One blog – MySpace.com

MySpace is a social network site, used by all people of all ages (however mainly teenagers) to keep in touch with friends, and extend their set of contacts. Owners of “myspaces” can put up pictures, blogs, music and videos, as well as adding general information about themselves for the whole world to see. It is by far the most popular social networking site in the world, with less popular sites being “Hi5.com” and “Bebo.com”.
Each “myspace” has a friends area, where they can choose a select number of close friends to appear on their site under the title “Top Friends”. The number of these friends can range from 4 to 24, and people can even program their sites to not display any friends at all. Underneath said friends is a comments section, where accepted friends of the user may post a comment for people to read. Depending on how well you can program myspace, your comment can be all different fonts, colours, sizes, and even feature images and videos.
The personal customisation of a myspace helps to make it stand out from all others, and helps the users to feel that their myspace reflects who they are. There are various websites which offer tutorials as to how to edit a myspace, with some even going as far as to have readily selectable designs for you. As a result, no myspace is ever the same, much like the people they are representing. The astounding popularity of MySpace.com has meant the extension into various other countries, with the sites currently on offer as follows:

- MySpace Global
- MySpace Australia
- MySpace Canada (in English)
- MySpace Canada (in French)
- MySpace France
- MySpace Germany
- MySpace Ireland
- MySpace Italy
- MySpace Japan
- MySpace Mexico
- MySpace New Zealand
- MySpace Spain
- MySpace UK
- MySpace USA

Key concepts:
- Personalisation
- Reach
- Flexibility
- Non-linear

Fan website – FFextreme.com

FFextreme is a fan site devoted to Role-Playing games, specifically those in the Final Fantasy series. This dedication is clearly shown by the navigation bar with roman numerals on it, which provide links to the more popular Final Fantasy titles. It is the familiarity of only needing numerals for the actual game in question to be obvious that shows the sites thorough knowledge of the games, and also tells us that the fans that tend to visit this site are more serious than most gamers. Along the side is another navigation bar, however this one has more options as to which games to look at, and features titles related to the Role-Playing genre - not just Final Fantasy.
The colour scheme is mainly blues, black and white, with light text on a dark background which gives the site a professional pristine. Pictures of game screenshots help to brighten up the monochrome site background, and also act to promote the advanced graphics used in the games featured. The “News Desk” is where the updates go, whether they be about upcoming events, site renovations or industry news. The main advertisement in the top centre of the page is for the site forums, inviting users to check out the return of the simply named “Final Fantasy Forums”.
Overall FFextreme provides much more information and related material than the official sites, providing extras that attract the audience to browse fan sites as opposed to the official ones. An example of these extras is as follows:

Final Fantasy X –

Game Coverage: Abilities List
Aeons
Al Bhed
Armor
Battle System
Blitzball
Characters
Chocobo
Guides & Faqs
Items
Magic
Overdrives
Sidequests
Sphere Grid
Transportation
Walkthrough
Weapons
World Map

Media: Artwork
FMV Images
Lyrics
MIDIs
Screenshots
Sheet Music
Shop
Soundtracks
Videos
Wallpaper

Key concepts:
- Proliferation
- Narrowcasting
- Non-linear

New media technology and Audience consumption activity – Network Play

Network Play is the Playstation 2 convergence of multiplayer gaming and the internet, where 2 or more people can play together in the same game. Gamers can either choose to compete against each other, or team up to work towards the same goal, which usually involves beating computer generated opponents or other human players.
Often, people use Network Play to enhance their gaming experience, after they have felt they have exhausted the single player entertainment of a game. With multiple players, there are usually possible new options to a game such as new terrains or character abilities. It also means that players do not bore of the computer generated opposition provided by the single player mode, as it can become predictable and dull. The online challenges against other gamers are usually on a completely different level when compared to the AI, and new tactics can be learnt and skill advancements can occur.
Some games, however, are primarily made for Network Play e.g. “Killzone” a highly popular tactical FPS (First Person Shooter) for the PS2. This is often clearly demonstrated to the player by a very lacking single player experience and a hugely expansive multiplayer section. In “Killzone” up to 16 players can participate in a single game, an exceptionally large number, however, there are no worldwide competitions as there are only local servers for it. If a game is very popular and has worldwide servers, competitions are familiar occurrences, and championship matches can be televised depending on the game’s popularity.
Network Play can be labelled as a social networking system, as players can choose to make other players their Buddies, and messages can be typed or spoken through a headset. In games which provide team-based online missions this is especially true, as people have to work together and communicate well in order to achieve their goal. This means that the unsociable element to console gaming can be removed, and potentially friends can be made all over the world from your television set.
Overall, playing online allows people to have a lot more freedom, and their gameplay is non-linear as they choose what they want to do, when to do it and who with. With administrators to keep an eye on any trouble, players can roam free and go beyond the restraints of the single player game, and no storyline is present to interfere.

