Task 2 Injustice Gods Among Us and Mortal Kombat 9

In this report i will be focusing on comparing NeatherRealm Studio's new game 'Injustice Gods Among Us' and their previous game 'Mortal Kombat 9'.

Deathstroke was kicking Batman’s ass. The sheer amount of bullets that the supervillain fired into the air juggled Batman as if he were a bowling pin. The Dark Knight had seen better days.

But this defeat isn’t a true example of the difficulty that Injustice: Gods Among Us offers. A technical hiccup made Deathstroke untouchable in my first three fights against him — though I suppose that’s fitting, given the assassin’s history with Gotham’s infamous crime fighter.

NetherRealm Studios takes its first stab outside of Mortal Kombat fighting oeuvre with Injustice: Gods Among Us, which comes out April 16 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U. The roster is a “who’s who” of superheroes and supervillains from the DC Comics pantheon: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Joker, Green Arrow, and many more.

This isn’t the first time NetherRealm has gleefully played with DC lore — the team was also responsible for the 2008 release of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Without any trace of its long-running gory tournament series within Injustice, however, NetherRealm is free to craft an entirely new fighting game that it hopes stands apart from the monumental shadow of Mortal Kombat.

The backgrounds are just as important as the characters

To distance itself from the Mortal Kombat games, Injustice introduces a new unconventional set of tools that you can use to destroy your opponents. You can interact with specific items in each stage to trigger a variety of attacks if you meet the right conditions. In Metropolis, you can make an APC vehicle shoot your opponent if you knock them into the air in front of it and press the right bumper on the Xbox 360 controller.

On a level that appeared to take place in the Justice League’s orbiting Watchtower, I made Batman grab flying robotic drones and toss them at Lex Luthor. Not every character can interact with these levels in the same way. In the story mode’s first fight between Batman and Deathstroke in Arkham Asylum, Deathstroke used a gurney to quickly bounce up and over the caped crusader before I could blink. If you used Superman or the hulking undead behemoth Solomon Grundy instead, they’ll just pick it up and smash their opponents.

“The successful players [will be] the players that are going to incorporate the background elements into the match versus just trying to play it like a normal fighting game,” said NetherRealm Studios producer Hector Sanchez. “That’s why the arena choices are so important at the beginning of a [multiplayer] match. Do I want to play in a match where someone has the opportunity to keep throwing stuff at me, or do I want to play a match that’s more about positioning?”

It’s an odd idea that’ll take some time getting used to. A practice mode explains the finer details of each level, pointing out all the objects you can use and how much damage they do.

Staying in the fight

One aspect of fighting games that is easy to take for granted is the round system: Battles visibly begin and end with specific animations as one character perishes, with a large number on your TV indicating the start of the next bout. That’s why it took me so long to realize that Injustice doesn’t have any rounds at all. Instead, characters have two health bars layered on top of each other, and when one of them loses the first part, the action briefly pauses as that character picks themselves up again.

This lack of interruption is also seen in the story mode, which moves at such a brisk pace that I was completely caught off-guard by Deathstroke’s attacks after a cutscene smoothly transitioned into the fight. Sanchez explained that this was one of the top priorities for Injustice creative director (and Mortal Kombat co-creator) Ed Boon, who wants the presentation to go “completely flawless.”

For some of these storytelling segments, you don’t even have to put down the controller. Timed minigames appear for certain groups of heroes and villains, and the outcome determines how much damage your opponent will already have going into the fight. One such event takes place when playing as Batman: Lex Luthor starts charging toward you, and you have to throw your Batarangs to slow him down.

It’s not a big deal if you miss some of the button prompts since you can’t really “fail” — your opponent’s health bar will just remain full or barely unchanged. But if you succeed, you’ll have a definite advantage.

“This was just a way that we could kind of evolve the presentation so it wasn’t just story scene, fight, story scene, fight,” said Sanchez.

It worked rather well. The narrative hooked me in right away and didn’t let me go until the demo’s cruel cliffhanger, where Batman and friends were racing to stop the Joker from activating a dangerous weapon. That scene had enough tension and drama to fill up an entire graphic novel. But this was just the first chapter.

Task 2a Questions

What factors make up the budget for a radio advertisement campaign?

• The factors which make up a radio advertisement campaign are: 
• How much the producer need to spend?
• How much money will the client have to spend on this commercial?
• The cost of broadcasting of the commercial
• Local sales teams 
• National/regional agencies.

What is a music bed, and what are the three types?
A music bed is part of a jingle, or alternatively the entire jingle, where there are no sung vocalist. In other words it refers to a section where only instruments are heard. Music beds make it possible for a voice over to be spoken on top, without the spoken words being interfered with by the sung vocals.

