Representaion of Race and Ethnicity

Different examples of sterotypical Chartacters:


T-Dog

• He wears Gangsta clothing such as vst tops and baggy trousers
• He has a nickname
• He is clumsy, always falling over and also endangers the group
• He talks in slang-informal

Media Essay

I believe that it is important for companies to target local and national audiences because if it is constructed locally then if it is changed then the majority will be happy, plus if it is local depending were it is because it is a local product it might make the company more profit in the year and this also helps them to find out for the next game if it sells well then they know that they can sell it in local area.  It can also be sold to national audiences this is good because it will broaden the company into different countries and expand its marketplace it will gain them profit, however there is precaution's that need to be taken when expanding into different countries which i am going to explain further in my essay.

Firstly Production is the making of the Video Games local audiences are the biggest factors in how different consoles and different games are made if the local area does not agree with the product then will not accept it this will reduce the profit the company games the perfect example is China they do not allow consoles like PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and games from these consoles because they believe that these corrupt the child's mind so they are banned from society another reason i believe they are because they are still a communist countries they will see some of the game and consoles as a capitalist threat and they don't want their people minds to be poisoned in their view. In production many games must be edited so they can be released in different countries. for example in fallout 3 there is a mission were a town must be blown up with a nuclear bomb., however this mission must be taken out for the Japanese release as anything rating nuclear weapons is banned in Japan because of the nuclear bombings in WWII. Therefore this is edited in production.

Secondly localisation is changing a game so it suits a certain country or cultural, the reason why some games have to changed to suit a country or a culture this is because some of the content in a game might offend a county or culture and its beliefs, there has been a couple of examples of this they are in Germany as you can see from the chart below the majority of the games are banned in Germany because of the Nazi references and in Germany they have banned the swatch sticker and it is illegal to have it in the country so because of the countries culture and belief they have to ban any game which has this in it, this applies to Call of Duty people in Germany are allowed to purchase the game but the Zombies part of the game has to be removed because they are Nazi Zombies  

Marketing is a important moment when in the making of a game this is because the company can spend thousands on trying to make the game as good as it can be but this all goes to waste if no one knows about the game in the making a perfect example of this is Rockstar game they because they will leak bits of the game through periods of time by releasing one screen shot or they make pig billboards of a bit of a logo they does to build up the excitement of the game but it also helps that people know about the game, however game localisation takes a part within the creation of a game  because they have to change the language to suit the country they are going to sell the game in like adverts and game play also they have to remove any content they believe might offend the country they are selling the game in

I believe that the most important side of game localisation is Marketing I believe this because if companies don’t market their product correctly than how are people going to find out about them and if the marketing is done correctly than it can massively help the company sell this product and gain profit from it, although game localisation also contributes because this allows companies to sell their game in different countries and allows them to expand and even make more profit from different countries and then a global brand is formed.

distribution (unfinished)

The Distributor of SkyLanders: Giants is Theinthing



The Distributor of Angry Birds Chillingo



The Distributor of GTA V is Take Two interactive, this distributor owns 2K and RockStar games this is the main distributors for the most games like GTA, they own the different sectors in RockStar like , Rockstar leeds etc

UGC

UGC stands for user generated Content this means that the gamer itself can create themselves their own content and create their own levels examples are Little Big planet and Spore.  This has a massive impact on the gaming market.  Due tot his it allows new ideas to be produced by the gamer themselves and can be used in different games

This article talks about that it doesn't believe that Rockstar can release a new GTA game every year like Activsion who make the Call of Duty Franchise and Ubisoft who make Assassins Creed Franchise these to company release a new game to this franchise every year.  The reason behind rockstar not releasing a new game every year is because they will lose profit because they might release the game and the next day people already become bored with the tactic rockstar use there is massive hype towards the new game because they wait a certain period of time build up hype then release it and people get really excoited and ncan't wait to by it.

Video Games Ratings

Age ratings are system types that are used to that the content in films, videos, DVDS, and Video games are labelled to the correct age group.  Ratings provide information to customers which allows them to know what age rating certain games are and it helps in their decision whether it is suitable for the child to get. Computer and Video Games are now enjoyed by millions across the world In the UK alone 37% alone between 16 and 49 are described as active gamers.  The rating on a game confirms that it is suitable for players at a certain age.  An example is PEGI 7 game is suitable for those aged 7 and above.  PEGI the Pan-European Game Information this is a system that has been created to help parents make informed decisions when purchasing computer games. 

