i really enjoyed this year, it has been really educationaly and i feel i have developed my skills in many areas, hats off to you heather, chris and mike.

for the course to be more productive, i think there has to be more feedback to the students, a weekly crit sesh or something, you can show your work to the other students or lack of it and they can give you advice or a much needed (especially on my part) boot up the arse. it doesnt have to involve the lecturers, in fact i think it could be good to talk to people who dont hold your future in the palm of their hands haha. the 2nd and 3rd years could get involved if they have time and give a few pointers, that sort of thing.

a key issue for a lot of people was lack of experience with 3DSmax. i had used it before but nowhere near to the complexity of the stuff we are doing now, i knew what everything dud but i was still lost. and i can see it getting harder and harder, faster and faster over the next two years. so my input is that perhaps the level at which we start could be a little lower and the speed at which we advance starts of a little slower but gets quicker, later on. it could be helpful to have another day dedicated to it but thats not fair on heather.

another thing that could be useful is to perhaps have a longer year, it seems silly to have us finishing so early when everyone else is still at it. not necessarily more hours for the lecturers, unless they want them, but longer holidays and longer due dates, maybe thats just wishful thinking haha. maybe a bit more scaremongering is all that is required lol.

the main factor has to be with the faculty. we simply dont get the funding we need, its quite a popular course now and i would have thought that as a result, the course would be better funded and more prepared. the first few weeks were a joke and i suppose thats why we had to learn so quickly with 3DSmax. a good idea would be to do any work that is needed during the F*ing holidays when no one is there and perhaps the funding each course gets for the year is proportional to the amount of students attending.

ooooh field trips would be fun, go to a game developer see how they work, could be useful. i'd quite like to go to america you guys! haha.

i hope none of you take any of this the wrong way...and mark me down because of it lol thanx again guys, it was great :)

I think by writing the blog we are opening our minds and recapping on what we know and by doing this, we reinstate the key factors of that topic. personally for me, i prefer to write essays and evaluations. i dont really know why, i just dont really feel comfortable yapping away about things in this manner, i prefer to be more formal when it comes to education. but saying that after reading about how a reflective person is more likely to be creative and as a result more successful, i realized that i really need to do this more, especially after my recent creative block which i think i am still suffering from :/

im not really sure what i want to do after uni to be honest. in a perfect world i would go straight from uni to work in a well respected game company and work my way up from there but nowadays its not that simple especially with the state the economy is in. i think i will be glad to get through it and go from there, i just want to get my degree, show it to my dad and say "HA told you i could do it" haha. i suppose i will probably end up working in Tesco or something for a year or two and use that time to develop a portfolio of work that is of a reasonable standard and then go to as many interviews as possible and get as much relevant experience as possible. its all good on paper but how it will turn out is another story. i might not even get through uni successfully and i think that thought scares me the most. it should inspire me to do more work but it kind of has the opposite effect and i just get more scared and then do less work and so on. these past few weeks i have just been thinking to myself that even if i dont pass, its not the end of the world although my dad probably would end up killing me haha there you go Michael you now have a legal obligation to pass me *JOKES*. i still remember that talk at the beginning of the year. I think mike said the word FAIL at least 30 times in the space of 20 minutes. i have been getting better and the past few weeks, with that who cares type of thinking, i actually got a fair bit done so i just need to keep it that way.

sound is one of the most important things in games and even more so as technology advances. i think sound plays an important role of setting the mood for what is happening at that present moment in the game. it has to emphasize the feelings intended whether they are fear, amazement, happiness, sadness etc. sounds can also help to emphasize environmental effects. high pitched instruments such as wind chimes or a piano help to create a cold environment where as low bellowing percussion instruments such as bass drums can help to create a fitting atmosphere for a hot or industrial environment.

