The cover shows someone who's clearly at war, there's a lot going on in this image which shows what the game is all about. The fact that he's holding a gun shows it's going to be a violent game. The fact he's wearing an army uniform shows it's going to be all about war. From the background of the image, you can tell it's going to contain a lot of environmental hazards, such as fires, explosions, and many more.
Call of duty has a large series of games, at the moment they have 7 games out, with one to come out in November. And out of the 7 games, this is one of the most successful. Simply because of the massive target audience it appealed to on release. A reason they were so successful it gives the audience a lot to do whist playing the game, for example you can play a career mode which involves working through different levels and missions. Another example would be the online mode, this is one reason why the game was so successful, the online mode allows you to play in a range of different game types. Such as Team Deathmatch, Search & Destroy, Free For all. And many more, it also gives the user a range of different maps to play the game on. The game also contains DLC (downloadable content) this allows you to download extra maps, and different features for the game. And finally, a special ops option, special ops allows the user to complete several challenges within a certain time limit. To continue in the special ops, you have to earn gold stars. Allowing you to compete in the next set of challenges. And so on. As this game offered so much for the audience to do, it was a massive success. The game doesn't get boring; therefore it keeps the user interested whilst playing the different features of the game.
You can play the game on a range of different consoles, such as PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Ds, Nintendo Wii, Psp, and finally you can play this game on smart phones. So from the consoles alone, this opens up a massive audience. Another reason why the Cod games are so successful, because they can be played by anyone with a games console, not just a pacific type.
The trailer is very good for attracting the audience’s attention, from the very start of the trailer it creates tension, the trailer uses Narrative theory; it explains part of a story throughout the whole trailer. The audience will be wondering 'Why they're saying things like he takes over every man he touches.' and many more quotes from the trailer, they'll be wondering why they're saying this. I believe the trailer has been done rather well; it gives away the perfect amount of the story, without giving away too much. It keeps tension throughout the whole trailer, therefore making the audience wants to watch and buy the game. The trailer contains a lot of action, the way they've made this trailer come across is quite effective, this is down to the camera angles, the colours, and finally the quality of the footage used. Firstly with the camera angles they use a range of different ones, from close up ones to show the audience the exact danger the character is going through, to the wide angled shots to show every bit of detail during the trailer. Finally the quality of the footage used, as the graphics is very good it'll attract the audience, it'll give the audience something to experience that they've never experienced before, such good graphics. Therefore creating suspense, excitement and a sense of danger for the audience. They've done this to make the trailer be as effective as possible on the audience.
When opening up the actual game, i play this game on the PlayStation 3 console otherwise known as the PS3. The game itself is slightly different when played on consoles like the Nintendo DS, simply because the graphics aren't as good as the major consoles like the Xbox 360 and the PS3. But when opening up the game, it shows a simple but effective front screen. They've done this to widen the audience; it's not too complicated so it can be worked by all sorts of people. After that it comes up with another screen which displays 3 different options which i discussed above, the Special Ops menu, Campaign menu, and finally the multiplayer menu. It automatically shows the audience what type of game it is simply from this menu, as you hover over each menu, the picture that it displays changes, each picture shows a person at war. This tells the audience that the game is a war based game. Again, the reason they've chosen the simple 3 option menu is to make it workable by all types of people, which widens up the audience overall. The online feature also comes under the social side of things, it allows you to talk to one another through the consoles head piece, this comes in its on dangers though, simply because most of the time you could be talking to a complete stranger. The online game play allows you to create 5 different classes. (Classes being what weapon you use grenades etc.). And it also gives you the option of choosing your title, emblem, creating a clan tag, and finally the rewards you get for getting a kill streak. It also gives the user a little competition between them and their friends; it shows a leader board with who has the most kills between all your friends. Call of Duty mw2 as many other options which are created for the audience.
The hypodermic theory with Call Of duty is that people don't know the difference between reality and gaming. So they will go out and be violent towards others, thinking it's the actual game. If they believe it happens during Call of Duty games, they'll think it's fine to go out and do so themselves. Moving onto the Uses & Gratifications theory, the audience play this game purely for the diversion and competition factor. Another main reasons why people play this game, is addiction. Addiction is one of the main factors that cause the violence to happen outside the game, this tends to happen when the audience don't get to feed their addiction by playing the game. People that become addicted to gaming sometimes have a terrible outcome, for example people have been known to take things to the extreme and kill one another over these games. Researcher’s shows that games like Call of Duty (FPS games) are far more addicting compared to genres like racing games.
Next I’m going to talk about the Marxism theory. Because they have a wide spread of games similar to MW2 they have a range of power over the audience. Using the Marxism theory, the gamer is in control. As during the game, the audience is the one that's controlling the character. So this is showing that the audience is over powering the creators. So gaming is a good example of over powering the Marxism theory.
Moving onto the Reception theory, the preferred reading for the game is that it’s a fun enjoyable game which can be played by everyone. The game meets its aims which are to produce a good working war game, based on a modern war. It can be played for hours on end without boredom, and people will rush to buy it. Next is the opposite reading which is the game is terrible, it displays too much violence. It isn't a suitable game for the younger generation; it can control people’s minds and make them do things you wouldn't expect. And finally the last part of the reception theory, the Negotiated reading. This is, I don’t enjoy playing the Call of Duty games, for several reasons. Simply because i think they're far too violent, and the games have no point. However i will be willing to try it out just to see what it's like.
When playing the game, it gives the audience a sense of a freedom to a certain point. For example, you can choose the paths you take in the game play, you can choose who you kill etc. It gives the audience the option to do as they wish, compared to other games which are just set levels.
http://www.techaddiction.ca/computer_game_addiction.html#.UHs3w2_R7d5
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