Key concepts:
- Proliferation
- Non-linear
- Flexibility
- Online Surveillance

One example of convergence – Playstation Portable (PSP)

The PSP, brought out by Sony in 2005, is a handheld console made primarily for gameplay, but also includes many other features – hence convergence. The PSP’s numerous features include the following:

Multiplayer Gaming
- AD-HOC mode (multiple players on PSP systems within range of each other)
- Infrastructure mode (Play online with people across the globe, all from the comfort of a Wi-Fi hotspot)

Watch Movies & Videos
- Watch UMD movies
- Save movies to a Memory Stick Duo
- Watch movies saved to a Memory Stick Duo
- Watch and save RSS Channel video
- Compatible Movie/Video Formats

Listen to Music
- Play music from a UMD disc
- Listen to music saved to a Memory Stick Duo
- Save music on a Memory Stick Duo
- Play and save RSS Channel music
- Compatible Music/Audio Formats

View Photos
- Enjoy sideshows
- Download photos or images
- Create custom wallpaper
- Send and receive photos (photo sharing)
- Compatible Photo/Image Formats

Go Online
- Play multiplayer online games with Infrastructure mode.
- Download individual files
- Download a PSP® Content Pack
- Surf the World Wide Web
- Check out the Official PSP® Website (http://www.psp.playstation.com)
- Enjoy RSS video or audio web feeds, weblogs or podcasts from any of thousands of websites
- Download e-books including comics and full colour graphic novels
- Update the PSP® system software

It is this large list of extra features beyond just playing games that justifies the significant price-gap between the PSP and the majority of other handheld consoles e.g. the Nintendo DS. It also means that the console brings Sony another step closer to achieving complete control of the new media technology market through console convergence. A feature that is noticeably absent is any sort of mobile phone, which would have been a possibility due to the huge Sony mobile institution – Sony Ericssons. The reason for this may have been because Sony learnt from the mistakes of Nokia, who made a huge investment in a handheld all-round console – the N-Gage. From the moment it was released the N-Gage was mocked by the industry for its clear lack of technological knowledge and laughable phoning technique.

Here is a very short run-down of the N-Gage before it was officially released, featuring Jeff Gerstmann of Gamespot.com telling it like it is. Rock on, Jeff.

Jeff was actually a lot nicer to the N-Gage than he should have been.

Key concepts:
- Portability
- Convergence
- Personalisation

Podcasts –

Podcasts are media files, video and audio, that are usually free to download over the internet for personal music players and computers in general. The content ranges from clips of television shows or radio streams, to educational courses and lectures. With such a wide variety of things to choose, there is a high level of personalisation surrounding the entire scheme. Most podcasts can be easily accessed and downloaded from iTunes, with subscriptions also freely available, meaning any recent additions to the selected podcast will be downloaded automatically.

The “Ask a Ninja” podcast is a perfect example of how the new media opportunities, brought about by the creation of Video iPods, are being used to their full potential. These are relatively short comedic video clips, with a short, easily recognisable opening sequence with a theme tune. As the actual visual material of the podcast is generally monotonous – a guy in a ninja suit talking in front of a coloured backdrop – users can afford to only listen to the podcast, which means there is a lot more flexibility. The topics addressed are dictated by the questions sent in by the audience to a given e-mail, and this works to highlight the fact that the ninja is an average person and pays attention to any e-mail he receives. As the site askaninja.com was already in place before podcasts started being used to promote the series, it is harder to judge the status before and after. You can, however, consider the particularly high-ranking popularity of the few available podcasts on iTunes, and it is clear the series has benefited greatly from its convergence with iPods.

