the culture of gaming is vast as Mike has said it is not just teenagers locking themselves in bedrooms for hours adults and even whole families play them so why then are they always stereotyped as a thing non sociable teenagers do well that is because that is what keeps getting the news isn't it that some boy somewhere has gone on a killing spree and the reason for it is because he was playing this computer game most people play them for fun only a few like these people are around.

I consider myself to be part of a lager casual gaming culture with a few games that i will keep buying because I like them so much. Most of the time i spend on computer games now is online with my friends just having a laugh on Call Of Duty 4 because that is what i enjoy. My life consist of family, university, gaming with friends and going out with my chums, oh and there is also work to but that is just for the money, so it is quite a crucial part of my social and chill out time.

There are a few friends that i have on xbox live who i have never met but i feel like I've known them for a while to me they are friend and nothing more where as people i have met and know well are the ones I spend more time with.

Gaming Industry

Well the gaming industry is one of the biggest industries in the world generating millions of dollars every year. The success is down to the people who work in the industry having a passion to create such good quality games that inspire imagination and other companies to do better. The industry at the present moment is getting its arse kicked with companies dropping left right and centre due to the ressetion there is a lack of funding to create the games and well you can probably guess the rest but there is still alot af companies out there creating games only a minority have gone under.

The imployees of the industry are a key part because lets face it without them there would be no games what so ever so i think it would be key to keep them happy, which is why they woudld do the job because they enjoy it and they have a passion to create a great game also because they really want people to get emersed in the world they have created be it fantasy or real. The challenges that the industry faces are the high expectations that games should be as real and emersive as real life that is a challeng because there are only so many things you can put in to the game engin before you start getting problems. That said the challeng to keep up with expectations must be what drives them and supres then on and on so that they are respected not onlyby there peers but also by the fans of the games the people that make them want to keep going so with that in mind i think things are only going to get better.

Creativity

Creativity well this is the spark that makes us do what we do this is our imagination put to paper, stone, clay anything really this is the drive that turns our pistons it is ecenial in a designer to be creative otherwise there is no originality in the work and eveery thing would be dull and lifless.

The branded part of creativity is the end product be it a game, film, car, plane they have all, at the early stage, come from somones of a group of poeples creativness and then made real. Most people say that only artist, sculptors and designers are creative yes but that is not entirly true everyone is creative most people just havn't choosen to follow that rout in life.

Art is not the only creative thing you could be creative by making a program, work ideas and many other things it is just a thing really.

gameplay

Gameplay is the interface or engine that enables you to conrole a character open a door, attack people it put simply is the game itself otherwise it woould be a movie. The gamplay determins what type of game it is like FPS, RPG stuff like that.

This is one of the most important parts of the game otherwise it would be nothing realy. ecentialy gamplay is what the playerdoes to affect the game weather he fires a gun, opens a door, takes a bath thoes things are part of the gamplay.

Gaming technology

The technology in games has come far since the beginning but really i have only been used to a small part of that because I first started playing games on the PS1 which compared to today's consoles is about as good as having toast instead of a full English for breakfast.

The ps1 was really the one think that got me in to gaming because it was realativly small and easy to use but as the consoles got better well i wanted the better one it is just human nature and whilst the PS1 got me in to gaing i really didn't play on it that much so when i got my PS2 that all changed because the graphics and the ease of playin were so good that i didn't want to stop there really wasn't a day were i didn't play on my console and that hasn't changed but what it had in power ws lost in style it got bigger and looked more like a breez block than a console but like many people my PS2 broke so i got the slim line PS2 which was smaller than tne origonal and smaller than the PS1 so it got better style wise but it got hot very quickly which didn't do anything to my one but there was always that frear that it was going to go bang at any moment.

A few years after the release of the origional PS2 came the xbox which was like a new benchmark technology wise but a step back style wise cause that thing was huge! if i remember rightly it was almost teice the size of the origional PS2. Nowerdays howerver they next gen consoles as they are called look nice and play easy aswell which is a bonus but the PS3 has got bigger and the 360 is liable to die any moment because of the way it is built so they all have there flaws but they are relativly the same playing, very simple and no fuss.

the story in the games is it important of usless

To me the story is definantly what drives me futher in to the game, but with a great story you also need great characters that are part of the story. Most games have a very narrow line to follow but this dosent mean that they are wrong in any way it is just the style of the game for example most firstperson shooters as fun as they are I think that the gamplay comes before the story and that the story is just somthing to add a bit more depth in to the game. there are also a few games that may have 4 or 5 games to there name but do not really have a deffinat difference in thet story one example to me is GTA all that the story consists of is kill this man, get that load of drugs to that location seems to boring and repetative to me and whilst it may have good characters with funny personalities and stuff that really only satifies me for a certain amount of time.

Some of my favorite games are Final Fantasy's because they are long, the story is magnificent becuase of the amount of time they spend working on the story then they beguin creating from the story what the world would be and the style of the characters. There is in most games a path that you follow because the story is already pre determind and no real choice is involved in shaping what you as the player can do to the story but there are those games like Fable, Fable 2, Mass Effect, Star Wars the knights of the old republic 1and 2 where the choices that you make can drasticly change the story and its final out come the example i think is mos prominant is at the end of mass effect or durinf the final battle the council has been put abored the galactic aliances most powerfull ship and they are getting rinced so the earth allinace gets all of its ships to the citadel and you get a choice sve the council or forget the and let them die either way compleetly changes the story but both are win situations for mankind and stuff like that is what really makes me want to play again and again so i say that the story is or should be the core for what the game is built on.

Art Director

This job to me would be one of the most important jobs when developing a game because he works directly with the project lead to ensure that what his art team are doing is what the style and basic background of the game so that it fit's in with the games parameter

From what I have read to be a succesfull art director you need to at least have so knowledge of the software used, a background in traditional art, at least 5 years of experience in film or gaming and also have been part of a team that has released a game in to the shops. The article about Phillip Bossant sujest that to be succesful you need to be on the ball, dedicated and to pitch in ideas aswell as giving constructive and helpfull feedbac to the art team to create a succesfull game.

to me there is no difference bettween a film and a gaming art director, they both hae the same job to do but they just use different tools so to speak to get the job done in the time that is given. There are certain qualities needed to become a succesfull art director

1. dedication to the job, whilst also having time with familly
2. a clear understanding of what the genre and style of the game is, so doing your homework
3. good with people and also at the same time beeing the key motivator that drives the team towards sucess.