Media Blog (11/22/13)

For our group project we are focusing on consumer technology, mainly things that people use in their everyday life. We decided to focus on iPhones, gaming consoles, and the Twitter IPO. I have been following articles on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 throughout the semester. Today I searched for our topic in some international news sources.

For one of these sources (Al Jazeera America) my particular topic was nowhere to be found. I think that this is because Al Jazeera is more focused on political and global impact stories. While they did have a technology section on their site, it was mostly filled with more global perspective and tended to focus on “Middle East” topics. However I was able to find an article on the Twitter IPO, which still surprised me since  Twitter seems to be globally used and instrumental in some aspects of the Arab Spring.

On both BBC and The Guardian it was very easy for me to find articles pertaining to the X1 and the PS4. I think that this is because the audience for both of these news outlets are more concerned with the release of these two systems while the audience for AL Jazeera America would not be concerned with the release of the console.

On BBC there was a slew of articles on the X1 and it’s release. The article that came up first was about the Global Launch that took place today. This article mainly focused on the efforts that Microsoft has put into launching the Xbox One and how despite the early release of the PS4 in the US, that the X1 actually has an advantage in the UK since the PS4 isn’t coming out till the 29th. Many of the other articles on BBC were reviews of the console and the games that are coming out for the X1.

The Guardian was very similar to BBC in terms of content related to the consoles. There were many reviews and first impression articles and videos for both the Xbox One and Playstation 4. However The Guardian did have some more interesting stories related to the release of the X1. One article in particular was how two men were mugged after purchasing their consoles. After buying their consoles at a midnight launch two men were mugged as they were loading their newly bought Xbox’s into a van. The article then went on to say that officials had warned shoppers to be extra vigilant if buying a new console due to the high demand of the consoles.