The History of Nintendo

Nintendo began to develop video games when they saw how successful video games so they decided to join into the industry. In Japan they originally secured rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey in the 1970s. During this time, the video game consoles were still rare when the Atari Pong console was not yet developed. Nintendo began to develop its own video games for arcade and home for the home console.

Mitsubishi Electric proposed a joint development of the Color TV Game Machine and in 1977 they released the Color TV game 6 and Color TV game 15. Nintendo’s first video game was the EVR Race a large handful of others followed in the following years, which Donkey Kong was the most famous of the games.

During the 80s Nintendo’s video game division created some of the most popular arcade games of its time. Donkey Kong was  created in 1981 by Myamoto which was released in the arcades and on the Atari 2600, Intellivision and ColecoVision video game systems. Then the original Mario games were released which were released on Nintendo’s dedicated console.

In 1982 Nintendo created the AVS (Advanced Video System) which had controllers similar to the Nintendo Entertainment System which also used Tape drive, Joy stick and a lightgun.

In July 1983 Nintendo released the Famicom system in Japan which was their first attempt at a cartridge based video game console. 500 thousand copies of the system were sold however the Famicom would freeze up when playing certain games and this was because a chip was malfunctioned so Nintendo had to recall all the Famicom units currently on the store shelves.

Nintendo had contracted with Atari to help them distribute their entertainment system however conflict occurred which severed the relationship between the 2 companies.  

In 1983 a crash in the video game market had occurred and took out Atari, but Nintendo was determined not to make the same mistake as Atari had. Gaming had almost died out in the US so Nintendo decided to secure their Famicom by not allowing any unlicensed games by placing a chip called the 10NES to prevent it.

1985 Nintendo begins releasing the Famicom worldwide with a different design and under a new name, the Nintendo Entertainment System.

In 1988 Nintendo of USA unveiled the Nintendo Power which is a magazine released monthly as news and strategy Magazine which served to advertise new games.

Nintendo released the Game Boy which is a small hand held game console with built in screen which sold extremely well. It eventually became the best selling portable game system of all time. Super Mario land was also release for the portable game system.

The Super Nintendo was produced in Japan in 1990. The Entertainment System was very successful the controllers had changed, having a more sleek design and incorporating 2 additional buttons.

Nintendo and Sony worked together to develop a CD-ROM attachment for the SNES which later on Nintendo left the partnership and halted the process on developing the CD-ROM, Sony continued the development and later on Developed the Playstation console.

The next Major release was in 1996 where Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 in Japan. The console had much more advanced visuals. However unlike Sony’s Playstation the N64 did not have play CDs which became a Nintendo’s weakness and games manufacturing are much more cost effective in CD format versus the Cartridge format.

Nintendo’s GameCube is released in 2001 however not as successful as the Gameboy Advanced and In 2004 Nintendo DS came out which incorporates an additional screen.

Nintendo continue to be ahead in the hand held game system however remaining with the cartridge format. 

Narrative Structure of 2 Movies

Worksheet – Narrative Structure of 2 Films

Using the 10 points to list the similarities, i.e., they share the same recipe/structure in making the film.

