Group: Production,Distribution,Technology and Circulation

Group research from Great Baddow High School Media

Notch Article

Video Games Factsheet

BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show Factsheet

Video Game Genres

-Sport
-Horror
-Fantasy
-FPS
-RPG
-Action
-Simulation
-Puzzle Solving
-Children's

Video Game- A game played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer programme on a monitor or other display.

Minecraft Essay

Explain what Minecraft is, give an outline of the game’s history and explain why it has been a commercial and critical success.

 

Minecraft was created and designed by Marcus “Notch” Perrson, a Swedish programmer in 2009 and fully developed and published by Mojang. It was first released to the public on 17 May 2009. After the game was released, Microsoft bought Mojang for $2.5 billion.

 

Minecraft is a game in a digital 3D world comprised of textured cubes. The genre of Minecraft is sandbox game which means it is a game in which minimal character limitations are placed on the gamer, it allows them to roam the virtual world in their way. Another genre for this game is survival, as in this game you can die and you are given certain resources in limitation r not. It is a game that involves following simple instructions in order to play it. There are various modes of play, the 2 leading modes are survival and creation. Survival is where you are given nothing at the beginning and you have to collect and create all your tools, weapons and armour from scratch. The second mode is creation, in this you are provided with an unlimited supply of resources from the beginning. Unlike survival mode, in creation, you can create and wear whatever you want all the time.

 

Minecraft’s success is driven by the ability to create and customise with the one limitation being the players imagination. It allows gamers to craft their own stories. Randomness of the game is also an important element because it means the game is so different for everyone and it creates very varied gameplay in which you can create anything you want due to any individuals’ imagination; it is very open to interpretation. Another reason for the success of Minecraft is that the target audience is so varied, different versions of the game were released to try and encourage a range of audiences, this universal appeal makes it easy for the game to sell and be popular. This can help with problem solving in subjects like maths and science. 121 million copies of the game sold in February 2017 and an estimated 55 million people play the game every month. It is the second best-selling game of all time after Tetris.  

 

Minecraft also has educational purposes, while playing Minecraft, children can develop and improve their visuospatial reasoning skills which in other words is there visual perception of objects. This can help with problem solving in subjects like maths and science. Minecraft also teaches children to set and finish goals, in the game you are rewarded when you complete certain tasks, this motivates them to complete it and also teaches them a lesson at the same time. Another positive aspect of Minecraft for children is that it is also a platform for social behaviour. If parents do not want their children to be on social media apps such as snapchat or Instagram then this is a safer option, it allows children to socialise with their friends under safe conditions with people you know or it might bring children together who are from different social groups. Having no violence emphasises the safeness of Minecraft, this is an example of a game which lacks graphic gore which makes other games popular.

 

After releasing the game, it won 5 awards at three conferences which included an Innovation Award, Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game, Audience Award and Seumass McNally Grand Prize. The fact that this game has received so many awards shows that this is critically acclaimed as well as commercially acclaimed which shows that it is all round a successful game.

 

Minecraft has been so popular because of social media. Minecraft has had video channels on YouTube which have had millions of views and have also helped publicise Minecraft. Data shows that about one-third of Minecraft players heard about the game via online videos. Minecraft also introduced a convention to invite their players to, this has taken place I Las Vegas, Disneyland Paris, California and London. Minecraft have had millions of dollars in merchandise revenue with products like tee-shirts and toys.

 

Minecraft has been so popular that clones of the game have now been created, the most famous example is Terraria, since 2017, it has had 20 million accounts created.   

Video Games Terminology

Timeline of Minecraft

Date	Event
May 10 2009	Development of ‘Cave Game’ (the working title)
May 17 2009	Birth of Minecraft
Jun 14 2009	Custom Skins are released
Oct 20 2009	Survival test begins (Notch introduces survival to Minecraft)
December 23 2009	Minecraft PC passes to Indev stage (in development)
January 13 2010	Minecraft passes 100,000 registered users
February 27 2010	Minecraft passes to Infdev (shifts from in development to infinite stage)
Jun 17 2010	Minecraft passes 20,000 sales
June 30 2010	Minecraft PC passes to Alpha Development stage
August 4 2010	Official release of Survival Multiplayer
October 16 2010	Mojang AB is founded
October 31 2010	First MinecraftCon
December 20 2010	Minecraft PC goes to Beta stage
January 12 2011	Minecraft surpasses 1 million sales
June 6 2011	Minecraft Xbox 360 edition is revealed at the E3 conference
July 1 2011	Minecraft passes 10  million registered users
May 9 2012	Minecraft Xbox 360 edition 1.0 is officially released
April 5 2013	Minecraft for PC surpasses 10 million sales
September 2 2013	Minecraft PC surpasses 12 million sales
December 13 2013	Minecraft for PC surpasses 13 million sales
December 17 2013	Minecraft PlayStation 3 Edition 1.0 is officially released
December 17 2013
September 15 2015	Mojang and Minecraft are bought by Microsoft for $2.5 billion
December 18 2014	Collaboration with Telltale Games
March 12 2015	Minecraft: console edition wins a BAFTA in the family category
March 28 2015	Minecraft wins a Kids’ Choice Award for “most addictive game”
June 30 2015	Minecraft for PC surpasses 20 million sales
July 1 2015	Minecraft wins the first ever BAFTA young game designers hero award
October 13 2015	Minecraft: story mode is released

Reasons Why Minecraft is Successful?