PEGI was launched in the spring of 2003 this replaced systems of age rating with just one system now that is used throughout Europe in 30 different countries this system is supported by the major consoles this includes Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.  Games used to be separately rated by BBFC but due to the high amount of games rated by PEGI it became the sole system in rating video games with the introduction of PEGI this helps them because they are told the rating and this helps them choose what content they should include in their game and because it has become a law in shops any person who is under age is unable to purchase the rated game this shows that it is enforceable this is not a new law because in place when BBFC was the system but due to PEGI this now includes the majority of the games on the shelves in the shops today

However with Digital distribution becoming more popular how are companies meant to know if someone purchasing a game via Xbox or PS3 is under age how are they meant to know?.

MMORPG: Star Wars The Old Republic

Star Wars the Old Republic falls in the genre of MMORPG (Massively Multiplier online role playing game)

To download the game it is completely free but to subscribe thee is different offers like for 60 days it is $29.99 and this is billed once, for 30 days it is $14.99 and is billed every 30 day and for 90 days $13.99 and is billed every 90 days, 180 days is $12.99 and is billed every 180 days.  The game is published by EA and developed by Bio ware; it was released in December 2011.  The game had 1 million subscribers in 3 days after the release, it was estimated to have made between $150- $200 million in profit.  This game differs from a consoled base game because it is based on the PC and any one in the world can play this game.

The term MMORPG was coined by Richard Garriott, the creator of Ultima Online, in 1997. MMORPG titles now exist on consoles and in new settings, and their players enjoy higher-quality game play. The current market for MMORPGs has Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft dominating as the largest MMORPG .  There is no limit to were this game is it is accessible in every country if need be, the target audienece for the majority of the developers of MMORPG games are the fantasy gamers who enjoy in gameplay to go on quests with friends and have a free world to roam. Some of the different websites are

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/5380442#5380442

http://www.mmofansites.com

http://www.swtor.com

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/

These above are different websites/fan sites about different MMORPG games there is one from World of Warcraft and Star Wars the Old Republic on these websites there are general discussions about the games and upcoming new games.

This picture shows the different topics players from the World of Warcraft game can talk about and comment on.

This Print above shows a general discussion about a new MMORPG game called Darkfall: Unholy Wars closer, this person has blogged about this new game and has researched about the different wikis for this game, also about the players playing this game. 

 

GTA V Trailer Analysis

GTA V Trailer 

The opening of the GTA V trailer opens with Stevie Wonder song Skeletons.  Then while the song is being played a back drop is shown of the game setting of Los Santos.  This is used to show of GTA graphic power after this the scene then fades out and switches to expensive houses flash cars and perfect scenery  this is to show the wealth in this certain area, the first type of camera show we see is a low angle shot of the car outside the expensive house in the back ground.
In this scene we are introduced to the first protagonist of the game and while the camera is on him there is background noise of to women arguing, what we see of the character in this scene is him relaxing in his garden in the sun, drinking a glass of whiskey showing us he has a prefect lifestyle.
In the next scene we are introduced to the second protagonist of the game who the first impressions we get that he is mental insecure  and unstable, what Persuades are thought of this character is the jump cuts in between this scene the music in the background is loud and fast.  Also in his introduction their are a lot of explosions and events that make it look like an actual move like the train crash were jumps of just before they collide this also counteracts with the style of them game that it is about gangs and explosions.
The we are introduced to the third protagonist how seems to be a young man who is caught up in the expensive houses and flash cars and sees the world as his playground to do what ever he wants.
This trailer also has humor in it which is good with the audience because an example is when the line my son is a good man then it cuts to him causing havoc in the city this shows the audience that they have covered all corners with this game involving violence action entertainment and humor  and also a new feature within the game which catches the audience attention is their is animal within the game now.

