Academic Theory of Convergence and its Relation to the Xbox Experience Introduction

Academic Theory of Convergence and its Relation to the Xbox Experience

Henry Jenkins, one of Americas most respected media analysts described convergence in 2006 as “the technological, industrial, cultural and social changes in the way that media circulates within our culture” (Jenkins, 2006). Now with the recent development of the Xbox360’s new integrated dashboard technological convergence has been taken to a whole new level beyond simply competing with friends in video games around the world. Users are now able to complete a variety of daily tasks such as engaging with friends through their social networking sites (Facebook and Twitter), streaming movies with friends around the world (Netflix and Zune) engage with what was previously believed to be an “old media technology” through listening to digital radio (LastFM) and watch sports and television (ESPN, SkySports and Foxtel). These new Xbox live experiences show how far convergence has come and how staying connected with a variety of networks has been made possible by one device. This report aims at analysing the potential of the Xbox as a home entertainment system and how it has become the theoretical ‘black box’ that academics have theorised. The report will further contemplate the repercussions that such a device has on society (more particularly gamers) and what it means to have access to various forms of media through one device.

Developments in the gaming market similar to those above have led Sony employee Phil Harrison to categorise games under the new title: Game 3.0 (Kennedy and Wilson, 2007). This new category marks a new set of technologies (as mentioned above) and also the development of user generated content which can be seen by the Xbox channel dedicated to what they refer to as “indie games”. Indie games give users the chance to engage in a new form of participatory culture where they are invited to create and circulate new content that they may find interesting. Through this Xbox creates a form of sub-culture of gamers who have the ability and desire to edit and create culture in hope of generating discussion, publicity or even make some form of income (as Xbox allows its users to maintain the rights and even pay them for the games that they make available online). Essentially Xbox’s Indie games experience is not simply a gaming experience but something more social as users are able to take part in this participatory culture and create experiences for themselves and other gamers (Cross, 2007).

Xbox’s experience is not free and they use the subscription model in order to keep users consuming and paying. The standard Xbox Live Gold Member subscription costs $US79.95 for twelve months and allows the user access to all the perks that Xbox has to offer. This model is used to ensure the longevity of Xbox and make sure that as long as users are using they are paying. Microsoft and there developments in the area of convergence (integrating; Netflix, social networking sites and user generated content into their consoles) has created a true next-generation gaming experience. These new game 3.0 experiences will have lasting effects on the way gamers interact with their gaming systems and communicate with the others. However it isn’t enough for the Xbox experience to simply converge these multiple forms of media into one console, they must ensure that the quality and legitimacy of the various media forms are adequate to guarantee adoption and continuous use by users (Huang, 2008). This need to ensure legitimacy and quality is echoed in Jenkins belief that there will never truly be a central ‘black box’ which fulfils all the entertainment need of an individual (Jenkins, 2006).

The next line of posts from Vincent and I will outline the Netflix, globalised gaming and the social media aspects of the Xbox 360 and analyse their potential to fulfil the needs of individual users and if they make the Xbox experience into a ‘black box’ able to fulfil all the entertainment needs of an individual.