DEFINITIONS

Media Ownership
Who owns what parts of the process (Production, Marketing, Distribution, Exchange) and if they own it they can usually make money from it. So this could be IP, brands, distributions methods (shops, retails), game engines, technology, consoles etc. It also leads really easily into the first definition of Media Convergence (see below).

Proliferation
A rapid increase in the number of a certain type of product.

Use: In Autumn 2008 the App Store reached the milestone of 10,000 apps.
Today (08/05/13) there are 867,530 apps available from a total of 229,094 active publishers/developers.


Technological convergence
Technological convergence is the tendency for different technological systems to evolve toward performing similar tasks. This is possible as more and more products comprising of more and more technologies.

Use: The PlayStation3 is an example of technological convergence as it is machine that not only plays game, but can be used to watch Blu-Rays, surf the internet and organise and display digital content such as photos and music.

Media Convergence (Cross) (two ways of looking at it)
“The ‘coming together’ of previously separate industries which increasingly use the same or related technology and skilled workers. A feature of the contemporary media environment, convergence is a product of mergers between companies in different. (Branston and Stafford 2010)”
Use: Warner Bros. Interactive is part of WB Home Entertainment which is turn part of Time Warner. So Time Warner is a company that produces films, games, comics, magazines, online content. There are both advantages (synergy) and disadvantages (overheads, multiple deadlines, conflicting interests) to this situation.

Convergence Culture (Jenkins)
When old and new media intersect in such a way that the way in media producers and media consumers interact changes.
Use: The consumption of RDR is a good example of media convergence as consumers have used both old and new media to alter the way in which they experience the game. For instance RDR fans have used the internet to create fansites and communities to share tips, stories and experiences about the game. They have also developed their own modifications and shared them over the internet.


Synergy
Definition: The interaction of two or more agents to ensure a larger effect than if they acted independently.

Use: Rockstar used synergy in their marketing by timing the release of the first trailer to coincide with the release the first RDR magazine preview which was in the US games magazine Game Informer.

Viral Marketing
Definition: A marketing technique aiming at reproducing "word of mouth", usually on the internet and through existing social networks.

Use: Rockstar used viral marketing to increase awareness of RDR by creating a Facebook App Gunslingers in the hope that users would share the experience with their social network.


Guerilla Marketing
Definition: The use of unconventional and low cost marketing strategies to raise awareness of a product.

Use: To promote GTA 4, Rockstar used Guerilla marketing, putting up ‘wanted posters’ over New York, stickers up on notice boards and commissioning works of graffiti that featured characters from the game.

Vertical Integration
Definition: Absorption into a single firm of several firms involved in all aspects of a product's manufacture from raw materials to distribution.

Use: Rockstar Games have become a vertically integrated company by buying developers they have previously worked with, such as DMA Design who became Rockstar North and Angel Studios who became Rockstar San Diego. By doing this Rockstar have control over development, funding and marketing of their products.

Third Party Game
A game made by a company that is completely independent from the manufacturers of the console that the game is played on.

Second Party Game
A game created exclusively for a specific console through a contract agreement with the console manufacturer. (The console manufacturer may own a percentage of the studio, but not enough to give it a controlling interest.)

First Party Game
A game created by the console manufacturers themselves or by a developer in which the console manufacturer has a controlling interest (over 51% of shares).

Game Engine
A game engine is a software system designed for the creation and development games.

Developer
The software developers who create the game.

Publisher
The company that funds, market and distribute games that they have developed internally or have commissioned or acquired from an independent games developer. (NB even though most publishers also develop games as well, they are referred to as ‘publishers’ to differentiate them from the companies that just develop games.)

Machinima
Derived from the words ‘machine’ and ‘cinema’, Machinima is art of filmmaking created by using real-time recording of computer games, virtual worlds or any already-existing 3D digital worlds.

Modding
Modding is a slang expression that is derived from the word "modify” and refers to the act of modifying a game to perform a function or to include content not originally conceived or intended by the designer, and then usually shared via the internet.

Sandbox Game
A game that allows the gamer to ignore the main objectives of the game (usually the Story Mission) and engage in other non-goal orientate activities.