Why would you use a music bed rather than a pop song in your radio advert?

The reason why you would use a music bed than a pop song is because a music bed allows you to put a voice over, whereas if you put a pop song, the vocals would disrupt and interfere with the voice over. Another reason why I would use a music bed rather than a pop song is because i would need to get rights to use the song, and this would decrease my budget.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of producing your radio advert using only production facilities?

The radio station itself?


Producing your radio advert using only professional production facilities may drain the finances of your small radio company. You may need the finance to purchase  new production equipment, the additional debt load can create a heavy burden. You also need to consider the cost of reduced productivity while your workers learn how to operate the professional equipment and any associated new production processes. Depending on the nature of the equipment, you may need to make changes to or expand your facility to accommodate it. The disadvantage of producing your radio advert in a production studio is that, in terms of the script writing, it would cost you a lot to pay the script writer than when producing in an external production house.
An advantage of producing in a studio is that you get professional sounding work. This is due to the fact that the studio has professional equipment.




An external production house?

When producing in an external production house, it's easier because you will be working in your environment. The budget would be less because you will either be working on your own, therefore you will not be paying anyone but yourself. Although it is easier to produce like this, the quality of the finished production may not be as good as producing in the radio station itself.


It's easier to create in your own environment.

Disadvantages:

• You may require professional assistance when trying to mix down your advert.
• For your advert to sound professional, you might require professional radio producing equipment.

What facilities are available at college for recording and creating your radio advert?

In the college, the radio or music producing equipment which we have is, the radio studio, the Mac Computers and voice recorders. The radio studio has a microphone, mixer and computers to help with the editing. The Mac computers are for editing in the Reaper software, and the voice recorders are for practising your script so you can get the basic idea. The reason why we do not use the voice recorders for the final advert is because the quality of the sound is not as good in comparison to the radio studio.

What are the studio facilities, requirements and limitations in terms of the following?

Time
In terms of the time, we have 

Audio hardware
The audio hardware we have to record is the radio studio, the mac computers, the Mac Laptops and the voice recorders.

Audio software
The audio software which we have is the Reaper , Logic (which is also a music making program), Reason (another music making program). 


Booking
If you want to use the the music room or radio studio you have to book it because many other people will have booked times when they want to use it. You go to Mike to book the music room, and when you want to use the radio studio you can ask Graham the technician.

Technical Support.
In terms of the technical support, Graham the technician can help in figuring out how to use certain programs, or when you want to know how to use different  editing techniques e.g. increasing the pitch of the voice.

Cancer Research Advert

This is my Charity Radio advert for cancer research.

1. What Charity were you promoting?

Me and Chaquille were promoting the Cancer Research.

2.What does the charity do?

The Charity informs the public about the cancerous diseases and helps people who either suffer from cancer or help people who've lost relatives or friends to cancer.

3.What was the purpose and message behind your advert?

The message which we tried to convey through our advert was how cancer can easily go unnoticed,and how it can destroy a family. We also tried to inform the public about the Cancer Research organization and what it is about.


4. Who was your target audience?

5.How did you attempt to target them through:

• Persuasive Techniques

• Content

• Style

• Music Bed

Task 3

In this report i will be giving a brief outline of the games i played at the Euro Gamer Expo. I will be explaining the gameplay mechanics, give a brief description of the narrative, describe the locations in which the games are set and finally compare the two games.

Kill Zone Shadow Fall

Kill Zone is an upcoming first person action shooter game. This game is set 30 years after the events of the previous game (Kill zone 3). The main themes of this game are vengeance, anger, perseverance, heroism/valour, hope and competitiveness. This game is based more solely on vengeance because as you can see in the trailer, there is some sort of war going on. This suggests some kind of conflict is going on, or some sort of uprising. The game play is absolutely superb and is enthralling. The realisticity of the game is something else; another quality, which makes this game a ‘must have’, is the technology you see in the game trailer, and the locations and area in which you fight. The weapons you use are futuristic due to the fact that it's been thirty years (in the game) since the last game. 

The game is in 3D so the graphics are going to be out of this world. As you can see, the level of detail on the gear, which you wear, is pretty amazing. 

This game has many interactive elements such as the people in the game. You can talk to the people or help them with even though it's not part of the mission or narrative. You have full control over the player e.g. customisation. With customisation you can change the suit, what rank you are, the type of guns you use and the gear e.g. night vision goggles. You can enter certain vehicles/ machines such as the hover craft. 

