The cover art for Grand theft Auto 5 is interesting. The physical copy has elements with foil paper, the letter V is shiny, and the black areas have a matte finish. Aside from its aesthetics the pictures that, could represent different sections of the game and the characters have an art to them, they look like they have been drawn and this is a nice effect. There is the age in the corner, 18, and the company logo in the other corner. And then there is the generic information that you would have at the back of a video game case on the bottom left. If I chose to make my cover fro Xbox, then I will have to have these. The screenshots of the game on the back cover also represent well some parts of the game. Simple screenshots can say a lot and entice the user. The typography has been sued for the other six GTA games, and is recognisable as they're logo. The font is quite modern almost graffiti like. Graffiti breaks the law, GTA breaks the law. The colour schemes, black background with bold colourful screenshots make those stand out more. The letter V is interesting. It is this games specific logo, for 5. it is green, with the pattern you would find one dollar bill. And there is a banner over it, this could be seen as money, and you stela money in GTA 5. for my game cover I will use some screenshots, and interesting typography that represents my game well. Sexuality and race is represented among other things in the cover, form the pictures I see a blonde who has been sexualised, and a black man with a gun, which doesn’t bode well for stereotypes, yet I am still now interested in the game.

The cover for space invaders is very clearly retro. Like 1950’s Sci-Fi, the alien ships all flying towards you, with the background of space and the Mars mountains near the boom. Everything about this cover is retro, and I would like my design to be similar to this. The art has been drawn like the E.T. game, and this is what I will try to replicate. The font isn’t as recognizable as say GTA, but that is not what you concentrate on, when you look at the cover.

The cover of Halo reach is simplistic, and is not my favourite. The collects edition has a statue with them in a similar pose. This design ahs all the main characters in, and in the background a stormy sky with a ship ready to attack. This is much like a screenshot form the game as the characters prepare for action. The typography is the same as any other halo game, and is much like its logo. In the corner are the age rating and the companies, to my game cover look realistic I will put some company names behind my game in the corner as well.

The portal 2 game cover is one of my favourites. Because it perfectly describes the game in the simplest of ways. In portal you literally open portals to go from one area to the other. And two of the main character are the two lovable robots portrayed in the cover. The typography for portal is a rather simplistic font. Its font and colour give it the seemingly futuristic feel, especially with the logo of a man jumping out from a line, a portal. The colours of this cover are quite robotic, this works with the background as well since everything is robotic and futuristic. The only thing that seems out of place is the portals, with there bold and orange vortex colours. Then of course the white bold inside of the portals. This invites mystery of the game and is a reason people would buy it. I could add something like this to my cover, but I would have foil print on the portals so they are light reflective.

There are game covers better that Arkham origins, like Arkham city’s black and white cover that expresses the bleakness of the situation batman is in. but Arkham origins is about everyone out to kill the batman. You get the versus feeling from this cover. You see the background is snow, because they game is set on Christmas eve, but in the foreground is batman, on one half in the light is the dark knight, then on his over side is not the dark shadow of batman’s face, but his body and face made up of all of enemies he fight sin different respective poses. This is a very good way to include everything in the game, all the enemies by technically showing only one character. I like this design and might replicate it, or something similar too it. I will have a portal on my cover, so I could have places or enemies in a small glimpse in the portal. There is some gender representation in this game, Batman is a male, and this is clear just from the image and the dark colours.

Much like the original space invaders game, this Pac-Man cover is very obviously retro. The Pac-Man character is the first thing you see, eating what could be a cracker. The ghosts look freakish, and is very different to a later version of Pac-Man. What is clear about this game is that the border is a bold orange, which you don’t get with most games nowadays. The inside of the border has practically a gameplay screen shot of Pac-Man. The font for Pac-Man could be general font used in the time is cam out by now, it is quite iconic for being the font for Pac-Man. There is not much I would try to replicate from this design, because if I were to realise something, that for example had an orange border. It might be considered a joke or something that people wouldn't consider buying. Contrastingly people would be drawn to it because it would stand out, especially people who like retro games.

Magazines that are strictly about video games advertise, review and declare news on video games. Its for these reasons that they need to have an interesting style, and pictures that make them stand out because if not, people will just go to the internet. This magazine for example, XBOX magazine has things on its cover and on its fortieth page that make it captivating. The cover, the first thing you see if the background. And this is the same with all video game magazines, the background of the cover will have a screen shot of picture from a game that is bold and stands out from other magazines. In this issues case it has the mask from the game fallout 4. the mask has a lot of detail, which is unusual for a background because usually the background is not supposed to be the centre of the attention. The only thing in the foreground is the text. For my magazine I will have a similar approach. This is repeated in page 43, the main character from Halo 5, or rather one of the main characters (this is not master chief) is bolder than the text and the other texts. The title and the text have a bold black colour, so its still easy to read. The picture sand screens hots have a border so its easier to differentiate them form the background. The font from the XBOX title on the cover is used throughout this cover. From this I can see that this magazine in particular uses one font throughout its magazine. For its titles and subtitle, the only words that don’t comply with this style is the logos from games like Fallout 4. the cover also has the XBOX logo, so its recognisable form a distance for Xbox players. The cover has select information, mostly news that will entice the audience in green and white fonts. The colour scheme for XBOX. Finally on the cover is the barcode and issue number, I will have something like this because it makes a magazine look real and professional. So what makes this magazine different from just looking up stuff on the internet. Well the title from the magazine page 43 suggests that the magazine writers are doing the players work for them. “Everything you need to know before...” this means that they’ve got all the recent and important new to know before the game is realised, which also helps Microsoft get more money, they practically advertise there game further by making it sound more enticing. I will have similar methods, I like the style for this game because the picture in the background, and the text without a border does look really interesting, for myself anyway, market research will confirm this for me. Genre is represented in the advert the screenshot of the blue Hologram Cortana as a helper to the main charter, which is fact to any halo fan, suggested the idea of the female helping the male lead, though not much more is clear form the images.