i think one of the most iconic 'sonic moments' of my gaming history has to be whilst playing survival horror genre games such as resident evil or silent hill. it wasn't really the sound that did it, it was the lack of it. i remember playing resident evil 1 (the remake on the gamecube) and i simply couldn't play the game when it was noisy. i had to be able to hear the zombies coming round the corner and the most frightening feeling was cast into my soul when i could hear the hasty footsteps and panting of a crimson head running along a corridor towards me. another scary moment i had was when i first came across a regenerator in resi 4. i could hear the gargling and panting and the slow lumbering footsteps which literally nearly made me shriek like a school girl. as far as soundtracks go, i would have to first of all say screw halo. it was a good game and the soundtrack was good but it had nothing on metroid prime or the ocarina of time. i remember the chilling piano solos when getting to the glacier type levels of metroid and thinking WOW because it made the experience much more worth while. i also remember the sheer marvel inspired in me when hearing the soundtrack to hyrule field. i never played the original zelda games much but when i heard that music for the first time it was amazing and it made looking over that vast plain seem like it went on forever. when i was in college, for our final major projects, we were allowed to write our own brief. mine was something like begin to develop the basic outline of a game including plot, character descriptions, visuals and present them in the form of a presentation piece that could be used as a pitch for a future game production. i ended up developing a survival horror sandbox type game set in my local district; the wyre forrest. the games was a play on words of the word wyre which i changed to wire as in barbed wire. anyway, i developed a story board of the intro cutscene which i intended to put onto i movie and create a slideshow to the song ghostship part 1 by a band called the fall of troy. the slideshow on its own seemed a bit wooden and boring but as soon as i put it to music, it really came alive. its a really creepy piece of music and i think it is what made the final outcome stand out.

im not so sure that good times is the most influential piece of the 20th century and my one reason for saying so is this: Music is created to inspire certain emotions in people but depending on what people you ask, different music creates different emotions and although good times is a brilliant song, its not everyones cup of tea. if i had to put a label on it i think the most influential song of the 20th century is either wot get fooled again by the who, or free bird by lynard skynard. many members of the band lynard skynard met with an unfortunate fate after their plain crashed killing three members of the band and their road manager (which resulted in their current album at the time being recalled as it ironically featured the band standing behind some flames). the remaining members of the band stayed together and grew back to full strength with new members. the thing that always puts a smile on my face is that once the band started to tour again, they performed a gig in Dallas, Texas, and at the end of the gig, the lead vocalist said this " there is only one man who can sing this song on stage and thats ronnie van zant. so i wont be singing this one although its been a pleasure singing all the rest of them for you tonight...so i want all of you to sing it for me. this song goes out to ronnie van zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines and the man who helped compose this song along with ronnie van zant, Dean Kilpatrick. what song is it that you want to hear tonight Dallas?" and the whole crowd shouts "FREE BIRD!" litterally everyone in the stadium starts to sing and its one of the most amazing things i have ever listened to.

these past few weeks, i have found myself doing far less work than i should be, i felt demotivated and uncreative. i went out more becausse i thought it would help me relax but it pretty much did the opposite. the one thing i found really helped was sticking all of the work that i felt was the strongest, onto my wall. at first, i only did it so it would be easier to take photos of but it actually gave me a bit more drive and i started to become more creative again. i just hope its not too late to pull my act together :/

The Watchmen

I suppose my opinion of this film isn’t fully valid as I never read the graphic novel but from where I was sitting, the first 20-30 minuets seemed a bit redundant and the flashbacks got a bit irritating after a while. None of it seemed to have much to do with the main plotline and other than the scenes with Rorschach, I found them fairly boring. don’t get me wrong though. A fair few of them had significant relevance but for the most part I was thinking to myself “when is something interesting going to happen” once the film started to get going however, I was on the edge of my seat. The landscapes and set designs were fantastic and the visual effects even more so. Plot twists kept people who hadn’t read the novel guessing and I think that’s what often sets apart a brilliant film from a mediocre film. I just think that if the film was edited down a bit by about 20 to 30 minutes or so, it would have been a much better film but then again, I have a feeling that the majority of the footage at the start of the film was put there to keep those who had read the novel happy so I think that’s what I‘ll do.

Full metal jacket.

