Super Mario Bros - My Opinion

Good Points:

-All the characters on the front cover, helps the audience get a idea of what to expect in the game. It also portrays the target audience of younger people with the cartoon style drawing. With Mario being the biggest we also know that he must be the main avatar/character.

-The Screen shots. They are a decent size and show parts from the different games on the actual game. Lets the audience know that there is a variety of choices that you can pick to play.

Bad Points:

-The information on the back. There is a lot less than what you would expect from looking at other video games & while at the top right corner, it tells you about how many people can play the game, it isn't that clear and I believe it would be a lot easier to have written it on the bottom so everyone would understand it.

Sonic the Hedgehog - My Opinion

                               

Good Points:

 -The contrasting background between the front and back cover.

-The sidebar has a image of the main character. Normally you just see a title in the sidebar but with Sonic in it, it improves it alot. 

Bad Points:

-The layout of the back cover. The top half looks like there is too much space, could move the screen shots to the side and make the characters bigger/add more characters.

-The colour of the title on the back cover, the grey doesn't look right with the darker outline.

Grand Theft Auto - Cover Analyze

Grand Theft Auto is an action game, which is aimed at adult, which you can see from the rating, 18. It can be played on Xbox, PS2 & as a CD on the computer. Because the game is a 18, we know that the theme of the game won't be appropriate for children.

The cover has images, which seems to be characters from the game & snapshots on the back of the cover. 

I would say that the audience would be more boys than girls, because the game is all about third person shooting & car driving. It is also a simulation game because you can control your character and decide what they do within the game. This makes the game a Hybrid, which is where there is more than one genre for a game; with GTA having many, Action-Adventure, Simulation & Open World. Open world is a genre is sometimes called a sandbox, which is where a player can roam free and do whatever they want in a game. 

The cover suggests that the characters in the game aren't the nicest people & that the game isn't appropriate for younger children. There is an image of three guys shooting from a car in one, a guy playing poker and placing some chips down & a girl licking her lips. 

The title is a bold standout text, in white writing & the smaller title; San Andreas is in a most detailed font. This makes it seem like it is part of a series of games, because there is two different fonts in the main title. We can see that the title is the main object of the front cover & unlike other covers; there isn't a main character on the front because we can change what the people look like in the game, 

Rayman 3 - Cover Analyze

The main colours on the Rayman Cover are Oranges & Blues. There is also black around the sides of the cover on the front. 

There is a CGI of Rayman with some claws on his hands and there are some creatures that are in the corners that are dark. He doesn't have any legs or arms in the image as well. This shows us that Rayman isn't human and with the claws joined onto his hand we know that he has extra added powers. We also see that he must be the main character.

Rayman is wearing his normal costume; purple shirt & red cape with some yellow and white shoes. He also wears the same costume in the whole game. 

The lighting is bright about the character Rayman and around the sides and computers, there is an black shadow. This shows us that there is evil in the game and makes Rayman look like the hero because he is in the light/ bright part of the cover.

The title is in block writing and looks a bit like planks of wood placed on top of each other. There is also some metal looking parts in the title as well with bolts on them. This also goes with the back cover which has the same colour scheme as the title which helps join the whole cover together overall. 

I would say that the age for this game would be for children & I would say that the gender would be boys & girls because it looks right.

L.A Noire Homework

L.A Noire is an up and coming game made by Rockstar Games. It is set in 1947 in Los Angeles & players are given open-ended challenges to solve a murder mystery.

The game was accounted as an exclusive to PlayStation 3 but they have now changed that so that it will be release on Xbox 360 as well.

The genre of this game is Third Person Shooter, where you can see the person who is shooting with the gun as well & Action/Adventure.

L.A Noire is coming out on Friday 20^th May 2011 in England.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYym1U226M

The previous link shows the trailer.

One new thing about the game is that is has new technology called MotionScan.

MotionScan is a newly developed technology where the actors are recorded by 32 surrounding cameras to capture facial expressions from every angle.

This is good because it means that when the interrogations scenes because you have to read their faces and see if they lying.

Video Game Research

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Video_Game_Sales_Wiki

Nintendo, Sony & Microsoft are the three main companies in the video-game world.


The top 5 selling games in the UK in 2010 is : 
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops
2. FIFA 11
3. Just Dance
4. Red Dead Redemption
5. Wii Fit Plus

The top 3 selling consoles:
1. PlayStation 2 with 150 million (released in 2000)
2. Nintendo DS with 146.42 million (released in 2004)
3. Game Boy/Game Boy Colour with 118.69 million (released in 1989 and 1998)

The top 7th generation games worldwide is: 

1. Metal Gear Solid 4 on PS3

2. Halo 3 on XBOX 360

3. Wii Play on Wii 

4. Nintendogs on NDS

5. GTA: Liberty City Stories on PSP

The worldwide sales show us that people like action & simulation games with Grand Theft Auto, Mario & Pokemon being popular choices. 

The UK sales show us that us british like sport & FPS games with Call of Duty & FIFA 11 being on top.

Nintendo's sales show us that the top genre is Platform.

Sony's sales show us that the top genre is War & FPS.

Microsoft's sales show us that the top genre is also the same as Sony's.

Sega's sale show us that the too genre is Platform.

Video Game Genres

Video Game Genres:


- FPS Shooter (First Person Shooter)
- Strategy 
- Action
- Adventure
- RPG (Role Playing Games)
- Driving
- Sports
- Educational 
- Simulation
- Platform
- MMORPG (Massive Multiple Online Role Playing Game)
- Puzzles
- Survival Horror


My two favorite genres for video games are Simulation & Sports. 
Simulations - I love playing The Sims 3 because i like how you have to make sure they get to work on time & complete the missions to get money to spend. It is also very entertaining & i get frustrated when some of the stuff don't go my way.
Sports - Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games is great on the Wii because you have to do all the movements. Also with being able to play with four people it's good for to play for everyone to get involved. 


Crossover: When a game has two genres, it's called a crossover.
Hybrid: A Hybrid is when there is more than two genres together.