GTA V: What we know so far

 GTA 

GTA is created in the United Kingdom and the creators of this game are David James and Mike Dailly, but then it was furthered by Dan and Sam Houser, it was developed by Rockstar North which was formally DMA design, GTA game play is open world type in this game it is optional for the player to choose to perform missions or just to wonder around the map and do what ever they wish to do there are different types of elements to this game, action- adventure, drving, role playing, stealth and race elements are within this game so it offers the players different types, so this will bring more players and this will bring more money in. There are 5 of the games GTA, GTA 2, GTA: Liberty city, San Andreas, Vice City, GTA 4, there are different settings like New York LA and San Francisco but GTA have to change the names due to copy right but they set it out as the actual setting just with some small changes. The franchise of GTA it is a first party game because it is owned by Microsoft it is mostly released on Xbox 360, the GTA franchise is mostly published by Rock Star north.

There have been different images released about GTA V this is a tactic used by Rock Star by leaking a little about the game at a time to get the audience hyped up and more excited just of one of these photos people will keep looking at them to find out as much information about the game of just the one photo, I have found three Photos one of a quad bike another of the setting and the cars of these three pictures there will be essays about these.  The game is being developed by Rock Star North and will be distributed by Take-Two interactive, the platforms we know it is on is PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.  The different marketing strategies which Rock Star use is they will promote their product on websites shops adverts and billboards so every one can see them, the game has just become available to pre order of websites like game and gamestation for the price for £44.99 there are not yet any pre order details yet or any add ones we know if you pre order the game,  the use of cross media convergence is the use of music which is the radio stations in GTA V this offers the gamers a experience it makes the game more realistic also is is cross media to make the game available and become a must have game

Top 20 Games

This table below shows the top 20 grossing video Games of the past week this shows us important  information  about which games are more popular than others and which are making more money and why, some of the games which are at the top like Assassins Creed 3 is the top of the pile because it is the latest game realised, the most successful publisher in this list is EA this is because it has 3 of its games in the top 6: FIFA 13, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Medal of Honour: War fighter, the second most popular game in the list is FIFA 13 this is mainly because it is on nearly every available platform there is so it is open to use for every no matter what console they have the different consoles it is available on is: Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, 3DS, Wii U, Vita,  There are 3 examples of first party games these are, Forza Horizon, Professor Layton and the miracle mask, Pokémon Black and White 2 these are the only first party games Nintendo and Microsoft.  The new IP which has been released which has not had any following games is Dishonoured this is a new IP because it has no previous games before it it is a totally brand new game

The three main platforms in the top 20 list is Xbox 360 which has 14 games available on this platform the next one is PS3 which has 13 games available on its platform and the final one is PC with 11 these are the top patform holders, This is going to benifit Xbox 360 the most because they have the most games on their platform so thismeans they are going to make the most profit out of any other of the platforms.

Halo 4 & Mountain Dew

An example of symbiosis is Halo 4 with mountain Dew this benifits Halo 4 becasue it becomes more know and widely spread game but it also benifits Mountain Dew because it becomes more know within the Halo Community and it will start to make more money.

VIVENDI

GTA Graph

Zynga & Farmville 2

Zynga
The businees model for zynga consists of paying on via credit cards this is were people can buy using paypal extras for the game like credits and also DLC to help themsleves to further through out the game, the other isthrough patnerships with other companies.  This is where Zynga will team up another company to recieve thier fields.

Farmville 2

Farmville 2 is the sequal to the social game Farmville it has been released  on September 2012 it will have 3D features as well as a 360 degree rotating camera.  It has marketed on Facebook it has itsown facebook page with 2843617 people like this page this shows that the marketing is working becasue that number of people have found out about the new game and are ready to play this game.

Synergy and Symbiosis

Synergy
Synergy is a term were two or more parts of accompany will work together to produce outcomes to do this they create connections between certain areas of entertainment.  Platforms are produced to sell different products which are all released to one certain product e.g. video game or of a movie an example of this is the Pixar film Toy Story this was released as a DVD a CD and also a DVD game, a example of this is the game HALO after this game was released a soundtrack was released called Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Video game Soundtrack.

Symbiosis

Symbiosis is a term that means when different companies work together to create more profit and a better product, an example is is Angry Birds the different toy's they produce  they have been created by Rovio, however they  take a bit of the profits.  A license is needed if a company wants to make a franchise. 

