandescent	Incandescent lamps produce heat by heating a wire filament until it glows. The glow is caused by the filament's resistance to the current and is called incandescence. Mise-en-scene Arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the place where a play, programme or movie is enacted. Censorship Control over the content of a media text – sometimes by the government, but usually by a regulatory body like the British Board of Film censors. This can often cause a lot of tension and frustration when some films receive what the main audience of the product may assume to be unnecessary censorship or when films that people think require it do not receive it. Consumer purchaser, listener, viewer or reader of media products. Conventions the widely recognised way of doing things in particular genre.  Hegemony Traditionally this describes the predominance of one social class over another, in media terms this is how the controllers of the media may use the media to pursue their own political interest. Catharsis The idea that violent and sexual content in media texts serves the function of releasing 'pent up' tension/aggression/desire in audiences. Ideology A set of ideas or beliefs which are held to be acceptable by the creators of the media text, maybe in line with those of the dominant ruling in social groups in society, or alternative ideologies such as feminist ideology.  Hypodermic needle theory The idea that the media can 'inject' ideas and messages straight into the passive audience.This passive audience is immediately affected by those messages. Enigma A question in a text that is not immediately answered and creates interest for the audience - a puzzle that the audience has to solve. Narrative Code The way a story is put together within a text, traditionally equilibrium - disequilibrium, new equilibrium, but some text are fractured or non-linear. Intertextuality the idea that within popular culture producers borrow other texts to create interest to the audience who like to share the 'in' joke.

View of the preliminary video

The Video:
What worked well
The editing was very well done, and the choice of music also got a positive response. The filming was done well because the camera wasn't shaking in the scenes and clip did exactly what the brief said. The idea was original and the transitions from each camera shot were smooth.


What to improve
The storyline was quite unclear in some parts, so maybe could make things more simpler in future. Some of the scenes that set the scene went on a bit too long rather than the main points, so to improve future projects the less important bits should drag on less.


Overall:
We worked very well as a team, and we all had effectively assigned roles. Each of us had a lot of input into the putting together of the clip, through the filming and the editing, and together we took the feedback on board to create new goals. As an individual I learnt new skills in how to apply media knowledge to my own work, and how much preparation needs to be done beforehand. I learnt more about the computer side of things, and filming skills.