OSP: Teen Vogue & The Voice month in focus number 3

Language

Analyse the game cover for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (above).

1) How does the cover communicate the genre of the game?

The cover communicates the genre by holding a gun that is a prop, conveying the genre of action and adventure. The colours used are very dark and grey, reflecting space and the genre of science fiction. The colour scheme used on the cover is red, green and white, reflecting the usual colours used in the genres of space and action.
2) What does the cover suggest regarding gameplay and audience pleasures?
The cover communicates the genre by holding a gun that is a prop, conveying the genre of action and adventure. The colours used are very dark and grey, reflecting space and the genre of science fiction. The colour scheme used on the cover is red, green and white, reflecting the usual colours used in the genres of space and action.
3) Does the cover sexualise the character of Samus Aran? Why/why not?
It's about demonstrating the sex reciprocal, the male look at women and asking the viewer as to whether this is the issue that gender fluidity was used on the front cover of the video game.

Trailer analysis

Watch the trailer for the game:




1) What do you notice about genre?
Science fiction is the computer genre. This is clearly displayed because of the game's coding, sound effects, atmosphere and gameplay. There is also action and adventure because the movie includes a lot of shooting and action.
2) How is the character introduced? Is Samus Aran obviously female?
The character is clearly not female, but the gameplay includes hints that indicate she is woman. Another is that most of the shots used when she's on screen are low-angle shots that are used to explore and target the female.
3) How can we apply Steve Neale’s genre theory that discusses “repetition and difference”?

As far as this idea is concerned, it can be extended in terms of repetition of how women are objectivized and the strategies used, such as camera shots and women's movement and walking.

Gameplay analysis

Watch the following gameplay clips again:





1) What does the gameplay for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes involve?
Metroid Prime 2 gameplay features first-person action-adventure game developed for Nintendo GameCube and Samus Aran battling the Ing and a mysterious version of herself called Dark Samus.2) Write an analysis of the media language choices in the construction of the game: e.g. genre, narrative, mise-en-scene, camera shots etc.
This was shown in terms of genre through the costume and setting because the hero wore a robot suit to demonstrate science fiction and the setting was in another dimension with aliens and other planets in space.3) Analyse the clips for audience pleasures, applying audience theory and considering media effects.
Due to the amount of shooting and killing that is taken and involved in the game, the videos provide the viewer with various pleasures such as Nostalgia.

Audience

Research the audience for Nintendo and specifically the Metroid franchise, including Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. You may wish to start with the following pages:

Reddit discussion of why people play Metroid
Giant Bomb forum: Who exactly is Nintendo’s demographics?
Reset Era: Nintendo’s audience getting older

1) Who might the target audience be for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, based on your research? Discuss demographics and psychographics.
"I'm a lifelong Metroid fan. I played and beat the original Metroid 2 and Super Metroid as a child. As an adult, attempting Fusion and Zero Mission didn't click with me.2) How has Nintendo’s audience changed since the original Metroid game in 1986?
That's part and parcel of why IMO Switch is experiencing great sales even without the need for a large-scale blue ocean hit like Wii Sports or Brain Training.3) What audience pleasures are offered by Metroid Prime 2: Echoes or the wider Metroid franchise?
So they want to know about Nintendo for everyone. They don't want anybody to feel it off limits. They would also like to let kids know about Mario through toothbrushes4) What effects might Metroid have on audiences? Apply media effects theories (e.g. Bandura’s social learning theory, Gerbner’s cultivation theory). 

Read this Gamesparks feature on gaming demographics and answer the following questions:

1) Who is considered to be the stereotypical gamer?
It may seem like the market hasn't changed at all based on these advertising. After all, there are plenty of big console titles featuring big weapons macho men while more friendly and fun players are not getting the same level of attention.2) What has changed this?
While many women have always been interested in video games, the idea of gaming became more popular only when smartphones came into the picture. Part of these games ' success is their wider appeal to various demographics.3) What role do women play in the videogames market? Quote statistics from the article here.
Yet the gaming population has shifted dramatically with the advent of smartphones. While the male 18-25 demographic may still be served by AAA studios, the fact is that more than 50% of the gaming audience is made up of women.4) Why are older gamers becoming a particularly important market for videogames producers? How can you link this to the Metroid franchise?
Today's gamer's average age is about 35 years old. While there has been considerable debate about how men and women play differently, there has been little talk about how the gaming behaviours of people shift as they age.5) What does the article suggest regarding audience pleasures and expectations for different generations of gamer?
To make the game interesting for the child while at the same time attracting the family. It is necessary to avoid graphic violence and free sex. That's not going to prevent strong themes.
Industries

Read this Destructoid blog on the Metroid franchise. Answer the following:

