Production Research:

Production research is the research that goes into producing the game and how they make the game, this could be done through looking at history if the video game is based in the past, and also if the game is based on a historical event or if its based on some kind of civilization.

Assassins creed is a video game which is perfect for production research as it is based in the 1100's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9zvmnMwIeU

A video of the making of Assassins Creed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvQXjsPbps8

that video looks at the how assassins creed was made, with game engines and also looking at the history of assassins, and how the game works with structures and how the system of the game works, so through historical research assassins creed was able to look at when and where the game is based, Ubisoft Montreal also looked at location research to show the structures in the game, how they look, and what the areas would've looked like in the places that they are based.

Organisational:
defining the goals(so the objectives/missions for the game)


Technical research:
this could be to do with, how realistic the game is, if its based on true events, how historically accurate it is, what platform it will be released on e.g. Xbox 360, Ps3 etc. and also the animations in the game.

Casting:
This type of research will be for things like casting voice actors, and finding out what the people may of sounded like and getting the right people for the voice acting.

Storyboarding:
this part of production research is made up of different parts:
Writers(who write and make the story)
Scripters(think about the gameplay and what it will look like/play like)
Copy writers(scripts for voice actors/actors)
Map creators(people who make the maps)

With marketing game companies also need to look at other video games coming out at the same time as their video game so they know what kind of competition they have, but marketing is also to do with getting the game out into the market by advertising it and they also need to think about how much they will spend on marketing.