Media Convergence, Technological Convergence, Synergy and Proliferation

Simultaneous release is an example of syngergy the interaction of two or more agents to ensure a larger effect than if they acted independently.
Synergy is primaririly a marketing strategy designed to maximise the amount of average and impact of any exposure the brand/product/game will get at a specific time, but it can also be seen in terms.
Synergy can be used within the production stage of a game. Distribution which is companies working together and releasing the game, distributing it to shops and organising discs and packaging and marketing which is important to ensure it spreads information about the game in carefully coordinated chunks.

Proliferation is a fast increase of a certain type of product. In business and in many types of media you get proliferation which is lots of the same product. This is usually because of a certain product becoming very popular or because of a breakthrough in technology which allows a lot of companies to enter the market. An example of proliferation is the iphone, the iphone became extremely popular and since then, other phones and technologies were made to look similar and have the same applications to the iphone and became smart phones.

Media convergence is when old and new media intersect in such a way that the way in media producers and media consumers interact changes.
The use of consumption of GTA 4 is an example of media convergence as consumers have used both old and new media to consume the game. GTA fans have used the internet to create fan sites and communities to share tips etc about the game. Or when two different media types combine to create a new experience. An example of media convergence is Rockstar, it joined with TV industry and used TV channels in games with comedy sets from celebrities, it also used licensed music, which enables the games to create realism and be movie like for the audience to get a better experience of the game.

Technology convergence is the trend of technologies o merge into new technology that bring together a number of different media. Like Iphone. There are three main consoles which are the PS3, VBOX 360 and wii.
Technological convergence in the last few years has resulted in devices that not only interact with the media they are primaririly designed to handle, but also with a number of other formats. For example the Xbox video game console has as its primary purpose the playing console games, but is also able to play back video and music and to connect to the internet. Technological convergence also leads to devices that are designed specifically to replace a number of different devices. The apple ipod, for example, while originally conceived of as a portable music player, is now toutedequally as a portable video player, photo album, and radio tuner. Cell phones, as well, have moved far beyond their beginnings as simple voice communication devices and now offer the functionality of personal music players, digital cameras, and text messenger systems as well.