GTA 4 OUTRAGE!!!

Finally the highly anticipated game has arrived but why would one game bring such contraversy? Here is a post from Rory Cellen-Jones about how the industry seem to change their tone about the way they think about the new generation of gaming when they open thier minds just a tad.

GTA - the outrage fades
Rory Cellan-Jones
29 Apr 08, 09:08 GMT
May 1996, - and as a reporter on the BBC's business programme Working Lunch, I spend a morning filming at a games business in Dundee. The firm is called DMA and has made its name with a game called Lemmings, which has sold over 20 million copies. But the team of developers is now putting the finishing touches to a big new project, a game which involves car chases, robberies and assorted mayhem in a fictional American city.
We chat with the software developers, film the motion-capture team, and beam it all out live to a lunchtime audience. Then, as we drive our satellite truck away I take a call from a journalist on a tabloid newspaper. He's seen our broadcast and wants a contact number for DMA. The next day his paper features one of the first shock-horror stories about Grand Theft Auto, the forthcoming violent video game which encourages criminal behaviour by the young and must be banned.
Looking back at those pictures today, it seems extraordinary that the crude 2-D graphics of the original game could have been considered so dangerous - a bit like accusing Cluedo of causing a spate of murders in the library with lead piping. But, as we know, that was just the beginning. Throughout its history, GTA in its various manifestations has attracted controversy like no other game series - and that has probably done the franchise no harm at all.
But here's a funny thing. With the arrival of Grand Theft Auto IV, the mood seems to have changed. This is ten times more realistic, immersive and interactive than the original version - and so, if you believe that games can warp young minds, that much more dangerous. But the chorus of anger and accusation has faded. This launch is being seen more as an economic and cultural event rather than an opportunity for another row between the pro and anti-censorship campaigns.
Perhaps that's because, in the wake of the Byron review, we're all more aware of the video games ratings system - and there's an understanding that an 18 game like Grand Theft Auto is aimed at an adult gaming audience that might equally go out and buy 18-rated movies without anyone making a fuss.
But maybe it's also a sign that gaming is entering the mainstream. Until recently, most journalists knew little or nothing about video games, seeing them as something acne-scarred teenage boys did in darkened rooms between bouts of mugging and car-theft. Now a generation which grew up with games can take a more measured view. For the first time, many parents are themselves experienced gamers, and so the generation gap is closing.
Don't expect the arguments over video games content and its effect on young minds to disappear completely. But maybe the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV marks the moment when we can all be just a bit more grown-up about games.

ITV joins Bebo’s ‘open media’ platform and possible implications for telecommunicationsPosted by Paul r

Yesterday Bebo announced that ITV is to join the ‘open media’ platform “giving free and open access to premium TV content to Bebo’s community of 40 million users worldwide”. ITV will have a ‘member profile’ on Bebo that will host multiple channels, each promoting individual programs. Bebo users could then choose to become ‘fans’ of programs and be notified when new content is uploaded to the ITV profile.
Users will be able to integrate video content into their own profiles. Interactivity elements include teaser clips, interviews, blogs, forums, galleries, a wall for users to post comments.
Imagine the possibilities:
highly popular individual users (those with many ‘fans’) developing their own channels based on open media content?
viral distribution/marketing?
Media companies can use their own video players which can carry their own advertising. Bebo gets to facilitate value-added experiences to their customers, increasing the likelihood of network extension and member-retention.
Somewhat ironically, I was reading about this idea in a Telco 2.0 posting this morning that questioned the sustainability of telcos morphing into media companies. In fact, Telco 2.0 stated that “Someone who isn’t a telco will have a smash-hit way of blending video, interactivity and social networking”. Rather than become a media business, Telco 2.0 say that the role of the telco is to become a logistics solution provider.
Key trends
For me, the Bebo/ITV announcement is another indicator of the symbiosis between traditional media and social media; it marks another important milestone in the migration from closed to open content distribution, and the use of social networks as a hub for entertainment and connectivity.

Convergence Within Social Networking!

Heres a report on convergence within social networking, its a bit old but still elaborates the issue.


Social Media and E-Commerce Converging: Report
By Matthew G. Nelson, The ClickZ Network, Oct 12, 2006 news
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Market research firm Compete has released a report on the convergence of social networking and e-commerce, and in the process has tried to coin a new buzzword: “social commerce,” or s-commerce for short.The report, “s-commerce: beyond MySpace and YouTube,” finds consumer visits to social networking sites have increased 109 percent since January 2004, and page views per visitor have grown by 414 percent in the same time period. "Social networkers” spend less time viewing traditional media and have more discretionary income and agreater penchant for online shopping than non-social networking site users.Marketers having the most success with s-commerce are using a combination of branded micro-sites, customer reviews, forums, peer-to-peer transactions, product blogs and user-generated content projects, according to Compete. Advertising on social Web sites is an entirely different prospect, said report author Stephen DiMarco, VP of marketing at Compete. “Some marketers are going to advertise on MySpace and YouTube because they are the two easier places to go. That will be an obvious choice. But the return on investment isn’t going to be any better than traditional customer acquisition campaigns,” he said. “It’s stupid to just advertise on MySpace and assume you are a social marketer. The better thing to do is get your customers associated with your brand.”On the other hand, launching a branded social network means competing for a dwindling slice of end users' attention. Compete found visitors to social networking services are currently involved with an average of three such sites, and that these would only be willing to add a fourth Web site before losing interest.“Consumers have limited social bandwidth. People only want so manyfriends, so the bar is high for marketers to create that bond that socialnetworks have,” he said. “Already people are starting to become social-saturated. For marketers, there are not going to be as many opportunities as they think there are. So they need to be more creative.”The key, DiMarco says, is to create social Web sites as part of a brand designed to track customers and listen to them at the same time.“Companies would be better served to build online forums on their sites, micro sites that support their brand, or explore other ways to get consumers to participate with them versus going to social networks to find more consumers,” he said. “If I we’re a CMO or VP of marketing or head of media buying for an ad agency, I would seriously reexamine the sites that I’m looking to spend my money on in 2007 and see how I can redirect it back into more research and internally customer focused marketing.”

10 Past Exam Questions On NMT!!!

I have found some very helpful questions which i aim to complete by the time i sit my exam because i beleive these will help me to understand the subject of social networking in greater detail.

1.Discuss how new media technologies are changing the ways that audiences are consuming the media.
2.To what extent are new media technologies advantageous for audiences?
3.How important are size and design to audiences using new media technologies?
4.How far is competition amongst media industries dependent upon new media technologies?
5.To what extent are new media technologies more interactive for audiences than traditional media technologies?
6.What benefits do media industries hope to gain from the introduction of new media technologies?
7.To what extent do new media technologies deliver new experiences for audiences?
8.Why do media industries regularly introduce new media technologies?
9.To what extent are new media technologies changing the way that audiences consume the media?
10.Discuss the way media industries develop and promote new media technologies.