Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Videogames - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Our second videogames CSP is Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004).

This is another in-depth CSP so will require significant work and research for an extensive blog case study.

The basics

• First-person action-adventure game produced for Nintendo GameCube (2004)
• Part of Metroid franchise – 7th game in series, sequel to Metroid Prime (original Metroid was 1986 on NES; latest release was Metroid: Samus Returns in 2017 on 3DS)
• Sold around 800,000 copies worldwide (quite low based on Nintendo franchises and previous Metroid games) 
• Game follows bounty hunter Samus Aran as she is sent to rescue Galactic Federation Marines
• She must battle the Ing (a destructive race from another dimension) and a mysterious version of herself called Dark Samus
• The game’s head-up display simulates the inside of Samus’s helmet and features map, radar, health bar, weapons and more
• Prime 2 Echoes is the first Metroid title to feature a 4-player multiplayer element

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'Metroid Prime 2: Echoes case study' and complete the following in-depth tasks.

Language

Analyse the game cover for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (above).

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

The colour scheme as it usually connotes game genres such as action and adventure.

2) What does the cover suggest regarding gameplay and audience pleasures?
A sense of diversion to divert the audience from the real world. It also offers multiplayer gameplay

3) Does the cover sexualise the character of Samus Aran? Why/why not?
Samus Aran it is hard to tell the gender of the character as she is covered in a suit

Trailer analysis

Watch the trailer for the game:




1) What do you notice about genre?
Clear evidence of a sci-fi genre.

2) How is the character introduced? Is Samus Aran obviously female?
The gender of Samus Aran is not clear at all in this. Although through the movement it makes it more clear that the character is female.

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

There is repetion of the clear genre for this game. Difference being the female character is shown to be more masculine.

Gameplay analysis

Watch the following gameplay clips again:

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

First person shooter2) Write an analysis of the media language choices in the construction of the game: e.g. genre, narrative, mise-en-scene, camera shots etc.

The character allows the narative to through while the player uses it to pass through the levels.3) Analyse the clips for audience pleasures, applying audience theory and considering media effects.

The first person shooter allows the narrative to carry on.

Audience

Research the audience for Nintendo and specifically the Metroid franchise, including Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. You may wish to start with the following pages:

Reddit discussion of why people play Metroid

Giant Bomb forum: Who exactly is Nintendo’s demographics?

Reset Era: Nintendo’s audience getting older

1) Who might the target audience be for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, based on your research? Discuss demographics and psychographics.

Young male adults

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

Their target audience has changed in to a more of a family audience.

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

Diversion for the audience from their everyday to day life and linear narrative.

4) What effects might Metroid have on audiences? Apply media effects theories (e.g. Bandura’s social learning theory, Gerbner’s cultivation theory). 

The way the gamers think about conflicts would change.

Read this Gamesparks feature on gaming demographics and answer the following questions:

1) Who is considered to be the stereotypical gamer?

Young teenage boys mostly.

2) What has changed this?

Games on smart phones now allows other audiences to be able to access the games.

3) What role do women play in the videogames market? Quote statistics from the article here.

50%- female gamers

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

Older gamers play video games and will be more likely to invest money into games,

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

Competition' and 'rivalry based' games are enjoyed more by younger gamers but then the older generations would not go for that.
Industries

Read this Destructoid blog on the Metroid franchise. Answer the following:

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

Nintendo brand offers different genre games the opposite of Metroid.

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

• Federation Force 
• Xeodrifter 
• Axiom Verge 
• Ghost Song 

3) Why does the writer link old boy bands from the music industry to the Metroid franchise? Do you agree with this reading of the brand?

That desires can change over a time period.
4) What is an ‘AAA’ or ‘triple-A game’ in the videogames industry?

Term 'AAA' refers to the game that has been produced and distributed by a mid/major publisher.

Representation

Read this BBC3 feature on Samus Aran and answer the questions below:

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

Metroid was notable for the character of Samus Aran.

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

The film 'Alien' it was inspired by Mario and Zeida.

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

Depending on how fast they finished the game they have diffeent endings.

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?

Male audience would have had a lot of pleasure because of the male gaze and more motivation to finish the game quicker.

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

She wears heels which sexualises the character of Samus Aran.

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

Audiences think that Samus was male character because of the character's height and other features.

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

Samus Aran is a transgender.

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

She is seen as a feminist icon as she is portrayed as brave.
Read this Houston Press feature on Samus Aran and entitled male gamers. Answer the following questions:

1) What does Anita Sarkeesian suggest regarding Samus Aran?

Reveal of Samus is a trophy for how well the men's skills are.

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

Samus's character also referred to her as a "new half" which parallels to the English term "shemale."

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

She is still sexualised , she still represents females in the video games.

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

As they were sexualised.

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

SJW-gender politics = Social Justice Warrior gender politics

SJW = 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’? 

The more we consume the media, the greater the influence and impact that is has on us,

7) Does the videogame industry have a problem with gender? Provide evidence for your argument.

I think most genres with action have a male protagonist as its stereotyped like that. They should maybe have more females to make it more equal in the industry.