Where XBOX had white and green colours for their magazine, PlayStation has Red and white, which is equally, eye catching if not more so. This magazine has some very close similarities to the Xbox one, in its style, through its themes and colours are different in other words. There is a bold background image that stand s out behind the titles an text, with the PlayStation font at its title, only with no logo. Also unlike Xbox there are a variety of fonts, which is what I will do because it adds variety to the magazine. In page 60 of the magazine, there is the same image as the cover, only the pistol she holds goes over edge, as if she's jumping out, this is a good effect I would like to replicate. The picture itself is very detailed has a main character in front of a lion, which makes it clear this could be an area in London. The title for this game is almost times new roman, similarly to the font used in assassins creed. Unlike Xbox the image is separated from the text by a lightning shapes line, and this makes its interesting to look at, but also perhaps not that professional. This is my opinion, but I would not have this as a large part of the page, since there is little space for text. In the text, there are colours with a large quote in the middle of it. this type of text style I could replicate because it is interesting and attractive. There is also a lot of different fonts, colours and variations on narrow and bold font. The cover has this as well, it also has the barcode, and captions from areas in the magazine to entice the audience. Another way they do this is by having their main story, aside from the massive text on the newest game, is a large yellow circle. Inside this is advertisement for their new gamer Tomb Raider. This looks unprofessional because that shade of yellow just doesn’t fit the page, I would of had perhaps the same image behind it, but circle where its darker, so it looks like its been melted into the page. Genre is again represented in this magazine, a woman is clear as the protagonist assassin the game, a nice change from the all males, so it breaks stereotype and shows that women are just as strong as men, maybe even more badass.

Edge gaming magazine is not owned by Microsoft or Sony, its independent, some its reviews are not result of biased or incorrect information. There isn’t anything wrong with this, it still makes a good read. But how does Edge compete with the big magazines from Xbox and PlayStation? By writing about both in its own magazine. There are some games that will only come out on some consoles, just Xbox games like halo or just PlayStation games like Tomb Raider, originally, so Edge can write about both not just ones exclusive to its companies console. Out of all the magazines Edge magazine has my favourite cover. The picture is oddly simplistic, and has a style to it that has many different meanings. For one it has been drawn, and its colour stands out well form the black background, its not clear what the drawing is of. A character of course but who, I imagine we will find this out when we read further into the magazine. Unlike other magazines, the picture actually puts the magazine title in the background, which makes the picture seems to jump out. There barcode is not present on the cover, which may help its style, however there is a white circle with the date and issue number, it would look more professional if the information was in white text at the corner. The typography for the EDGE magazine is interesting because its a nice font. Its bold like IMPACT, but has cuts in it that make it stylish. This font, or rather the bold and white font is used in the page of the magazine which is interesting. Xbox magazine has a bold image into eh background of its text, Edge magazine has a real life image, with a lot going on and a lot of bold colours. This one image has a lot going on, and is a perfect picture to capture the XBOX convention. The font is easy to read though, because there shadow some of the picture behind it, it isn’t clear but it makes the text easy to rea dover the slightly darker area of the picture. This style is very simplistic, with little text and a large image, compared to other magazine pages this seems the least professional, but maybe the best looking.

The three main gaming device are PlayStation Xbox and PC, so naturally PC needs a console. This gaming magazine is not just about games but about gaming computers too, about wider subjects, such as the oculus rift which enhancing the game experience. Lets start with the cover, which looks very good. A simple background, and one character. Agent 47 is an assassin with no information about him, so this single picture expresses him well. He wears a suit and watch to show sophistication perhaps, and holds a gun which is in the foreground above the main title. Its clear the issue is mainly about Hitman. Also having in a gold colour “World Exclusive access” entices the audience, if this is the only magazine with the most information about the new game I wish to play, I should buy this one. The font is similar, and has several different colours and thicknesses, however it is not memorable to this game magazine. The font is not he same on page 6 of the magazine, but it does have a very real and professional style I wish to replicate. The text and the images are apart from each other, and for good reason. Unlike Edge magazine, there is a big picture, but still lots of text. The text is placed all around the edges of the pages, and into eh centre, are different pictures of the same object. To give you a three hundred and sixty view of the thing they are reviewing. The title of this page takes up a lot of space, it has a banner in bold red, which may be unnecessary but the contrast does still seem to work. I think with my magazine, I would like to have a main picture into the background, then another pictures around it from the same game, and a font that is easy to read above the picture. I might go as far as to say that ethnicity is represented form the picture of the white bald man, it suggest to me that this white man is an elitist hitman assassin, I've no real world example to compare with his, but it might be clear to see that this type of race are good assassins. Black people are often stereotypical associated with gun crimes, only if they are portrayed this way in games, I'm not saying that white people are all hitmen and black people are all gang members, I'm saying they are often portrayed this way.

