Metroid Prime 2 : Echoes

Language

1) How does the cover communicate the genre of the game?

The game's action/adventure genre is easily communicated through the strong typography and colours. This is reinforced once further by action codes like the weapon.

2) What does the cover suggest regarding gameplay and audience pleasures?

The third person act conveys a sense of control, which we may associate with Rigby.

3) Does the cover sexualise the character of Samus Aran? Why/why not?

Because Samus Aran wears a metal suit that doesn't enhance any body parts, the primary character isn't oversexualized.


Trailer analysis

1) What do you notice about genre?

The soundtrack is quite intense, as one would expect from a sci-fi game or film with explosions and gunplay sound effects.

2) How is the character introduced? Is Samus Aran's gender clear? Why?

The protagonist is introduced as a hero who emerges from the darkness to halt evil and save everyone.

3) How can we apply Steve Neale’s genre theory that discusses “repetition and difference”?

Many sci-fi games include an outer space backdrop as well as weaponry, therefore Neale's repetition and difference theory could be applied after viewing the trailer. (violence)

Gameplay analysis

1) What does the gameplay for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes involve?

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes has battle and puzzle elements in its gameplay.

2) Write an analysis of the media language choices in the construction of the game: e.g. genre, narrative, mise-en-scene, camera shots etc.

Through the big spaceship-like outfit, the costume promotes the game as a sci-fi game. For the most part, the camera is in first person, giving the impression that the player is Samus Aran. Through panning, the camera moves similarly to a film camera.

3) Analyse the clips for audience pleasures, applying audience theory and considering media effects. 

Some of the audience get a sadistic pleasure as a result of killing their opponents.


Audience

1) Who might the target audience be for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

Strugglers and adventurers are the major psychographics attracted. The users are primarily between the ages of 25 and 34, with 86 percent of the audience being male. 

2) How has Nintendo’s audience changed since the original Metroid game in 1986?

Nintendo's  audience is becoming older, which means that older generations are buying and playing their games as well.

3) What audience pleasures are offered by Metroid Prime 2: Echoes or the wider Metroid franchise?

As the action-heavy sci-fi game offers diversion, nostalgia is also supplied to elderly players who would have enjoyed the original game.

4) What effects might Metroid have on audiences? 

 Children could develop aggressive behaviour from playing according to Bandura's social learning theory.

Gaming Demographics

1) Who is considered to be the stereotypical gamer?

The steryeotypical gamer is young males.

2) What has changed this?

Because everyone now has access to games thanks to the growth of mobile phones, this demography has shifted.

3) What role do women play in the videogames market? 

In opposition to 37 percent of males, almost 42 percent of women reported they had an Xbox or a PlayStation.

4) Why are older gamers becoming a particularly important market for videogames producers? How can you link this to the Metroid franchise?

Because people's gaming habits don't vary much as they age, the possibility to target sequels to older generations who have built a sense of nostalgia with the initial game exists.

5) What does the article suggest regarding audience pleasures and expectations for different generations of gamer?

For various generations of gamers, the audience pleasures are nostalgia and action.


Industries

1) Why has Metroid never quite fitted with the Nintendo brand?

The game was sci-fi intensive and didn't match with Nintendo's fantasy games that they were always making, and it attracted to a more niche audience.

2) What franchises have overtaken Metroid in the sci-fi hyper-realism genre in recent years?

Halo, Mass Effect, and now No Man's Sky have occupied the territory where Metroid formerly reigned supreme on the NES and SNES.

3) Why does the writer link old boy bands from the music industry to the Metroid franchise?

Metroid is depicted and likened to a band since it was founded in the 1980s and has devoted followers who play every game they release.

4) What is an ‘AAA’ or ‘triple-A game’ in the videogames industry?

AAA is an informal classification used in the video-game business to categorise games created and distributed by a mid-sized company that often has bigger development and marketing resources than lower tiers of games.

5) Do you think there will be further Metroid games featuring Samus Aran?

AAA is an informal classification used in the video-game business to categorise games created and distributed by a mid-sized company that often has bigger development and marketing resources than lower tiers of games.


Representation

1) What was notable about the original Metroid game in 1986?

Samus Aran, an alien bounty hunter, first introduced to players in Metroid. Those that completed the game quickly enough were in for a surprise when Samus revealed herself to be a woman at the conclusion.

2) What were the inspirations behind the gameplay and construction of Metroid?

The game was inspired by past Nintendo games such as Zelda and Mario.

3) Why are the endings to the original Metroid considered controversial?

The original Metroid endings are problematic since players might see the main character in far less clothing if they completed the game quickly enough.

4) What reaction do you think the reveal of Samus Aran in a bikini would have got when the game was first released in 1986? Have attitudes towards women changed?

The male participants would have been astonished and may have disliked the notion that Samus was a woman. They may have had voyeuristic pleasure, though, because they were heterosexual guys.

5) How have later versions of the Metroid franchise sexualised the character of Samus Aran?

The character of Samus Aran has been sexualized in subsequent editions of the Metroid series, since the suit she is wearing is smaller in various areas, emphasising her body.

6) How can we apply Liesbet van Zoonen’s work to Samus Aran and Metroid?

Gender, according to Liesbet Van Zoonen, is produced through media language. This relates to Samus Aran since the way her body is designed alludes to her gender. She also said that objectification of the female body is an important aspect of Modern culture.

7) What did Brianna Wu suggest regarding the character of Samus Aran?

Brianna Wu proposed that the character Samus Aran be transgender, demonstrating the game's attraction to all genders.

8) Do you see Samus Aran as a feminist icon or simply another exploited female character?

She defies traditional stereotypes and serves as a role model for young women but Samus would be a feminist icon if her body wasn't showed off at the end, displaying her in a bikini.


Samus Aran 

1) What does Anita Sarkeesian suggest regarding Samus Aran?

According to Anita Sarkeesian, Samus Aran is abused because the faster you complete the game, the more clothing you see her take off.

2) Why does Brianna Wu (and others) suggest Samus Aran may be transgender?

Brianna Wu and Ellen McGrody created an article for The Mary Sue claiming that Samus is a transwoman rather than a ciswoman. 

3) Why is Samus Aran useful for male gamers trying to argue videogames are not sexist?

Male players utilise Samus as a counter-argument to the notion that video games are sexist, citing Samus as a solid example of a bad-ass woman who can hold her own in a video game and never has to be rescued.

4) Why are Lara Croft, Zelda and Peach not ideal examples to argue for female equality in videogames?

Lara Croft and Peach are not appropriate examples to present to advocate for gender equality in video games since they are all either over-sexualized or a damsel in distress who always has to be rescued.

5) What does the ‘SJW’ in ‘SJW-gender politics’ refer to?

Social Justice Warrior

6) How can we apply Gerbner’s Cultivation theory to representations of women in videogames as discussed in the article? How might this lead to ‘entitled male gamers’? 

We may apply Garbner's cultivation theory to representations of women in videogames because, through time, we have developed a belief and perception that women in videogames are the one who has to be saved.

7) Does the videogame industry have a problem with gender? Explain your opinion on this question and provide evidence for your argument.

Gender is an issue in the videogame business, since most individual female characters are portrayed with hypersexualized qualities to adhere to male desires.