First thing I would have to say about this film is that it is PURE GENIUS! and that if you haven’t already seen it, you should! And even if you have, you should watch it again! The film follows the lives of some US marines (primarily a man nicknamed Joker) during their days training in boot camp and fighting the Vietnam war. I think the sheer brutality shown in the boot camp by the drill instructor as well as the other soldiers is brilliant to watch and focuses mainly on the physical and psychological aspect of their training. The drill instructor takes particular interest in a trainee that he nicknames Gomer Pyle due to his large stature. Because this trainee is obviously less able than the others in the physical aspect of the training, he continuously makes mistakes causing the drill instructor to punish the other trainees instead of Pyle. It is Jokers responsibility to keep Pyle out of trouble but it is only when he begins to receive beatings from the other trainees (including a reluctant joker) that he starts to improve. The training continues and Pyle begins to become obsessive about his training causing him to excel as well as lose his mind. the deterioration of his mind is what fascinated me most, especially when it becomes apparent that not even the drill instructor can control him. A few weeks later the film rejoins Joker, who is now a combat reporter who prefers to tell the truth rather than tell everyone what they want to hear. He rejoins one of his comrades from boot camp (cowboy) to accompany him on a mission that soon takes a turn for the worse when they lose their way and become pinned down by a sniper. Cowboy gets shot and this causes the men to go into a frenzie, once the sniper is incapacitated, the rest of the men decided to test Joker to prove his worth by making him kill the sniper who turns out to be a young Vietnamese girl. There are some quality combat scenes as well as a few funny moments and I definitely recommend seeing this film.

Cloverfield

I read a few reviews before i decided to write this post and i have to say that the majority of them are all bad which came as a huge shock to me because i felt that the film was original and innovative and extremely well done. one of the most brutal reviews i read was one from the New York times. It slated the film for having bland characters, an unrealistic plot and the most annoyingly critisism was that a lot of the scenes mimicd footage from the 911 tragedy. all these points made me laugh and i felt the need to write this.
firstly, the characters are supposed to be bland. the idea is that they are supposed to resemble ordinary, down to earth people. Im not sure if this is true but i heard that the Director hired almost completely unknown actors just so that we didn't associate them with other films and think of them as actors which to me seems like a genius idea and it worked extremely well. the characters all seem like normal people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and you can tell that the dialogue was well written, giving an extremely intense sense of horror. i admit that if i was in that situation that i wouldnt lug around a big video camera but if you think about it, it is probably a good idea because it would be an extremely valuable and important piece of footage. the development of the relationship between the characters and the audience grows at an increadible rate and i know people who said they felt truly sorry for all the characters and a few even cried at the end which is what cinema is all about.

secondly, the plot is unrealistic because it isn't true! how many monsters do you see waltzing around New York. There aren't many people out there who would give thier life for the one they love but the film is about one of the few people that would. and its fairly obvious that the reason that the others follow him is that they are scared and dont know what to do themselves. surely thats the whole point of disaster movies. there is always someone who needs rescuing and thats what we go there to see. it wouldn't be a very exciting film if they heard a bang, ran into the streets and got rescued now would it. Im just glad its not another Rambo type film where the hero runs in with a inconceivably large gun and shoots the creature dead despite the whole US military failing. and im also glad it wasnt one of those films where almost everyone dies but then at the last minute, a miracle weapon or cure is developed and the day is saved. it was refreshing to see a film where the bad guy wins. now that is more realistic.

the third point about the 911 towers was ludicrous. its blatantly obvious that that wasn't the directors intention and when i read that i just kept thinking "if this movie critic had his way, there wouldnt be any more disaster movies located in new york ever again which is a scary thought. i cant imagine godzilla causing chaos in downtown kidderminster. it just wouldnt have the same appeal.

in conclusion, if you like sci fi disaster movies, Clover Field is a must see.