Aside from the pages with actual content in magazine there is also a lot of adverts of new video games. I will research some of these advert to find some concepts and key features that I would replicate in my own advert.In this advert from Grand Theft Auto San Andreas we can see some key features with race representation that make it clear this is advertising a new game, with some concepts including gangs, guns and cars . How? The imagery is clever chosen to reveal some but not all of the game, the main picture has the GTA art style so it is familiar with the series when people see it, they’ll now it’s a new game in the series. The main image has a colour man sitting on a car, would usual people do this? They certainly wouldn’t do this holding a gun. Its these images that suggest that the game will be out crime and gangs, so if the audience member looking at the advert are fans of these genre see this they are more likely to want to find out more. They can find out more by reading further down in the advert and seeing a website. The race representation of a black man holding a gun builds on the stereotype of black crime stereotypes. If they are interested they will remember the advert for later and search it, though nowadays they can search for it on the spot, or in some advert can scan a QR code which will take them straight to the site. The main title is almost a logo, this font and style is used on every GTA game so again if you see this you’ll know its to do with GTA. The screenshots are similar to the kind you'd find at the back of a video game cover screenshots to show some highlights of the game, and further the audience interest in the game. Form these pictures taken form the game that show the possibilities you can have make you more likely to wan to play it. Finally there are logos of the companies responsible for making the game, as well as an age rating. To make my own advert realistic I would add logo similar to these as they are fundamental in making a real looking advert.

In this video game magazine advert I have chosen to analysis an older advert to see if there are any differences and to see if the features are similar with today's adverts. And for the most part it is. The background is very 80’s were you see a dozen people, who address the target audience cheering almost as you would at a wrestling arena for the game Mortal Kombat suggesting that you would cheer when you play the game. the most visible thing in the game magazine advert is the logo, which has a fiery orange colour scheme behind the Mortal Kombat Logo, not only the firs thing to catch the eye of the audience but also lets them know it is about Mortal Kombat. This advert isn't necessarily about the game itself, we can see this from the title, ‘Prepare Yourself, Mortal Monday September 13’ I don’t know what this was, but I’m interested, I'm being told to prepare myself, which is intriguing my interest, I'm getting excited for the prospect of a mortal Kombat themed event. This thought process goes through almost every fan’s head when they see this text, it is successfully making them want to find out more. Below this are the game consoles involved, in the 80’s these were the game consoles of the time and didn’t necessarily have logos like we have today, so instead they just name the games. In my own magazine advert I would use the logos, I'm making an 80’s theme for the art style, but it needs to look realistic as if it belongs in this time period. Does the group of men represent gender as games only being designed for men? Not females, this is potentially what the picture is representing.

This is my favourite game magazine advert, its so simple and yet its imagery perfectly reflect the game, what its about and what its advertising. This in particularly is a screenshot or Assassins Creed 2. I knew this form the moment I found it, not only because of the fact that I am a huge fan of the franchise so seeing the hidden blade ready to assassinate a Templar aristocrat makes me all the more interested. Any other fan of the assassins creed franchise will see the hidden blade and know its assassin creed, you do not even need the title of the game, its simply the hidden blade as if this wads the logo, the effect of having intriguing imagery for a game. The Templar in question is probably someone you’ll assassinate some of the advice wont care who he is and see him as a target, others will want to find out which historical figure it is. Its really perfect how the forts kind of audience will almost see them selves as the assassin, and it helps that the screenshot is almost a first person perspective of the assassin making his kill, ergo you can become this assassin and make this kill. There is a website in the advert like others so you can find out more about the game, and many of the audience will want to. Beside this is an age rating, again something that makes the game realistic. In my own game advert id like to gave this simplicity but id require something so iconic like the hidden blade to have a successful advert.

This advert is another 80’s advert for Atari, not a game but a video game manufacturer, and its really clever. The imagery and the pun together make a really witty statement that would make the audience want to find out more about the Atari. Beside a huge pile of Atari games is a picture of a the Atari console and an 80’s TV, and above this the large tile “No other video game stacks up to Atari” in other word no other game company will match Atari. I could attempt to replicate this wit in my own advert though it would have to be original and relative to my video game. In the background of this advert appears to be a car, and to be brutally honest it could mean a list of things, though I don’t know, so when I saw it I had to google Atari to see if I could make sense of the car. So the advert had been successful on me, maybe not for the reason it intended but the image in that background that mystifies the audience may make them want to find out more, which is the intent of any advert.