1) Why has Metroid never quite fitted with the Nintendo brand?
It's a genre that aims to cater to young nerds aged 15-35 that Nintendo mostly faces these days.2) What franchises have overtaken Metroid in the sci-fi hyper-realism genre in recent years?
New franchises like Halo, Mass Effect, and now No Man's Sky have filled the space back in the NES and SNES eras where Metroid had ruled.3) Why does the writer link old boy bands from the music industry to the Metroid franchise? Do you agree with this reading of the brand?
Maybe that's how Metroid feels to Nintendo. The company's 50-plus-year-old men may now look back on the Metroid series like a boy band they formed in late 1980 — a time when they were very worried about being young and cool.4) What is an ‘AAA’ or ‘triple-A game’ in the videogames industry?
Nintendo has become more skittish about the former and enamoured with the latter, as they fail badly when AAA games fail, while small games can fail individually but still make big profits as a whole. Nintendo is making a wave of one or two big AAA games and plenty of spinoffs.5) Do you think there will be further Metroid games featuring Samus Aran? Should there be?
I don't think there will be any more Metroid games featuring Samus Aran because I don't think the franchise was as popular as it might have been and I don't think the players really got a good relationship with the characters in the game.
Representation

Read this BBC3 feature on Samus Aran and answer the questions below:

1) What was notable about the original Metroid game in 1986?
Metroid introduced players to Samus Aran, an intergalactic bounty hunter. The players were originally led to believe that the protagonist was a man-the accompanying booklet of the game referred to Samus as "he." But those who were quick enough to complete the game were in for a shock: Samus turned out to be a female at the end.2) What were the inspirations behind the gameplay and construction of Metroid?
The eerie soundtrack of Hirokazu Tanaka increased the player's sense of isolation, with the aim of making the player ' feel as if they were meeting a living creature. '3) Why are the endings to the original Metroid considered controversial?
But there was incentive to complete Metroid as quickly as possible by "speed running" through the level. Nintendo gave 5 potential finishes, measured by how fast you could finish. Slower players would end up seeing a victorious Samus in full-body armor.4) What reaction do you think the reveal of Samus Aran in a bikini would have got when the game was first released in 1986? Have attitudes towards women changed?
Male needs would be given pleasure. It will also provide players with extra motivation to finish the match even faster. But since then, attitudes have changed and women's roles in videogames have improved.5) How have later versions of the Metroid franchise sexualised the character of Samus Aran?
Over the decades after more debate in Samus ' sexualization accompanied the controversial tone of this early approach. Like the time she wore heels in a game of Super Smash Bros some fans questioned whether their female icon deserves better than pandering to male fantasies of teenagers.6) How can we apply Liesbet van Zoonen’s work to Samus Aran and Metroid?
Such constructions reflect cultural and historical backgrounds, the objectification of the female body is a central building block of Western culture, and if women are to be treated equally as men, then justice itself is oppressive.7) What did Brianna Wu suggest regarding the character of Samus Aran?
Despite the controversy, a character developed by female and male gamers in Samus Nintendo is widely held as a hero. Bisexual gaming columnist Brianna Wu also argued that Samus is also bisexual, further showing that players with gender identities are drawn by the characters.8) Do you see Samus Aran as a feminist icon or simply another exploited female character?
I'd see Samus Aran as a feminist icon because she's wearing a costume that empowers women to tell them that they can be anything they want to be in the world.
Read this Houston Press feature on Samus Aran and entitled male gamers. Answer the following questions:

1) What does Anita Sarkeesian suggest regarding Samus Aran?
Sarkeesian points out that the female shows some kind of pales as the increasingly naked body of Samus is used as a reward for male performance. It does not weaken Samus as a woman, yet for using this patriarchal norm, it does somehow diminish the games themselves.2) Why does Brianna Wu (and others) suggest Samus Aran may be transgender?
Then for The Mary Sueasserting, Brianna Wu and Ellen McGrody wrote a piece that Samus is not a ciswoman but a transwoman3) Why is Samus Aran useful for male gamers trying to argue videogames are not sexist?
You see, in gaming culture, Samus is the main go-to for any complaint about women's portrayals in gaming and racism. When you challenge the number of female protagonists, you will obtain a list that will almost always begin as a counter-argument with Samus.4) Why are Lara Croft, Zelda and Peach not ideal examples to argue for female equality in videogames?
Since she is a digital saint, Samus works. I mean, almost everybody agrees that her depiction in Other M is kind of sexist and messy, but then again everyone agrees that game is basically messed up from start to finish so we've decided to forget it all.5) What does the ‘SJW’ in ‘SJW-gender politics’ refer to?
I saw on that remind me heavily of gay storeys and trans people telling me of parents who refused to believe them when they came out. It's very saddening.6) How can we apply Gerbner’s Cultivation theory to representations of women in videogames as discussed in the article? How might this lead to ‘entitled male gamers’? 
Criticizing Samus means saying that gaming has a problem right down to the core, and arrogant male gamers are still really, really invested in not being valid even though, you know, it is.7) Does the videogame industry have a problem with gender? Provide evidence for your argument.
It is because the industry is dominated my males