Case Study: SkyLanders Giants

SkyLanders

SkyLanders Giants is a video game released in 2012 this is in the SkyLanders series this is a sequel to SkyLanders: Spyros’ Adventure which was released in 2011, if you played the previous game then you will know the difference to the new game which involves new Skylander characters but they are known as “Giants”, this game was released on October 17^th 2012 in Australia, October 19^th in Europe and on the 21^st October it was released in North America, and in November it will be released in South America this already shows us that it is a big franchise spreading it’s product into different countries all across the world this shows us how popular the first game must have been.  The different platforms which the game is going to be released on is Nintendo 3DS, Play station 3, the Wii, Xbox 360 and It is also going to be available for the new Wii U.  The developer for this is game is Toy’s for Bob they are the creators for other games such as Tony Hawks’s downhill jam and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.  The Publishers are Activison who have also partnered with Sega to create Sonic Adventure DX.  When the first Skylanders came out Activison sold over 31 million SkyLander toys.

The SkyLanders franchise is one of a kind in its market were they have toys to be a part of the video game; the player is able to buy the character of their choice to place on the portal of power and then watch their come alive on the screen in front of them.  The difference between the first game and the second one is that instead of having one small character the player can now buy a new character but a giant to help them progress throughout the game.  The main plot of the game is Players will resume their role as a powerful Portal Master, who controls their a team of Skylanders, including Giants, mythical and powerful heroes that play a pivotal role in the quest to save the Sky lands from Kaos, who is back with another plan to rule over Sky lands. Players will navigate perilous lands, battle powerful enemies, collect treasures and solve interesting puzzles.  This is the cost of the Skylander: Giants franchise on Amazon for a starter Pack or booster pack  which includes the game and one giant figure for the Wii it cost’s 36.99, for the Xbox 360 39.99, on Play station 3, 39.99.  For the price of one figure alone they are in the price range of £17.00, this shows us that the whole franchise that it 2011 with Activison selling of 31 million toys that they made a great profit .Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=skylander+giants&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=12609499260&hvpos=1t3&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=110154468313434137&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&ref=pd_sl_93okq7iqtt_e

This game is mainly advertised through television and also the internet it has different TV adverts its main target audience is the younger generation this is a good type of audience for this game because under the age of 16 is the biggest selling target audience group, it is clever how they have set this game out and why they make so much money this is because in the game you need certain characters to carry on with the game and if the player does not have this character they can’t go on or miss a bit out so they have to go out and by the character and this keeps happening throughout the game and this is where they make the majority of their profit, it also widens its audience because it has its own YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/SkylandersGame this allows everybody to see it the different characters and game play, if Skylander: Giants is anything like the first Skylanders in my opinion it will be a success.

Rock Star Games

 

Rock Star Toronto which used to be Rock star Canada this is an in house development team for Rock star Games. The Company was renamed Rock star Toronto in 2002 after Rock star Games bought Vancouver-based Barking Dog Studios and renamed it Rock star Vancouver.  Some of the games they created are The Warriors and also a PC version of Grand theft Auto

Rock Star North formally known as DMA Design ltd this is also a British game developer this created Grand theft Auto and lemmings, it became a part of Rock star in 2002 As of early 2002.

         












 

Rock Star Leeds formally known as Mobius Entertainment this is a British game development it was bought in 2004 by Rock Star games. Rock star Leeds has primarily published handheld games for Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, as well as developing Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition and the Grand Theft Auto Stories games for the PlayStation Portable.

Independent Games or Indie Games & Super Meat Boy

Indie Games are games that are created by an individual person or a small group of people and this is without a game publisher finical support.  Independent games focus more on innovation but do rely a lot on digital distribution. Digital Distribution is where a game is sold online, and indie games have their own online game section on the Xbox live market place.  Most of the indie games on the market place give you two options it will say buy for a certain amount of Microsoft points or it will say trial run this gives the option to the audience to try the game out before they even buy it, it also gives a image to show the audience a small preview of what the game looks like.  Some of the best Known Indie games are Super Meat Boy, journey and Bastion. However the most Known and the most successful Indie game today created by  Mojang , Minecraft is focused on Creating and building it allows players to create whatever they want by the use of textured cubes in a 3D world.  In 2010 the game had a spike in sales of over 25,000 purchases in 24 hours. On January 12, 2011, Minecraft passed 1,000,000 purchases, By April 2011, Minecraft had made 23 million in revenue, with 800,000 sales of the alpha version of the game, and over 1 million sales of the beta version On July 1, 2011 Minecraft passed the 10 million registered users mark. As of November 7, 2011, Minecraft had over 16 million registered users, and over 4 million purchases. As of May 25, 2012, the game has sold over six million copies on PC and over nine million copies across all platforms.