Black hawk down

the film itself has beautiful backdrops and scenery. the attention to detail in the equipment and vehicles is spectacular which helps amerce the audience and increases the level of realism which is a very important aspect in this type of film. although this film follows a similar plot line to Saving Private Ryan, the relationship between the audience and the characters involved is significantly weaker. i think the reason behind this is that the film is focused more on the situation itself rather than the characters involved which as a result, makes the character's personalities less developed. however there is still a slight relationship development with a select few of the characters. Ewan Mcgregors character in particular, shows more development than the others from my point of view, because he is a seemingly normal person who ends up being thrown into combat. he is shown at the beginning, behind a desk emphasizing the fact that he is a normal man. once he is thrown into combat he continuously avoids death and injury despite having less combat experience than the other soldiers and ends up generating a lot of respect for himself from the higher ranking members of the army because of this. I liked how the length of the mission extends because this shows how much more dangerous it is than previously anticipated. the mission is explained to be expected to last roughly 30 minutes but ends up spanning nearly 24 hours. this 'against all odds' plot theme gives the audience a sense of accomplishment despite not developing much of a relationship with the characters involved. by the end of the film, the audience is left feeling a sense of loss for those killed or injured but at the same time a sense of accomplishment for the people involved.

saving private ryan

In my opinion, this film is one of the most skilfully and accurately done war films of my generation. I think the first time I watched this film I was actually moving my head every time a bullet wizzed past of a mortar round hit the ground. The attention to detail in the set design is astounding, I have visited Normandy as well as other land marks of the first and second world wars and the bunkers on the beach that still remain are almost identical to those that were recreated for the film and I found it amazing how the tank traps can still be seen on some parts of the beach. As the film continues and the men travel further into France, the audience develops a bond with each character, usually one in particular. For this reason, each time a character dies (the medic in particular as the relationship between the characters and the audience is more advanced by this point), the feeling that is evoked within the audience is far greater. By the end of the film the audience is really rooting for the squad and although most of them lost their lives, we are filled with a sense of relief that they completed the mission.

(If you liked Saving Private Ryan you will seriously love Band of brothers… Watch it!)

The mist

Although the plot for this film was a little bit loose (the gate to another dimension in particular) it was extremely powerful and compelling. The film had a lord of the flies feel to it which I find fascinating to watch. I think that I must find it entertaining to see the human mind break down and revert to a more instinct driven mode of function (which is quite worrying :/..). I also liked how illusive the creatures were which is how all films of that genre should be done… it worked for Cloverfield, it worked for silent hill and it definitely worked for the mist. Its always scarier to be against something if you cant tell what it is than if you can, it must have something to do with the fact that when faced by an unknown creature or enemy, we fall prey to our own overactive imaginations and at least if you know what it is, you can make some kind of preparation or take some kind of action. The ending, although tragic and controversial was bloody genius. A lot of people thought it was awful but it really gave an insight as to how we react when we have no more options left and was a brilliant twist.

I think I have to be one of the only people for miles around that owns an Xbox 360 but doesn't actually have Xbox live. I did used to have it a few years ago however, but I simply never renewed it and have kept away from it ever since. There were a few reasons I had for doing this such as schedule conflicts, lack of variety (I only really played halo 2), a little bit of addiction, but it was primarily due to the sheer amount of sore losers, back chat, and slagging matches that sort of took the fun away for me.

One of my first experiences online was whilst playing odd ball or rather after it, in the lobby. I one the game by getting the most points with the ball which is the objective of that particular mode. but some one found the need to start calling me all the names under the sun because he thought that he should have one because he got more kills (the most annoying thing was that he sounded about 8 years old). i had many more similar experiences such as complaints about lagging or "noobs" and it just irritated the hell out of me. the straw that broke the camels back and caused me to stay away from online play until present day was an incident during a game with some americans. One of the players (on my own team) decided to start hurling abuse at another player because they weren't as good and kept getting killed. I decided to try and calm the situation by saying "calm down its just a game". The player then began to mock the way I pronounced the word game, saying that it sounded stupid. I told him that as I was from England and the language we were both speaking was English that it was more likely that he was pronouncing it incorrectly (not quite as politely as that though).

Don't get me wrong, I can give and take smack talk as well as the next guy (just ask your mom ;D) but being called an F-ing C word by a 10 year old child you have never even met just seemed a little Unnecessary to me and it was frustrating that I couldn't show them the back of my hand to teach them some manners.

