Technological, Media Convergence, Synergy and Proliferation

Technological Convergence:

The trend of technologies coming together into new technologies that bring together a number of different types of media. The three main consoles that this has the most significance on is PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. As for example, the PS3 can store digital information like photos, music, videos but also has a Blu-Ray player built in which allows high definition films to be played. The Xbox360 has a live store where games, videos and music can be downloaded, it also web browser and Facebook can be connected.All these machines are now ‘home entertainment centres’ and can play all types of media, this helps bring all the family together. This opens up the market because consumers who want Blu-ray player might buy the PS3 as it’s the full package, and also these games are mainly positioned in the lounge making the consoles a family possession and encourage family to invest in family games. Technological convergence opens up a huge new market for games companies as there are limited amount of people who just use their phone for example and don’t mind paying 99p for a fun App. It also allows developers to make money from making the games without the publisher needing to help with funding.

Media Convergence:

When old media and new media combine together to make media producers and media consumers interact and change. An example of this is Rockstar, they use licensed music (such as Kanye West and Ice Cube) which allows games to be more realistic and creating the atmosphere almost like to be a movie scene. Rockstar used media convergence for marketing, they coordinated their online trailers with the release of magazine articles and TV adverts. Another example for this would be viral marketing, this type of marketing uses convergence so you had information on old media (posters) being spread by new media (blogs and social networking). A good example of the power of cross media convergence is games like Farmville; they can only exist due to media convergence… Distributed by Facebook, Marketed by facebook and consumed on facebook, this proves that media convergence can change the industry.

Synergy:

The interaction of two or more agents (media businesses or products) to certify a larger effect if acted independently. New technologies support this process like the internet, DVD, downloading etc. It is a primarily marketing strategy created to maximise the amount of coverage and impact of any publicity the brand/product/ game will get at a specific time, can also be linked to distribution and production. For Example, the Spider-Man films had toys of webshooter and figures of the characters made, as well as posters and games.
Proliferation:

The rapid increase in the number of a certain type of product. You get proliferation in media and businesses. An example of proliferation is the iPhone, this is a big company and almost everyone is familiar with it so companies learn that consumers want a touch screen phone that has lots of apps. So then there become lots of smart phones with very similar looks and attributes this is an example of proliferation. The positives for the developers is that they can create content for numerous different machines and not controlled by the console manufacturers, however a negative would be that the pressure to sell  means it could result in less risk and innovation. A positive for consumers is that there is a wide range of choice, and because of the big competition out there the prices are lowered. Although a negative would be the confusion, the choice is so big it’s hard to decide what to choose.