Independent games do not have what it takes to compete with AAA games and Blockbuster games this is because of the new technology being used by Blockbuster games like in games such as FIFA 13 this game uses new technology to make the players look as real as possible and to make the stadiums look like they do in reality and indie games can not stay up to date with this kind of change.  The reason more people buy and play blockbuster games is because they are more realistic and make the player feel like they are actually in the game but with indie games this is not the case and so people would rather play a more realistic game than a indie game which they will get bored and tired of, however independent games are cheaper to produce than AAA games and also Blockbuster games, due to the fact that they do not create physical copies because they are sold online this also saves money.

Super Meat Boy

Super Meat boy is an Independent Game and it is available to buy or download trial on, Xbox Live, Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, this game was created by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes and developed by Team Meat. It is the successor to McMillen and Jonathan McEntee's October 2008 Flash game Meat Boy. Super Meat Boy was released on the Xbox 360  in 2010, on Windows PCs in 2010, on Mac OS X a year later in November 2011, and on Linux in December 2011 as a part of the Humble Indie Bundle and in May 2012 as a part of the Humble Indie Bundle V.  By April 2009, it had garnered over 840,000 views at Newgrounds, and 8 million overall

The story of Super Meat boy is about a cube of meat that must go on an adventure to rescue his girlfriend Bandage Girl; for the evil Dr. Fetus.  The game starts off with Super Meat boy and his Girl Friend hugging and all happy the Dr. Fetus comes over and punches Bandage and kidnaps hers.  It is a platform game so as Super meat boy goes thorough different obstacles such as high mountains he must jump shooting blades a tornado of swords and every time he gets to Dr. Fetus he will magically disappear then after completing the final level Super Meat Boy finds Dr. Fetus and to his disappear Dr. Fetus is Burning the whole forest down and gets into his chainsaw machine and it gives you an extra level were you have to run from this machine while dodging flying, swinging blades and once he has hid from the machine it gets caught into the blades and destroys its self, at the end Super Meat finally confronts Dr Fetus but before h can save his girl friend he ejects from the machine and flies away with his girlfriend it ends on Super Meat boy looking into the distance while the forest is burning down and his squirrel friends are lying dead next to him. This ends the chapter.

I haven’t bought the whole game just downloaded the trial Version an in my opinion this is a brilliant game.  It is a exciting game and the trial game ends you on him not getting his girlfriend back which means that it leads the player to believe how is he going to get his girlfriend back this is a cliff hanger and this is a very good techniques used by companies in trial games because it leaves the player wondering what is going to happen and the majority of the time it will end up in the player buying the game to see what happens, this is a platform game and when I was playing it if I could not complete a level I would want to complete it more and it kept me involved with the game and kept me wanting to play it.  And it also require thinking how you are going to get past on obstacle.

This is  Super Meat Boy Official website: http://supermeatboy.com/

On this website it allows you to blog about the game, also to find about news about the new game or updates available for the game it also has a store section where it is possible to buy Official Super Meat Boy merchandise.

  

Reality Is Broken By Jane McGonigal

•        Globally, the online gamer community-including console, PC, and mobile phone gaming-counts more than 4 million gamer's in the Middle East, 10 million in Russia, 105 million in India, 10 Million in Vietnam, 10 million in Mexico, 13 million in central and south America, 15 million in Australia, 17 million in South Korea, 100 million in Europe, and 200 million in China.
  ·         More than 10 million “hard Core” gamer's in the United Kingdom, France and Germany spend at least twenty Hours a week playing.
  ·         With all of this play, we have turned digital games- for our computers, for our mobile phones, and for our home entertainment systems-into what is expected to be $68 billion industry annually by the year 2012.
  ·         Collectively, the planet is now spending more than 3 billion hours a week gaming.
  ·         Meanwhile, the scientific journal Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking reported in 2009 that 61 per cent of surveyed CEO's  CFO's, and other senior executives say they take daily game breaks at work.