Nowadays I prefer the company of friends and maybe a few beers or something for multiplayer. I still get the back chat but its more like friendly banter because we know each other. If I called a person on the street an F-ing C word, I would get the snot kicked out of me by everyone in a 5 meter radius.

I think if I were to go back online, I would probably have to stick to playing with my mates rather than randoms. its just more fun that way if you ask me. It's only a once a moth or so kind of deal though as we usually go out to a night club somewhere instead plus I don't really see them that much while I'm at Uni.

MSN is the same sort of deal. It started out great, say hi to your mates and see how they are doing etc but again I decided to pack it in after a while. One: people you don't like always talk to you the most and when you block them, their mates tell them which makes things rather awkward. Two, the majority of conversations are extremely dull and go something like this:

: hi
: Hi
: How are you?
: Im good thanx, you?
: im good
: What you been up to?
: Not much really, you?
: same
: g2g now
: k, cya
: bye xxx

Three: the abbreviations became so ridiculous, you needed to literally ask what they mean which defeats the whole object. A few of my favorite examples include; wuu2, lol, lmao, lmfao, rofl, g2g. the list goes on, there is a website somewhere that gives a list of hundreds of them but I cant remember it. And four: those god damned Emoticon things that people download along with every virus under the sun and then the instant they use it in a conversation, they transmit them to you. So yea, I stick to my phone if I need to speak to someone.

The game industry today is just like all other industries. Everyone is facing the sharp end of the stick with all this talk about economic recession. I admit that things are getting tough and its probably not going to stop anytime soon but has anyone considered the fact that this has happened several times before in the past century and it hasn't been an issue until now? rubbish!

Heres how I think the problem should be resolved: people should stop worrying, spend less/save more money rather than buying rubbish like that £300 dress or a new exhaust for your Ford shit-box and get on with there lives. And for god's sake, stop borrowing money that you cant F-ing pay back! It wont go away if everyone gets a loan and then doesn't pay it back because they see an advert on TV about a legislation that negates the money they owe.

Now that I'm done ranting I suppose I need to look into how this has affected the game industry and as a result, will affect me. First of all, the obvious fact is there will be some cuts. Cuts in jobs and cuts in pay. It just cant be helped. But like I said, this has happened before and it may take a few years but things will eventually get better.

we haven't seen it yet but this decline in the economy will eventually start to show in the quality of games which is an unfortunate probability. either that or the industry will suffer more because people haven't been able to afford the games on the shelves that they would have bought 5 or so years ago. To be honest, the only thing I am worried about is getting the job in the first place. I wouldn't be too bothered about working for a fairly low wage. I think i would just be grateful that i got the job in the first place and that I'm not stacking shelves in my local Tesco metro (no offense to anyone that works in Tesco metro, someone has to do it). if the people in industry are upset about any set backs, i would be glad i have a job that i enjoy and i can show my creativity through if i was them.

My own personal definition of creativity is this: Creativity is making something, not because you have to, but because you want to.

creativity is picking up a paintbrush and painting the scene in front of you just because you feel like it. it manifests itself in many forms such as painting, sculpture, film, music, literature and many more. our creativity is one of our fundamental traits of being a human. it separates us from other animals and is what makes life, living rather than existing.

As far as games like halo and Half life are concerned, the Creativity begins at the very beginning with the plot. Details such as why is the world in this state are explored and ideas develop. Artists try their best to depict what is described to them in a visually pleasing manner in the form of concept art. the visual style of the game is decided and level and character design begins. It might be a narrow minded way of thinking and am probably wrong but once this process is complete the creativity is minimal as the artwork dictates what will be modeled and programmed into the game.

In order to show off my own creativity I think i need to find a particular genre that I enjoy working with. Im particularly fond of the survival horror genre and i have so many ideas that haven't been explored yet. I also really like the way the Art work is stylized. I love the dark eerie caverns with limited vision or the foggy forests with surprises around every corner. lighting is another thing that interests me in this genre. I want to show how the atmosphere can drastically change just by changing something as simple as lighting.