1. Infinite playing.
2. A strong community-sharing ideas on YouTube tutorials.
3. Platform agnostic-Minecraft is eventually released on many platforms.
4. Kids love it-it is a household name that parents approve of. There is very little violence so it is suitable from a young age. It gently introduces video gaming.
5. Not limited by genre-there is not one set genre, you can create anything whether it be houses or battlefields, opportunities are endless.
6. It brings order to the chaos of our lives.

BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show Presentation

BBC Radio 1 Nick Grimshaw Breakfast Show-Presentation Notes

How does the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show reach and target audiences and encourage audience participation?

(Specific to Radio 1 Breakfast Show)

·     78% think Radio 1 should produce content that is distinctive from commercial radio. ·      25% said that they associated the station with this programming for younger teenagers. ·      79% associate the artist Rihanna with Radio 1 ·      2 out of 5 Radio 1 listeners considers BBC Radio to play the most popular music. ·      48% of people listening to radio 1 during the day think it appeals to everyone, 39% think it has big name presenters. ·      Mainstream artists are expected to be played on Radio 1, more than any other station. ·      Radio 1 listeners want their presenters to be knowledgeable about music and intelligent ·      Over ¾ of Radio 1 listeners believe that the BBC budget should be used to produce content that is different to commercial radio (78%). ·      Radio 1 came 2nd when asked which radio station they had heard the most awareness of promotions and adverts-60% claimed they saw the advert between BBC TV shows. ·      Radio 1 listeners were asked which radio station they associated with particular events-Radio 1 achieved a significant over claim on other station’s events, eg. 33% thought Capital Radio’s Summer Time Ball was a Radio 1 event. ·      In November 2015, Radio 1 aims to ensure it integrates online video alongside its radio output in order to engage with the younger generation. ·      By tracking what the audience is interested in through monitoring comments and feedback, the broadcaster can try to stay relevant to the younger audiences. ·      Radio 1 is suffering because its core audience are turning away from live radio-using online streaming and social media eg. YouTube, Facebook etc. On YouTube, Radio 1 has 3.5 million subscribers and Facebook has 2.55 million likes.

·      The 6am to 9am part of the day is important because it draws in listeners and the station hopes to entice them to listen over a long period. ·      The Radio 1 listeners were asked what they recall hearing on the show-the highest recalled aspect was current chart music (57%), followed by presenter banter (52%). Celebrity content recall was higher than songs by new artists. ·      Almost 2 in 3 Radio 1 listeners who were surveyed listen to Radio 1 at breakfast time. ·      Radio 1’s Breakfast Show say that tools like Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr are a game changer and now enable a greater audience engagement- having a conversation with your audience is clearly important. ·      Since Nick Grimshaw took over Chris Moyles, Radio 1 Breakfast Show had lost 500,000 listeners within a year. This isn’t because of Nick Grimshaw, it is just how young people’s listening habits are changing.

