One game example – Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII, for the Sony Playstation, was the seventh instalment in a long line of ‘Final Fantasy’ videogames created by Sony’s SquareSoft, which has since merged with Enix Universe to make SquareEnix. All of the games in the series were role-playing games, but FFVII was the first to advance on from the classic 8-bit/16-bit graphics of the previous titles. The game also had a new director and character designer, thus allowing the company to have a fresh start when designing the game. At the time the game was first released in 1997, the graphics were regarded as ground-breaking, as it pushed the limits of the graphical capabilities of the Playstation. Consequently, the company has carried on this graphical speciality to every game they have produced since, and are currently renowned as unchallenged in that area of gaming.
The game story centrals around the young, indifferent protagonist (Cloud Strife) and his quest to save the world from total destruction by the twisted, unstable killer (Sephiroth). Along the way many other characters join Cloud on his journey, bringing the total playable characters to 9, and each of them bring a completely different personality and life story to the table. The insanity of the villain Sephiroth also draws the audience in, as his chaotic desperation to avenge his pseudo-mother drives him to loathe the world. Due to the extreme depth of the storyline, the audience for the game was originally relatively niche as role-playing games were not very popular at the time. It was because of Final Fantasy VII’s quality and complexity of story however, that caused its huge success, as all different audience groups joined together to play what many people still regard as the ‘Best game ever made’.
Years on from the game’s success, the FFVII characters have gone on to make many other appearances, as an attempt by the company to reach out to the huge fan-base for the old game. Some were in other games, and all of them starred in the motion picture ‘Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children’, a film sequel to the game, set 2 years on. There have even been music albums, spin offs in anime, and mobile phone games, meaning the game has spread across all forms of media technology and the company can truly exploit the game for all it is worth. Whilst some fans have qualms with this approach, the majority are more than prepared to spend their money to support something they had a passion for, if not just to see the new media adaptations of the classic characters – greatly improved graphics and voice acting being the major differences.

Key concepts:
- Vertical integration
- Proliferation
- Convergence
- Quality
- Reach

Related gaming website – SquareEnix.com

Although a Geofilter has been put in place to redirect users to their separate local sites, the basic design for the main SquareEnix homepages stays the same. With basic straight-cut windows, and black and silver colour schemes, the site looks very professional and sleek – a befitting representation of the company as a whole. The main page is relatively information-filled as far as large company sites go. There are several different link categories scattered around the page, each presented in a different way, by change of background colour or size of the font, to communicate to the user this difference.
The centre of the page is dedicated to a large image of a game, and this changes every few seconds or so in correspondence with a scroll bar located just below it. Said large image acts as a form of advertiser, displaying minimal information about the game being shown, for example stating it is “Out Now”, or “Coming Soon”. The images can then be clicked on and the page will redirect to show more information about that specific title. The slideshow also allows Square to exhibit their highly advanced graphics to the world, and also the quality of their character designs. As these have been the 2 factors that have made their company stand out above others, by playing up these strengths Square has created an institutional identity for itself over the years.
As the company markets to a very large audience of mature gamers, the sleek design of the site works well to appeal to their maturity by lacking in bright eye-catching colours and bold fonts. The site also relies on a certain amount of character identification, built up by customer loyalty, as many of the games come up in the main image window showing only a large image of a central character. A ‘Fan zone’ can then be accessed to reward users of repeated site visits, and offers downloads and more detailed information about certain games and upcoming events.

Key concepts:
- Interactivity
- Non-linear
- Convergence
- Vertical integration

Major player in the gaming industry – Sony.com

The main official Sony website is very sleek and professional looking, with a colour scheme of blue, silver and white immediately making connotations towards modern technology. The content of the front page is minimal, with the whole page providing links to the numerous different sections of Sony's vast corporation. To keep the layout simple, all links have been put under a select few main categories, e.g. “Hear” for all music and audio news and information, and “Playstation” occupying anything and everything to do with the different consoles and their related news. These sections can then be hovered over with the mouse, or clicked on to be expanded, giving more detailed options. Once expanded, the rest of the page content then moves to accommodate this, giving the website a very interactive and flexible feel to it. There are 2 different types of categories. A line across of the top of the main window advertisement contains the more institutional sections, with “Register” and “Electronics” among others. The few sections below the advertisement however, are labelled like the 5 senses, using only imperfect verbs – “See”, “Hear” and “Play”. These 3 words are able to sum Sony up very well, as each represents a different part of the massive company.
The majority of the page is devoted to a new Sony product, often with large, impressive pictures to catch the viewer’s attention. This product changes whenever the Sony homepage is refreshed, meaning that many products get a moment in the spotlight instead of Sony having to focus and promote just one. When considering the extreme size of the Sony institution, this rotation scheme works very well as new technology is being designed and made by manufacturers all over the world. There is also an optional grow section for this chosen product, allowing the audience to read a short one sentence summary of what the technology is – working like an interactive advertisement.
Overall, the website is very vague, with the plain colours and straight-forward linking not appealing to any specific audience group. This is because Sony’s products are bought by everyone, and thus the website must reflect the neutral nature of the company. There is also a function called the ‘Geo-filter’, which allows the site to direct users to their own country’s Sony website. This is useful when it comes to bandwidth usage, allowing for the division of the audience into smaller groups, and so letting the sites run at reasonable speeds. It also means that Sony can adjust their internet advertising in accordance to when certain products are released in different countries.

Key concepts:
- Non-linear- Interactivity
- Convergence
- Vertical integration
- Fragmentation

so annoyed

i am

that is really annoying

it really really is really annoying

london grid for learning deserves to die

well basically im not allowed onto the website that i am going to do, as "The site you have chosen has been categorized as: Games". i thought that was the point.

this is a post in my blog. you are very excited!

Welcome to your new tech blog

hi rachel happy blogging! ms b