Gameplay is like a set of questions. What obstacles are in your way?(enemies, tasks, quests) how do you overcome those obstacles? (kill, complete, unlock) why do you need to overcome those obsticles?(the goal) Where is the goal?

I think Gameplay is the way those questions are answered. But answering them in a way that is interesting and possibly unexpected. driving a car around a circular circuit is not very fun as far as games go so why not add some obstacles? other drivers, debris, weapons, turns, chicanes even a loop and you have a the starting point of a game (sounds like mario Kart) Gameplay is making the journey from the start of the story to the end of the story as interesting and original as possible so that just as you get comfortable, you find out you need to unlock a door or kill a boss and it is important because it is what stops people from putting down the controller and keeps them going to the game shop for more.

I don't really watch that much TV but some of the stuff i watch includes comedies like the Mighty Boosh and scrubs as well as more serious stuff like band of brothers. I suppose what attracts me to these shows is that i can relate to some of the characters especially the cooky miss understood ones from the comedies such as JD (scrubs) and Chandler (friends) who often make jokes to get through awkward situations. The more serious characters such as lt. Richard Winters (band of brothers) are more complex and i think what attracts me about them is that I picture myself in that situation and wonder how i would react or whether I would even be able to function. As far as films go, i again, go for the more light hearted comic type films. ones that relate to me are often the ones i prefer. American pie is one all teens can relate too and the more recent Super Bad is another brilliant film that relates to the younger generation.

These traits in characters are all a combination of scripting, acting and appearance. I think these factors all play an equal part in any successful TV show, film, book etc. Super Bad is a good Example to use. The script depicts the mentality of a high-school student perfectly. the language they use and the way it is acted is fantastic and by making the appearance completely normal, it is very convincing.

I'd be the first one to admit that I am a bit of a Nintendo fanboy. Nintendo in my view have always been on top when it comes to ergonomic design. The SNES was Probably the last console they produced that didn't consider the shapes of the human hand. As early as the N64, Nintendo have produced controllers that are both comfortable and practical. As far as the console itself goes, I would have to say that the easiest to use was the N64 or possibly the SNES. plug the console in, turn on the TV, whack the cart in and flip the power switch. BISH, BASH, BOSH. simple as that. i must have been 4 or 5 when i first got my SNES and despite it being quite dangerous by todays standards, i set it up and started to play it with barely any help. The worst it has to be said for me was the PS2. when that tittle screen came up it was like someone tried to speak Portuguese to me or explain molecular biology. That was the first time i needed help with setting up a game

As far as aesthetics goes, I would say that although Nintendo have produced some nice looking consoles such as the game cube and WII, The Xbox 360 is the winner hands down. its sleek sweeping lines suggest almost sports car like looks. The controllers are pretty awesome as well. Its just a shame they always bloody brake!

I suppose in the future its impossible to tell how we will interact with games but judging from the success of the wII, we will probably end up flailing about like maniacs in our living rooms. I wouldn't count the controller out just yet though, I think it has a few years left yet.

Other then the obvious examples such as sports games, I have always thought of games as stories that are acted out by the player. I think the story line is a definite factor that most people take into account when buying a game, especially hardcore gamers. A strong story line helps immerse the player into the game which I have always thought was the purpose. This results in greater longevity and enjoyability in all areas of the game. However, the story line alone cannot hold a game together and it must be complimented by decent gameplay and visual effects.

In most cases the story in a game happens to the player as they have limited choice as to what happens and the beginning, middle and end are ultimately the same. There are a few titles on the market today that lean more towards the player making the story happen rather than the story happening to the player. Fable 2 and Fallout 3 spring to mind. These particular titles allow the player greater freedom as to what happens and when it happens. There are a number of alternate endings in both titles as well as side quests that can be done rather then the main story. This trait is becoming more common in games today as it can potentially double play time because the player wants to whiteness all endings.

