Postmodernism; An Introduction

There are 5 aspects of postmodernism:

1) Playfulness and self-reference:
(media texts don't take themselves seriously)

• Rupture of Verisimilitude; texts aren't trying to fool you it's real life.
• Self-awareness; text knows exactly what it is (a book knows it's a book).
• Ironic Undercutting; taking a serious issue and making fun of it.

2) Intertextuality:

• Generic Blurring; one film blends two genres
• Explicit/Implicit References; Explicit - if someone makes a direct reference to other media texts (i.e. its just like that ______ film) Implicit - when the reference is more subtle.
• The Death of the Auteur; can't be original - always influenced or borrow things.

3) Popular Culture vs. High Culture:

• 'Pick & Mix' Approach to Influences - don't care where the influences come from.
• Avoidance of Value Judgements - aviods value judgements, gets rid of labels, doesn't categorise.

4) Fragmentation of Representation:

• Aceeptance that 'Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy' - nothing is original.
• Destruction of Simplistic, Singular Representations - people are represented in more than one way, people are less two dimensional.

5) Uncertainty and Loss of Context:

• What is 'the truth'? - example 'The Matrix'
• How do I know what's real?
• How do I know who I am?

The Death of Meta-narrative; good/evil, right/wrong.

Chronological order of Videogames - 7th March

Tennis For Two - 1958:

Using an Oscilloscope as a screen, it is the precursor to modern videogames.

Spacewar! - 1962:

it took approximately 200 hours of work to create the initial version. The basic gameplay involved two armed spaceships called 'the needle' and 'the wedge' attempting to shoot one another while manoeuvring in the gravity well of a star. The ships fired missiles that were unaffected by gravity (due to lack of processing time). Each ship had a limited number of missiles and a limited supply of fuel.

Pong - 1972:

Where Spacewar! had been complex and difficult to learn, this game was simplicity itself. A two player game of table-tennis, each player has a bat for which to hit the square ball across the screen to score points.

Space Invaders - 1978:

Japanese publisher Taito unleashes the biggest videogame hit to date. The player is put in charge of a lone ship and had to defend the Earth from oncoming atack. This game is phenomenally successful in arcade and home conversions.

Galaxian - 1979:

Although it added some gameplay ingredients to the Space Invaders formula, Namco's game is notable primarily for being the first videogame with colour graphics.

Pacman - 1980:

Not only did this game signal a change from shooting games but also unleashed a recognisable character that could be marketed and sold, giving rise to breakfast cereals and a cartoon series.

Donkey Kong - 1981:

Nintendo's game introduced one of videogame's most enduring characters - Mario, although in this game, his earliest Japanese appearance, the character was simple called 'Jumpman'.

Tetris - 1984:

The game (or one of its many varients) is available for nearly every video game console and computer operating system, as well as on devices such as graphing calculators, mobile phones, portable media players, PDAs, network music players and even an Easter Egg on non-media products like oscilloscopes. It has even inspired Tetris serving dishes and been played on the sides of various buildings.

Super Mario Brothers - 1985:

The Nintendo took Japan, the USA and the Europe by storm with a series of innovative titles including this game and The Legend of Zelda. Many of the series are still going strong today. The Nintendo became practically synonymous with videogaming. The objective of this game is to race through the Mushroom Kingdom, survive the main antagonist Bower's forces and save Princess Toadstool.

Sonic the Hedgehog - 1991:
Where Ninteo were largely dominant in the later 1980's, the early 1990's would see stiffer competition from Sega with their MegaDrive console (Genesis USA). This game introduced a blue hedgehog who lives on South Island with his animal friends. He encounters an evil scientist named Dr. Ive Robotniuk, known as Dr. Eggman in the Japanese version.

Tomb Raider - 1996:
This game is an action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Edios Interactive. The story opens with a prologue in Los Alamos County, New Mexico. A great explosion causes an earthquake and exposes an ancient device buried beneth the desert surface. The device unlocks and reveals a person in suspended animation. The story then continues in the present day. The game was commercially and critically successful, and is considered widely influential. It spawned a number of sequels and a franchise of related media.

GTA IV - 2008:
The game is a sandbox-style action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North, and released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles in Europe, North America and Oceania. It is the all-time highest-scoring game on three professional critic review-aggregating websites: TopTenReviews, GameRation and GameTab. the game is set in a redesigned rendition of Liberty City, a fictional city based heavily on modern day New York City. It follows Niko Bellic, a war veteran from an unspecified country in Eastern Europe.