Assassins Creed Black Flag

Like the previous game, this game is divided two intertwined halves with one in the present day, one in a historical time period and the events of each influencing each other. So this tells the audience that this game time skips as you progress through the game. About 60% of the game will take place on land; player can explore 50 locations ranging from fisherman villages, plantations, jungles, forts, islands, Mayan ruins and exotic Coconut Islands.  Furthermore, there are around 75 beaches and sandbanks, which can hold various treasures and marooned sailors to add to Edwards’s (the main protagonist) crew.

Other activities include hunting, harpooning and exploring underwater environments. The game aims to blend between its land and aquatic experiences seamlessly, to the point where players can simply dive off Edward’s ships, swim to the shore and explore the land, as well as dive under the surface to loot underwater ship wreck. The Ubisoft company also mentioned the ‘exploration is the key’ and would be the focus point in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag. The game will also include naval combat, with 40% of the story-taking place on the water, which includes numerous side missions. After checking out a ship with Edward’s spyglass from the Jackdaw’s crow nest and evaluating the information and statistics, players can launch an attack using various scenarios; one can simply shoot the opposing captain, bored the ship by leaping from mast-to-mast and performing an air assassination, or charge into the fray to cut down foes using Edward’s swords. Once the captain of an opposing ship has been killed, players will have three choices- release the crew to gain crew members, send the ship to Kenway’s fleet or salvages the ship to repair Jackdaw. Players will also be able to exploit weather patterns, luring the opposition into less than ideal conditions such as dynamic storms, to their advantage. Naval combat also features a trajectory-based aiming system that requires knowledge of distance and the speed of an enemy.

Viewpoints will also make a come back in black Flag. As in the previous games, Viewpoints have to be synchronised so as to reveal information about an area and it's surroundings. Furthur, the will also serve as fast-travel locations.

In Comparison, these two game are very different in terms of the genre, and when a genre is set you have to follow certain conventions e.g with Action games you expect some sort of fighting and with racing games you expect there to be some type of vehicle or some hi-speed movement. The games aren't so different in terms of graphics because they are both on the PS4 console.

Computer Gaming: Task 2 Video Game Analysis Report

In this report, i will be analysing the games which i played at the 2013 Euro Gamer Expo. I will be talking about the games' features, the locations, the graphics, storyline e.t.c. The games i will be conversing about are the 'Injustice Gods Among Us' and 'The Crew' game. The 'Injustice' has already been released, but the 'Crew' game has not. What i played was just the full online demo at EuroGamer.


Injustice Gods Among Us


The Injustice game is solely focus on the DC Universe. Injustice the makers of Mortal Kombat, Injustice: Gods Among Us tells an original story set in a world where the lines between good and evil have become blurred. Split into several chapters and filled with one-on-one matches, you'll switch between different heroes and villains, each with their own strengths, fighting styles and powers. Plus there's the online "King of the Hill" mode for eight fighters to take turns fighting and spectating in the ultimate battle!

With a roster including everyone from icons like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman to cult characters like Deathstroke and Harley Quinn, this is a fighting game in a (Justice) League of its own!

This is the game play for Mortal Kombat

This is the Injustice gods Among Us Gameplay

The fighting mechanics are similar to Mortal Kombat, they both use the same buttons to attack and to do the special. In terms of the graphics, costumes are designed by the costume creator for Mortal Kombat. The game uses location from the DC Universe such as Gotham City (Batman, The Joker, Harley Quinn and Bane), Metropolis (Superman, Lex Luther), The Watch Tower, Joker's Asylum, Fortress of Solitude and may more. Similar to Mortal Kombat, Injustice has stages where the environment in interactive. However in Injustice you can knock your opponent into a different stage and drain a hell of a lot of life. The lack of a block button and the change to light-medium-heavy is the core mechanical difference, but there are plenty of changes under the hood as well. “The utilization of the PS3’s SPUs on Injustice goes way beyond anything we did in Mortal Kombat, enabling us to have roughly three times the amount of objects on screen at a single time,” Sanchez explains. Dynamic lighting and particle effects may not be the selling point for a massive crossover fighter like this, but it’s heartening to hear that this isn’t just a re-skin of a previous game.

The Crew

The Crew is car racing RPG game. The Crew is an open and persistent world for racing across the United States. Missions can be played alone, with a friend or online. The Multi-player mode lets people create teams to compete online in races and other game types. The graphics of the game are amazing, since it's PS4 I'm not really surprised. The the game's location(s) are based in the USA. The level of detail of the game makes it seem as if you are actually in the city.

Task 1 Radio Report

Radio Advert Report

In this radio advert i will analysing two radio adverts from my perspective, but i will also be include some facts which i read on the internet.

