Addressing Audiences

The magazine I will be looking at in this document is issue 132 of the PlayStation Official
Magazine. In this report I will be into how the magazine has been put together to appeal to
the audience of PlayStation fans and gamers.

Selection of Content
Words
On the cover of PlayStation Official Magazine (POM) there are
words like Theyre Back! and World-first, these words are very
snappy and allow the reader to skim over the front cover and see
what will be inside the magazine. The words World-first play
make it seem like the news it is presenting is exclusive to that
magazine and will definitely appeal to the gamer audience, which
will make the audience want to buy it.

Inside the magazine I can see that there are many quotes used
throughout the magazine itself. For each different section of this
issue there have been different quotes that link to each section, like how in The Last of Us
Part II section there are quotes about the trailer for the game. These quotes seem like
theyre trying to look deeper into the trailer and trying to see inbetween the lines and find
out what the story of the actual game will be. The quote As she strums through the valley,
every trembling note hints at a deep-seated conflict, this quote shows that the person this
quote is from is looking really deeply into the smallest details of the trailer to find out any
information they can and to help them come up with their own theories for the game. A
quote that better shows a theory forming is on the next page where it states Joel doesnt
appear to be covered in blood, which is somewhat strange. To understand the quote fully
the reader must have played or seen the first game of this series as they will know from the
story that the character Joel is covered in blood throughout a lot of it.

Images
On the front cover of this magazine is a huge image and title of the game Yooka-Laylee. As
this magazine is really aimed a lot at people that actually play video games religiously and
want to know more about games, in the gaming community this video has been talked
about a lot recently as it was a Kickstarter project that has become a full popular game. The
game was themed off a very popular old 3D Platformer called Banjo-Kazooie this had many
people excited for the game, therefore POM used this to their sales advantages and put it on
the front cover to show the audience that the game will be a main focus of the magazine.

Throughout this magazine there are lots and lots of images

used as gaming is a very visual hobby and they want to
portray that in the magazine by showing graphics from the
games they are talking about. There is more than one image
on each pages of this magazine, this allows the reader to get
more depth out of the magazine when reading it as they can
see that games that it is talking about. In the Crash
Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy section, images are used very well
here as there are lots of different images from the game. This
is because the game being
talked about is a
remastered version with
much higher quality graphics so POM want to show this
aspect of the game off so that on its release it will
possibly get more sales.

Another way this magazine uses images is in its

advertisement pages, there are a few pages within this
magazine that purely advertise one game that is due to be released or already been released
so that more people want to buy that particular game. There is even a double page spread of
a graphic advertising the game The Last Guardian.

Sequences
Looking at the sequences within this magazine I can see that
the publishers have still kept the overall visual theme as they
have set it out so that there is a heading explaining what that
particular page/s will be about. On one side of the page there
will usually be a set of graphics taken from the game the page
is focusing on so that the reader can have a look at how the
game will look when playing it. The text within these pages is
set out in columns like a news article so that it is easy for the readers to see and
understand.

Colours
On the front cover of this issue of POM the main colours used are
bright yellow and purple this is because the magazine is trying to
make the rest of the front cover fit in with the background image so
that the magazine look sleek and professional. Even though the
background image is very bright and
colourful, the colour of yellow still
stands out against it. The purple
text over the yellow background
blocks makes it very easy to read which is great for
when the magazine is one the shelf of a shop as the
buyer can just look at the front cover and automatically
see what they can expect in to read inside the magazine
itself.

Inside the magazine colours have been used in a particular way I havent seen before, they
have been used to split up different sections of the magazine but in sort of a design way not
a practical way so each section has a different colour to keep the reader entertained. You
can see this in the way that pages 8-21 have a yellow colour theme, then pages 22-23 have a
pink colour theme and how pages 24-25 have a blue theme, as they are all different sections.

Fonts
All headings and headlines within this magazine and front cover have
the exact same font but the way to tell them apart is actually the way
that the publishers have used the boldness of the text in different
ways. An example of the different boldness technique is is from the
front cover in the image to the right. Inside the magazine there is also
another font added in which the font for the main body text. It is
actually a very common font, it looks somewhat like the font used on
this document as you can see from the example. I think the decision on that font was a good
choice as it very easy to read in a small size and it gives each piece of a text a sort of
newspaper feel as it is similar to a newspaper in the way it is giving the reader news on new
games.