January 8th Nick Grimshaw's Breakfast Show Podcast-Timeline

Time	Event
0630	Start of News and Weather Feature, Sports (Arsene Wenger, etc.)
0633	R1 Breakfast Show Ident (20s)
0633	Introduction and Welcome (date, etc., talking about Christmas break)
0634	Offer for audience to call and text 81199 and Twitter Feed
0634	Short stinger, Music Introduction/what is going to play (Ellie Goulding, Wolf Alice
0634	Stinger and then MUSIC: Leave A Light on by Tom Walker
0636	Stinger and then MUSIC: On My Mind by Ellie Goulding
0639	Short stinger, talking to people (Reading Social Media, and talking about Sam Smith tickets). Over the intro to the next song.
0639	No stinger, MUSIC: Don’t Delete the Kisses by Wolf Alice
0643	Previous song info, Stinger. Introduces Fiona. Talking about waking up early for the job, new year’s, length of time off the radio.
0644	Subject change, Air hostesses on planes and saying goodbye. Social media from college student.
0645	MUSIC: More Than Friends by James Hype Ft. Kelli-Leigh
0648	BBC R1 Sound of 2018 Trailer
0649	MUSIC: Tip Toe by Jason Derulo Ft. French Montana
0653	Introduction, Radio 1 Jan Slam intro from presenter. Relating to audience feelings. ‘Nick’s Tape’ every day in January. Incredible prizes, Sam Smith tickets, gold disc etc. Going back to school, college etc., and going back to previous prizes. Question at 7AM.
0657	MUSIC: Barking by Ramz
0659	Call Introducing 03700100100 Song Game
0700	NEWS PROGRAMME
07:00	Weather and time
07:03	Radio intro to the show  – ‘This is Radio 1 with Nick Grimshaw’
07.03	Grimmy talking about Jan Slam competition running during the week
07.04	Clips of upcoming songs e.g Miley Cyrus - Malibu
07:05	Craig David -   I Know You (Audio) ft. Bastille
07:08	Radio intro to the show  – ‘This is Radio 1 with Nick Grimshaw’
07.08	Miley Cyrus - Malibu
07:10	Radio intro to the show
07:10	Duke Dumont x Gorgon City - Real Life ft. NAATIONS
07:13	Grimmy morning message
07:13	Chance to win tickets to Sam Smith coming up later in the show
07:14	Ellie in Cambridge ‘takes control’ of the show
07:14	Talking about their week since Grimmy was away
07:15	New year’s resolutions
07:16	Picks next song – Grimmy’s Power - Kanye West choice or celeb choice Demi, David Walliams and Scarlet Moffatt
07:18	Power - Kanye West
07:22	Time, Moring to Martin, thank you to Ellie
07:23	New Dram from creator of Luther – Show Advert = Hard Son BBC 1
07:24	J Hus - Bouff Daddy (Common Sense)
07:27	Chance to win, week on amazing prices but today is Sam Smith Tickets
07:29	Explaining the price – tickets to whatever the day of the tour you want
07:30	How to enter the competition – Text in
8:00	Programme ident: Intro plus a long sting
8:03	Competition word revealed ‘lonely’ Lines closed for competition Talks about holiday and where he has been
8:06	Rundown of next 3 songs Track- Clean Bandit I miss you
8:09	Short jingle- Then Track-Coldplay Jingle then into another tack Breathe Jax Jones
8:15	Competition starts- Randomly ring a listener who has entered and they have to answer with the correct word which was given out at 8 Chats to winner
8:20	Track: Rhianna Reveals the next day’s completion prize (JAMSLAM) Mash up of Katy Perry (comp prize) songs Gives out text number& terms and conditions plus competition question
8:21	Programme indent
8:22	Track: Katy Perry fireworks
8:25	Advertising about Radio 1s upcoming artist awards
8:26	Track: Hyme Nothings wrong
8:28	Rundown of next half an hour
8:30	Radio 1 Newsbeat (news sport and weather)
9:00- Music	Ed Sheeran and Eminem- River MK- 17
9:10- Competition	Nick Grimshaw talks about Katy Perry prize.
9:15 - Music	Dave Ft MO stack – No words
9:19- Talking	Nick Grimshaw talking about his life and his “Nicktape’’.
9:23- Music	Let you down- NF
9-26- News	People are talking about the news and politics.
9-29- Music	Name not given.
9:30	End of the News
9:32	Indent (Nicks Tape)
9:32	Song-Good Luck-Basesment Jaax
9:35	Indent-Nick’s Tape
9:35	Millionaire-Kelis
9:38	Indent-Nick’s tape
9:38	DJ Fresh-Gold Dust
9:42	Nick saying name of song//talking
9:42	Excuse Me Miss-Jay-Z
9:49	Indent-Nick’s tape
9:49	I need a dollar-Aloe Blacc
9:52	Nick saying ‘Monday morning’ doing Nicks Tape
9:53	Nick reading tweets from listeners (wishing someone a happy 21st birthday)
9:53	1 thing-Amerie
9:55	Indent Nick’s tape
9:55	Touch the Sky-Kanye West
3:00:07 – 9:33	News, Political news (Parliament and UKIP), Music news (Lana Del Ray) Sports news (Cricket Ashes, Football)
3:02:12 – 9:35	Sting
3:02:14 – 9:35	Weather
3:02:30 – 9:37	Track ( Start of the Nicks tape) – Basement Jaxx ft. Lisa Kekaula – Good Luck
3:06:10 – 9:41	Track – Kelis ft. Andre 3000: Millionaire
3:08:46 – 9:43	Sting
3:08:52 – 9:43	Track – DJ Fresh: Goldust
3:12:07 – 9:46	Sting, Interlude, Nick explaining what the Nicks Tape is
3:12:46 – 9:46	Track – Jay Z: Excuse Me Miss
3:16:35 – 9:50	Track – Aaliyah: Try Again
3:19:41 – 9:53	Track – Aloe Blacc: I Need A Dollar
3:22:56 – 9:56	Nick responding to peoples tweets about the Nicks tape. Talking to people about their opinions on the Nicks Tape
3:23:30 – 9:57	Track – Amerie: 1 Thing
3:25:33 – 9:59	Sting
3:25:40 – 9:59	Track – Kanye West: Touch the sky