1. Unit 13 Understanding the Computer Games Industry Week 3

2. Assignment 3.1 Video Report: Infinity War!

4. Use a free room at Confetti that has a Mac in eg.S105, S205. You can use the built in camera.

6. Can you remember the difference between a Publisher and a Developer?

7. How Do Companies Work? What is a company? If you know what the term company means to you, you should begin to have some idea of structure

8. How Do Companies Work? Continued Expansion, Profits and Control First Year Profits, Supplementary Staff and Development Forward Investment, Research Initial Staff and Start-Up Ideas, Concepts and Business Plan

10. Designers

11. Engineers

13. Beta Testers

14. Marketing / Events / PR

15. Sales

17. Activity: In groups of 3 or 4, please list all of the departments that make a game like WoW Timeframe: 10 mins

19. Design, Cinematics, Sound, and Platform

20. Localization, Technical Services, International Offices, and Online Services

21. Web, Community, PR, et alHow did you do? Source: Gamasutra.com

22. Management, Programming, Art and Production? These are the key areas for any IP (that’s the shorthand we use for games in development); they tend to be lumped together because without them, we just wouldn’t have a game! These areas should really be the areas that you should want to work in: Management – Producer, Executive Producer, Project Manager, Game Director Programming – Systems, Tools, Gameplay, Server Technologies, Art – Technical Artists, Character Artists, Environmental Artists, Dungeon Artists, Prop Artists, Animators, and Concept Artists Production – Leads, Planners, Budgets etc IP = Intellectual Property UI = User Interface Source: Gamasutra.com

23. Design, Cinematics, Sound, and Platform? They create your world, in your image: Cinematics – Machinima Sequences, Teasers, Pre-rendered Cinemas Design – Class Designers, Profession Designers, Itemisation Designers, Level Designers, Event Designers, Encounter/Lead Designers Sound - Sound Effects, Music, Voice Casting, Recording Platform - Macintosh development, QA, in-house elements Source: Gamasutra.com

24. Localisation, Technical Services, International Offices, and Online Services? The glue that hold the success together – these guys make up the ‘driver’ attributes in a game: Localisation – Translation, Culturalisation Technical Services – Patch Builders, Alpha/Beta Testing, Network Services International Offices – Regional Sensibility, Market Conditions, Local Censorship Online Services – Battle.net, login technologies, billing elements Source: Gamasutra.com

25. Web, Community, PR (Public Relations) And finally! Web – Managing websites, online stores, the WoW Armory, promotional materials Community - Public Interaction PR - handles box creation, web campaigns, TV commercials, partner promotions (such as WoW-themed Mountain Dew), and in-game promotions like refer-a-friend or the scroll of resurrection.

26. What do you understand by the term copyright? Why is understanding copyright important in the games industry?

27. Copyright Laws & Video Games By Anne Hollander, eHow Contributor Copyright Laws & Video Games Copyright law extends to all creative works, including video games. Copyright law touches many aspects of a game, but not necessarily everything. Only the expression of an idea is protected by copyright.

28. How can copyright effect Publishers & Developers? Discuss this with the person next to you. Feedback!

29. Some copyright questions True or False?

30. if I burned a copy of Halo Reach on CD and sold it to you, I would be infringing on copyright.

31. TRUE

32. Making a backup copy of a game you own a license to is not infringement. For example, if I made a copy of my Half-Life 2 DVD and put it in my safe, that would be acceptable.

33. TRUE Making a backup copy of a game you own a license to is not infringement.

34. It is not infringement to make a backup copy and put that online for others to download if the game is no longer in production and hard to find.

35. FALSE Making a backup copy of a game you own a license to and distributing it is infringement, no matter what.

36. Copying significant elements of the source code of the game would be infringement, even if the game looked completely different. For example, if Gears of War wasn't authorized to use the Unreal 3 engine, that would be infringement.

37. TRUE

38. Taking a major character from a series and making your own series is not infringement if the title of the game is not copied and is a prequel. For example, if I made “Master Chief:The Saga Begins” telling the backstory this is not infringement

39. FALSE Taking a major character from a series and making your own series is infringement. I would be infringing whether that was a video game, movie, book,, etc. because it is a derivative.

40. I were to make a game that had an identical in game menu and GUI (graphic user interface) system as World of Warcraft, down to the smallest detail, it would be infringement.

41. TRUE? Copying major element of the GUI may be infringement, but so far, it hasn't been. For example, Microsoft Word and Corel WordPerfect both have menus that have File, Edit, etc. This is not infringement. But if I were to make a game that had an identical in game menu and GUI system as World of Warcraft, down to the smallest detail, it would likely be infringement

42. What's Protected If a video game is copyrighted, many elements are protected including the code as a whole, the dialogue, audio and video recordings (including an individual recording gameplay), and storyline of the game. What's Not Protected The idea of the game is not protected under copyright--only the expression of the idea. Also not protected under copyright are the game mechanics so long as its common to a particular gaming genre. (The mechanics of first person shooters, for example, are not protected under copyright).

43. issues can arise when there are multiple parties working on project, but who are not directly connected. For example, it is not uncommon to see a game where graphics or music are produced by one organisation using a storyline from another. In turn, this means that there are potentially different bits of copyright and patented technology that are owned by other people. http://www.next-gen.biz/blogs/knowing-your-rights

44. The important thing to keep in mind, particularly for emerging companies, is to protect your IP from the outset and establish agreements from the very start.

45. Guitar Hero 5 Kurt and Copyright

46. Do you think Courtney Love was right to disagree with how Kurt Cobain’s likeness was used by Activision? Discuss it with the person next to you. Feedback to the group.

47. Guitar Hero 5includes Kurt Cobain as an unlockablecharacter, much like previous titles in the series have done with other rock stars. Shortly after release, Courtney Love expressed her distaste at the use of Kurt and how he was represented, and Activision has stated Love signed an agreement allowing the use. The right of publicity stems from the theory in US law that any person should have the right to control how their likeness is used by others for commercial gain. In that way, it is similar to a trademark. People may associate a person with quality or other attributes much like they associate a brand name, and thus use of that person's likeness to sell a product ties the two together. Courtney Love is the holder of the right of publicity for the estate of Kurt Cobain. Of course, if what Activision says is true and they have a license to use Kurt's likeness in the game, then the contract's terms will govern whether what Activision has done is within their license. If not, then it is almost certain that Courtney Love will be able to bring an action within a jurisdiction that will be favourable to her position, holding the rights to Kurt's license.