Construction of Content
Narratives
Within
this
magazine
there are
many
different types of narratives that are shown. This
magazine has many different types of articles within it.
One of the first and main types of article you will see is
a normal 2 page article, these 2 page articles are used
to portray information on new PlayStation games to the
readers in the example to the left you will see a 2
page article on a game called Hitman. The
article has a huge picture cover just over one page
of the spread, this is to attract the reader to
look at the article as the character in the picture
is highly recognisable to any mediocre gamer. On
the other side of the page will be a short article
either advertising or talking about something
new to do with that particular game, in this
case it talks about additional DLC
(Downloadable Content) being released around Christmas time. The OPM also do a few four
page spreads detailing a new game (these spreads have the same sort of set up). This
magazine is very good at getting the target audience involved with the magazine and
ultimately the PlayStation company as a whole as each magazine present a different task
for the reader to do if they please. In this magazine there is a Readers Most Wanted page,
in where the reader is asked to go online to the link presented and vote for their top 5
favourite PlayStation video games that have/are going to be released. This will allow the
company to see how many people actually like what games; it could be considered a method
to gain audience feedback.
Layout
The OPM unlike some other magazines has a mixed layout, its
sort of half and half, some about 80% of 2 and 4 page article have
a similar if not the same layout, this is so the magazine itself looks
a lot more professional and polished. The layout of these articles
are designed to be aesthetically pleasing as most of them have at
least 1 page that is full of images relating to the article as you can
see in the example. The articles themselves are actually quite
small compared to magazine like Heat per say. I think that, as a
gamer myself, I enjoy the articles not being too long as I like to
know the details of what Im reading quickly instead of reading a
lot to find out just one small detail. A strange thing that the OPM
does that I have never seen on any other magazine ever is that
the page numbers are in the middle of the page, this is because the magazine itself is
actually bigger (in dimensions) than most other magazine therefore the publishers felt they
should raise the height of the page number.

Another different style of article that this magazine

does is called an Eagle-eyed Analysis, these articles
actually take one game, usually upcoming or just
released, and analyse is in major detail. The thing that
is different about this type of article is the way it
presented to the reader. The only word I can think of to
describe how this article is presented is fast this is
because I feel the information is shown in a very quick
way as in a lot of it is in bullet points or in just a few words. There is a small article in the
bottom left corner of this spread that gives a quick overview of what the game actually is.
There is one huge graphic that covers both pages, this graphic has bubbles of information
coming off it. These types of articles are very good at selling a product as the publishers can
get the needed information across to the reader.

Captions
The OPM is very good at attracting the readers attention through the use of captions,
whether that caption be a headline, sub-heading or picture. One of the best examples of an
effective headline is on page 10 where the headline is Is Resident Evil VII too much in
VR? for a start, the fact that this headline is actually presented as a question will make the
 reader think about the
answer to this question and
therefore
make them
want to read
on. There is one
image in
this
magazine that stands out to me and that is the image of Ellie a character from one of the
top rated game in all time The Last of Us. The news of the sequel to this game was
released to the public just a few weeks before the release of the magazine. The picture used
here will attract nearly any gamer to read on in this article as they will think there will be
more information on the game in it (which there is). On the opposite page to this image is a
headline, 260 weeks later, this headline actually tells the reader when the game is set,
it will be set 260 after the events of the previous game.

Anchorage
Anchorage is when the magazine is in the stage of publishing and the
designers put an anchor on the text so that they can move and place an
image somewhere within the text and the text will
automatically wrap around it so it is still readable. When
looking at anchorage there isnt many examples to find as
most of the images used in this magazine are on their own
page opposite to the text. My first example is on page 58
where there is an image of Ellie splitting up the two separate columns
but as you can see the text actually moves to fit around the shape of her
body, this is how I know that anchorage has been used. There is also a
smaller example of anchorage where it has been used on a picture of the
characters from Yooka-Laylee, it has been used on the text so that it wraps around Yookas
hand.
Codes and Conventions
Linguistic
As this magazine is aimed at an audience that plays video games, some of the words used
within the articles are taken from gaming terminology. Words like DLC and HUD are used
when talking about a game, both of these words are abbreviations of words, DLC stands for
Downloadable Content and HUD stands for Heads Up Display. Some of these articles
also talk about frame rate in words like 60 FPS some people may not understand what
this means but people who are into gaming will know that it means how fast the console
can portray the graphics on the screen.