I have always had an interest in RPGs that allow the player to customize aspects of the game such as characters and weapons but games like second life and World of Warcraft have never really interested me. I don't see the point in living an alternate life when you have your own. i suppose I could also say that it mite have something to do with the lack of story. I may be wrong with this but as far as I'm aware, these examples don't have a story behind them and simply rely on quest type missions for the entirety of the game which doesn't interest me. When I read a story, eventually I want to hear the end.

An art director is the main man when it comes to the art aspect of a game. They decide factors such as stylistic qualities of the game and have definite control over the way the final outcome looks. The Art director also has a long list of responsibilities. They have input into recruitment of the art team, must make regular checks on the team to make sure they are both conforming with the style and direction of the game as well as being within any limitations that they may have with technology which the art director must also be aware of. They must keep track of the production schedule and make sure that it is manageable and that the team is sticking to it as well as overseeing and guiding less experienced artists on the team.

I think that being an Art director of a game in contrast to that of a film requires a lot more responsibility and management skills. My reason for thinking this is that with a film, there are slightly fewer factors that need to be taken into account during the development process such as technology perimeters. I would say the difference is probably fractional though.

I think if I were to aspire to be an Art director, I would without a doubt have to drastically improve my artistic skills.I think my understanding of what a game should look like is fairly adequate andI think with a bit of experience, I could communicate and manage those ideas with a small team butI would probably find it difficult to manage larger teams that are used in most games developed today.

To me, the word gameplay means several things. First of all, the game has to be interesting with lots of things to do with your character, this then leads onto the second topic: length, its no good having a game that is brilliant to play for 10 minutes but is repetitive after that (assassins creed anyone?) other aspects might include story line but i wount go into that just yet. Then there is the third topic, Visuals; This aspect has become increasingly more important over the past few years especially with the development of new technology. The best example I can think of is the Wii (Wii sports in particular). I think its odd how a game can be both visually simple and short in length yet is surprisingly addictive. most of the people on my course will kill me if they read this but I actually like the idea of the Wii. My girlfriend's dad got a Wii and every time I went round, I would always check my fitness level to see if I got any better (until she got a bit annoyed). yet to more hardcore gamers, the idea is almost completely against what they stand for.

I would have to say that Game design takes place at the very beginning of the development stages all the way back with initial ideas, concepts and planning. designing a game is like creating a piece of art. without composition, the whole piece will be less successful then it potentially can be. I would definitely say that the design style and principles of the game strongly depend on the genre. put it this way; would the resident evil series have been nearly as successful if it was...say...Santa's elves trying to eat your brains? or a slightly less extreme example:- would it have been nearly as scary if it took place on a warm summers day rather than a foggy night?

I suppose in some ways, reviewers and other gaming journalists rely on the gaming market to keep their interest in gaming high. so by promoting games, they are in effect increasing the potential for a larger audience thus increasing their potential profit. On the other hand, journalists must keep the material published as accurate as possible in order to establish reliability. however, despite this reliability, the objective ranking system seem a bit flawed to me. The majority of the time, they don't take into account different peoples tastes in games. A good example of this is fable 2. I played the first game and it was fantastic in my view and when I heard that there was a sequel I was stoked. The previews and reviews all sounded promising but as soon as I laid my hands on it I was really quite disappointed. It seemed like they took all the good parts of the previous game and replaced them with mediocre parts. The problem was that the developers were trying to branch out to more casual gamers so they simplified the game which didn't impress me at all. It would be nice if they got a mixture of gamers and let them have a few minuets with the game or something along those lines and got feed back from them.

I think in reviewing and other forms of gaming journalism, it is important to have a certain amount of both objective and subjective research. it is important to give the facts but in such a commercial industry, it is also very important to give a point of view generated from actual experience. | found the NGJ manifesto really quite intriguing as I found I had a lot of similar opinions. I especially liked the quote "The worth of gaming lies in the gamer not the game". I wouldn't say that is the exact truth but I will say that it is important that research and the journalism is done by someone who fits into the target audience for that specific (it would be a cool contrast to have a small insight from a person at the opposite end of the spectrum as well).