Modding

The Hot Coffe Mod is an minigame which was going to be put into the 2004  GTA: San Andreas deveoped by Rocksatr North  but wasnt realsed into the game so they just coded it to make inaccessible.  But in 2005 a mod was released to access the mini game.  The game has exual content between to charatcers Carl "CJ" Johnson and his gilfriend when she offers him to come in for "coffe", The mod was enable to get on Playstaion  2 and the Xbox.  By 2005 the mini game had caused so much contresy policticains got the game re rated to an adult game and it was also removed from some shops, another GTA:San Andreas has been released with the mini game completely removed this new release aloowed to regain its orignial rated.  July 20 2005 it was announced that the GTA: SA had its rating changed from mature to adult only, but when rockstar released the clean version with out the minigame it regained its original rating of mature, the day it was re rated majority of the stores in North America and 85% of the games market place removed the PC and consoles versions of the game from sheleves. Ebay removed the game from there website.

Wii U

Wii U

The Wii U  system was unveiled during Nintendo's press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 on June 7, 2011, and is scheduled for released on November 18, 2012 in North America, November 30, 2012 in Europe and Australia, and December 8, 2012 in Japan.  Nintendo stated that the Wii U supports 1080p graphics and has 2 GB of memory; 1 GB as system memory and the same for game memory. This is more than 20 times the memory of the Wii The console will be released in two versions; a basic white version with 8 GB of internal storage, and a premium black version with 32 GB of internal storage, which includes stand and docks.  The Wii U features a new controller, called the Wii U GamePad, with an embedded touchscreen. The controller allows a player to continue playing games by displaying the game even when the television is off.  The different games we know whic will be on the Wii U Nintendo, Zombie U, Mass Effect, Arkham city, wario ware.  The console was first conceived in 2008 after Nintendo recognized several limitations and challenges with the Wii, such as the general public perception that the system catered primarily for a "casual" audience Prices in the US for the Wii U are set at $249.99 for the 8GB model and $349.99 for the 32GB version.

Social Gaming: Are Casual Gamers Taking over

Social Gaming: Are Casual Gamers Taking Over?

I believe casual gamers are taking over because look at how social gaming has changed over the years you are now able to join a part with your friends to talk to each other while playing a game you can play against one of your friends in your friends list or against someone in the world.  The major brand for social gaming is Xbox they have created Xbox live there are two different memberships for Xbox live there is Xbox Live Silver and Xbox Live gold membership this is the main one which allows you to join parties with your friends to talk you can also play against them if you have the same game like FIFA, there are different price ranges depending on how long you want Xbox live gold membership for 5.99 for 1 month, 15.99 for 3 months or 39.99 for the 12 months.  I believe that casual gamers are taking over because consoles are becoming cheaper so more people are buying an Xbox or PS3 and also the games are becoming cheaper to buy as well and they are becoming more easy for people to learn and get better at but this can be a bad point as well because if companies are starting to make games easier for the new casual gamers well what about the more experienced gamers who have been playing video games most of their lives they are going to want more of a challenge and companies are bringing out easy games to suite one side of their target audience what about their other target audience they are going to start buy games from different companies because they have more of a challenge and this will lose companies money because they are not trying to reach out to all their target audience.  The Game which I believe attracts both audiences but mostly casual gamers is FIFA because of the different options there is the choice of the different skill type you would like to play on amateur, semi pro, professional, world class and legendary also it is very social gaming because there is Pro clubs were the gamer can make its own virtual pro to looks like them or anything they want and join their own club with their friends and play against their friends club or against other people in the world and this brings tighter social gaming because there could be one person playing from Holland against some in Australia and they would just be sitting in their room . My personal experience with social gaming is FIFA as well because I am in a pro club as well and also play head to head seasons against people from different parts of the world in the same league as you.  It will tell you now on any game if it is social gaming with the icon on the back and some people will only buy games if it has this.  There is also social games on IPods and Ipads there is an app created by Apple called game centre which allows the player to create their own name and this app allows players to go on certain apps to play against people with the same game like flick kick football and compete against each other also it will post your completed achievements so people can look at them.

By Max Schofield