The Times newspaper is also taking advantage of the possibilities podcasts provide. To bridge the gap between newspapers and forms of new media technology in this way is a revolutionary idea, and their podcasting success reflects this. This “Mandarin Chinese Conversation” course is just one of many educational courses being produced by the Times Online website. It is audio-based, as with language basics there is not much requirement for any visual stimulation, and is taught by a clear-voiced English woman accompanied by a couple of Chinese teachers. As the conversations featured gradually get more and more complicated, more help is offered by use of separate “Practice conversation” files, and then by “Lesson notes”, which are also freely downloadable. During lessons, listeners are prompted to listen and repeat certain words or phrases, making the whole experience seem a lot more involving. In addition to this, it also backs up the fundamental language structure of Mandarin – the tone with which the words are pronounced.

Key concepts:

- Proliferation

- Non-linear

- Portability

- Personalisation

- Flexibility

One film website – Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

This film is a direct sequel of the massively popular videogame Final Fantasy VII, for the Sony Playstation. The game is one of a number of Final Fantasy titles, which are still being produced to this day.
The special effects are very advanced, slick and quick, and as a result the film is also portrayed in this way. Users can actively download backgrounds of shots from the film onto their desktop background, and this works as a form of free merchandise, letting the audience have their own reminder of the film. The basic story outline can be read, as can any news about events or development made – past or coming up.
The special effects show off the highly advanced technology used in making the film. All of the old fans of the series can check out the Characters section to take a look at the remade versions, and new fans can catch up with the story so far in the Story section. This helps reach to a broader audience – not just those who have played the original Final Fantasy VII game. Square also manages to appeal to a bigger audience by having the film playable on PSPs (via UMDs) as well as on DVD, and these are then advertised and provide links to the ‘store’ for purchasing. The headline “The wait is over” acknowledges and confirms the anticipation many fans have had for this film, and also informs anyone unaware of this that this film has been worth waiting for.

Key concepts:
- Interactivity
- Portability
- Convergence
- Vertical integration

Here is a very short collaberation of clips from FFVII:AC, along to the theme of Sephiroth (the villain) 'One Winged Angel'
I sincerly urge anyone in the world ever to watch a bit of this, as Final Fantasy is the best thing ever and you are an idiot if you don't think so too.
:)

One online magazine website – Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)

Electronic Gaming Monthly is a very popular and relatively cheap American gaming magazine. The writing tends to be a lot less formal, and includes a lot of jokes, making it a lot lighter reading compared to many other gaming magazines. The slick designs of the site, along with the bright colourful scheme of the features work well to represent the magazine. The website homepage is full of information, with the page divided up into various sections devoted to a different area of gaming. Membership to the site is clearly available, along with the listed capabilities that registering allows users to do, for example the personalised “My 1Up page”. A chart of the current most popular games is placed right in the centre of the page, allowing users to then click on the titles for more information, and also providing people with general knowledge about the gaming world.
EGM editor blogs are available to read, as well as several other blogs centred around specific topics such as a particular production company or game. Subscriptions to the magazine can be bought on the website, and games can be traded by use of a comprehensive list of people looking to get the game/trade in the game. An advertisement for the latest copy of the magazine flashes up in bright, bold colours on an animated loop, with a link to sneak peeks of the material included. These animated/interactive advertisements are placed all over the page, so as to be both eye-catching, and to make use of the advantages of the internet. Videos are also easily accessible from the homepage, with the material ranging from game trailers to reviews.
Forums provide users a chance to voice their opinions, with the staff of the magazine sometimes joining in a debate or discussion – letting the audience know that they are being listened to. The available podcast channel for the NMT iPod is just one example of how the magazine has used the internet to reach all different kinds of media. This also means the audience does not have to carry around a large magazine, as the podcast features various members of the EGM staff voicing their opinions of the latest gaming headlines.

Key concepts:
- Proliferation
- Interactivity
- Non-linear
- Portability
- Personalisation
- Convergence