Movie 1: I Am Legend	Movie 2 : Transformers 2
1.     Equilibrium A man fines a cure for cancer but becomes a deadly virus.	Sam Witwicky is a student living is daily life until a piece of the All-Spark Jolts his mind.
2.     Disturbance The virus breaks out in Manhattan and turns people into Aggressive and Darkseekers which are weak to the UV light	A piece of the All-Spark jolts symbols into Sam’s mind which reads out the locations of the matrix and a structure which  can destroy the sun. This provokes the Decepticons to hunt him down for the information.
3.     Protagonist Robert Neville is a virologist for the military, him and his dog go around town looking for food and defending themselves from the zombie turned humans called Darkseekers.	Sam Witwicky is the centre of the conflict, the decepticons want him while the autobots defend him.
4.     Plan Robert Neville continues to search for a cure and continue to communicate to anyone who can hear him on the radio at mid day every day to meet him there.	Sam begins his journey of finding out what the symbols mean and why the decepticons are after him for it.
5.     Obstacle The Darkseekers attack Robert and Sam because they want their kin	The decepticons are Sam’s major obstacle as they are trying to capture him while he tries to find out the meaning behind.
6.     Complications   After being saved by a women and her son they take Robert back to his home but they left a trail of scent which the Darkseekers find his home and try to break in to get back 1 of their kin.	One of the main characters Optimus Prime dies and the matrix key which Sam finds turns to dust.
7.     Timeout Robert Neville come across a Anna and her son	Sam and Michaela almost lose each other when Sam tries to run to Optimus.
8.     Crisis The Darkseekers break into Robert’s home and so the three of them trap themselves in the basement behind thick glass. The Darkseekers find the basement and try to smash the glass.	The Decepticons and Autobots fight each other at a desert to defend the humans but the Decepticons don’t care about the humans because they want the sun’s energy.
9.     Climax Robert Neville gives them the cure to K.V. and tell them to hide in this compartment and Robert Sacrifices himself by blowing up the Darkseekers and himself with a grenade.	Sam brings back Optimus to life with the matrix and Optimus flies in and defeats the main enemies.
10.   Resolution Anna and her son find the resistance where she brings the cure to the disease	The Decepticons are defeated and go back to hiding, the Autobots go back to hunting down the Decepticon and Sam goes back to his studies.

Munchkin Experience

World of Munchkin is a game which is based on the dungeons and dragons theme, players play together as a team or against each other, they are required to pick up random cards and roll dices in order to fight monsters, pick up rewards. The game is very similar to role playing games you see on a console or computers but in the physical form of cards except "with none of that stupid role playing stuff." 

I find Munchkin rather a difficult game to understand at first, it requires some reading to be able to understand the rules of the game. But considering the game is similar to an RPG game the rules allow the game to be somewhat flexible unlike other card games like Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh! which are strictly based on combat and each player has his own deck of cards. The Munchkin style card game is based on 1 deck of cards which is shared among multiple players. The style of card game may be an original concept however something similar can be enjoyed on a digital platform and can be much more engaged with the games environment as well. The World of Munchkin card games will bring together people to have a fun together in a commune way which digital games will offer something different.

I personally find Munchkin not that enjoyable, but that may be because I’m not really a fan of card games. But for the concept and idea I can definitely give the game thumbs up, especially because I think the game would be great fun to be played with your family or a group of friends. I have had a taste of digital games which has influenced my own personally benchmark of games you could say which is why I’m not so interested in Munchkin but putting that aside in comparison to other card / board games it is a game you can expect to get a laugh from.

What 'FUN' means to me

I find games fun in general, however the games which incorporate challenge, thrill, unpredictability and that are inter-social are what I really look for. Games which embody these characteristics have the potential to immerse myself in its gameplay.

Firstly and most importantly if a game is not challenging then it is too easy, I will not get a sense of achievement or fulfilment, getting a reward handed to you without placing any effort will make a game boring. If players need to make effort into completing a stage or beating a boss they get a sense of achievement.

I’m a big fan of action games because I enjoy the adrenaline rush they give me, the games which put me on edge and thinking quickly I find fun. FPS, RTS and even MMORPG games have a lot of action and thrill to offer. If you are thinking why MMORPG? Most of the times I would say that RPG games in general are very slow paced and is more about adventure however most MMO games have aspects which can be very action packed. For example boss fights which require multiple players to defeat can be very intense and require strategies, players will need to communicate and interact with each other while taking actions quickly and precisely.

Online games are inter-social and can engage players very easily, what better way to complete a certain part of a game together with your friends. Both playing with and competing against other players enhances my experience in games so much more. To be able to socialise and also the unpredictability a game can be when it is online based. When playing single player or campaign mode can be very repetitive because you are trying to overcome something that never changes. The obstacles will generally have the same characteristics and personality, but when you’re playing against another player it becomes a totally different ball game. To play against something that has a mind of its own is always more fun than playing against the computer, AI are programmed to do a few things which players will always keep an eye for. But the players play style will always change and evolve, which what makes online games much more challenging. I find games which carry these aspects will always be fun for everyone.