Snickers Advert with MR T

Commercial radios are radios that aren’t public. An example of a public radio station is The BBC. Commercial radios make their profit mostly from playing commercials on their airwaves. Of all the output of a commercial radio, 20% of it is dedicated to commercials. A typical commercial hour is 48 minutes, as the remaining 12 minutes are dedicated to adverts, with each advert generally being 30 or 60 seconds long. Commercials generally serve two purposes: to earn money for the radio station and to promote the sales of the product.   This advert uses a mixture of different tactics regularly used in advertising. The most noticeable tactic used in this advert is called “Celebrity Endorsement”. Celebrity Endorsement is where celebrity, in this case Mr. T, endorses or promotes a product. This is a very clever and easy to use tactic as even if your advert is terrible, it will still be successful to a certain extent because of the celebrity. The other tactic used in this advert is the very obvious tactic of humour. Humour is effective because when the consumer is in the shop looking at a snickers bar, they will think of the humour used in the advert instead. The downside to this is that there is little information given about the product. This however is not a problem because the snickers brand is a well-known brand.

The advert starts out with some SFX re-enacting a phone call between two people. This beginning captures the attention of the audience because it’s not something you would expect to hear on the radio. Instead of music, or talking you hear a ringing tone. The two people are then engaged in a fairly monotone conversation. The reason the conversation is fairly boring is so the next bit jumps out at the audience even more. In the following section it is then revealed that one of the men is Mr. T. This is a clever way of introducing the “celebrity”, regardless of whether you love or hate Mr. T, the audience will be surprised to hear this boring conversation turn into this strange rant from him. The reason Mr. T is used is because of the brand that he carries. The roles that Mr. T is most commonly known as are; his role in The A-Team and Rocky. In these roles, Mr. T plays the same type of character, the same type of character that is also voiced in this advert.  Mr. T only then talks about the product once and is only one of two instances that the actual word “Snickers” is spoken. The Snickers tag line is then spoken “Get Some Nuts”. This slogan has been around since 2006 and as such is associated with the Snickers brand. At the end of the advertisement a man then tells the audience to go to the Snickers website for more “man” stuff. This is a regular occurrence of radio adverts to try and cram a large amount of information into the end of the advert.

The Snickers advert tries to appeal to the audience of men. This is shown through their constant reiteration of being “manly” through the advert. An instance of this occurring is when Mr. T tells the caller that he needs to “use the fact he’s a man” to sort out how to assemble his kitchen. Whilst this is a good idea, it alienates an entire market, women.

The next advert I’m reviewing is a 2010 advert for Subway.

The advert consists of no sound effects, low background music and just one VO.

The advert starts with an interesting voice asking the audience “Are you hungry?” If Subway were to play this commercial at the peak of rush hour around dinner time or around noon the advert would affect a larger amount of people as this is around the time that people look to find food. The advert then proceeds to use the humour tactic, continuing with a rhetorical question, this time a little more ridiculous. This displays Subways as a fun brand and also grabs the audience’s attention again. The VO on the commercial then becomes a little more energetic and adds some more weight to the voice. This will make the audience pay even closer attention, as they will want to see what the male voice-over is sounding so passionate about. The advert then brings in some music and the VO then talks about some of the products that Subway offer as well as using some loaded language. Loaded language is language that, when used, has connotations that we then automatically associate with the product. For example in this advert the VO mentions “scrumptious toasties”. The connotations of the word “scrumptious” generally mean that the food is beyond appetising, that it is truly delicious. Subway is trying to get us to believe that its food is really worth buying. After the VO reels off a list of products that Subway is offering, it then states that they are “from 89 pence”. This is clever marketing from Subway as the average listener will only pick up on, or remember 89 pence, so when they think where to eat, they think that the items listed on the advert are all 89 pence. At the time of releasing this commercial, only the toasties were 89 pence, the rest of the items were 10 pence or more higher. In reality, the rest of the snacks could have been £20 and Subway would still have been telling the truth. This tactic from Subway is called “bait and switch”. The VO then tries to inject some more humour into the advert before finally stating the name of the company and their slogan “Eat Fresh”.

Although the humour tactic doesn’t offer much space for information, I feel as though the advert did what it was supposed to do, promote Subway’s snack range. It also told me the price range that the snacks start from and where to get them. The “bait and switch” tactic was used effectively as the audience will presume that all the snacks are around 89 pence. Another side effect of saying “89 pence” and taking off the extra penny is that the audience don’t realise it is closer to 80 pence than 90. The advert also doesn’t tell me what sort of establishment Subway is, however it doesn’t need to, as Subway is an established brand.

Music Video Workshop.