Visual
The visual style of this magazine changes throughout just like the colours
do in each section. A great example of a comparison is in the Yooka-Laylee
section and the Street Fighter V section as both sections have a very
different visual style. Both styles have been tailored to the style of each
actual game, the Yooka-Laylee section has a bright green background to
match the colour of Yookas skin. Yooka-Laylee is known for its bright
contrasting colours, so OPM have chosen to follow this style with that part
of the magazine as the text describing each in-game location is bright pink
against a white background.

Looking at the Street Fighter V section, I can see that the visuals have completely changed
in a way that they now match the style of the game. The colours are very pastel, which they
also are in the game, and each image is actually a drawn graphic, which is also how they
come across in the game.

Symbolic
This magazine only has one symbolic in it. A symbolic is something
that is used to advertise a product in the examples case it is a game
used to advertise a subscription to the OPM. With this symbolic if a
person gets a subscription to either the print or print+digital they
will also get a Street Fighter V pack for free. This includes the full
game, a key ring and thumb grips for the game controller. This is a
great way of advertisement for the magazine and to get readers to
subscribe to it.
Technical
There are many different technicalities within this magazine. There are different types of
articles and reviews. OPM uses social networking to get the readers involved on a social
level with the magazine. There is a section that talks about where the Facebook fans have
answered a question in a poll and it has been put into the magazine. There is also another
type of section called the opinion section where it has the opinions of writers for the
magazine on different topics.

Mode of Address
When this magazine is addressing the reader it is usually talking as a collective. This
magazine is an informative magazine and doesnt actually tell the reader how to do a
specific thing instead it portrays information to the readers

Audience Feedback
Focus Group
A focus group is a small, but demographically diverse group of people whose reactions are
studied especially in market research or political analysis in guided or open discussions
about a new product or something else to determine the reactions that can be expected from
a larger population. It is a form of qualitative research consisting of interviews in which a
group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a
product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging. Questions are asked in an
interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members.
During this process, the researcher either takes notes or records the vital points he or she is
getting from the group. Researchers should select members of the focus group carefully for
effective and authoritative responses.

Audience Panels
A panel discussion is a situation in which a group of people are gathered together to discuss
an issue, often to provide feedback on something, to brainstorm solutions to a problem or to
discuss an issue of public concern in front of an audience.
An example of a panel discussion is a TV focus group where a group of viewers is assembled
to give feedback to the producers on the show.

Questionnaires
A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other
prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. Although they are
often designed for statistical analysis of the responses, this is not always the case.
Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of surveys in that they are cheap, do
not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys, and often
have standardized answers that make it simple to compile data.

Trialing and Testing

Trialing and testing is where the audience uses the product for a short amount of time and
give their full opinion on it. This is used for feedback on a lot of video games in the form of a
Beta. A Beta of the game will be released to a small group of people and they will send
feedback to the company so they can change anything that is needed before the final release
of the full game.

Reviews
A review is an evaluation of a publication, service, or company such as a movie, video game,
or a book. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a
rating to indicate its relative merit. More loosely, an author may review current events,
trends, or items in the news. A compilation of reviews may itself be called a review.

Complaints
Most companies will have some sort of complaints system where you can contact them with
any complaints you have about one of their products so they can possibly do something
about it. For example the magazine I am looking at will have a way for people to contact the
publishers incase they have any complaints about miss use of images or text.
My Audience Feedback
To gain some audience feedback I held a focus group and asked the group some questions. I
first all asked the group Do you play video games? the average answer was just over half
saying yes. Next I asked If you saw this magazine on the shelf of a shop, would the front
cover make you want to pick it up? the average of answers I got was yes. I also asked what
would make you want to pick it up? I got mixed answers back from this, 2 people said they
would pick it up because by the title of the magazine they knew what it was and they would
want to pick it up anyway. Some people said they would pick it up because of the image of
Yooka-Laylee on the front and they already knew what the game was.