NSF Funded Machinima Study

The cold dark lens of academia is about to be turned on machinima makers.

A study into large-scale collaborative works has been funded. One of the study subjects is WoW machinima?

Perhaps someone should invite them to the Machinima Expo?

Myndflame Machinima

The brothers have remade a Starcraft 2 trailer in World of Warcraft, shown most impressively in this side by side comparison.

Full version embedded below.


Besides the obvious visual quality difference, is there anything missing in the machinima/modelviewer/Maya3 version?

The other impressive thing is this quote from NewTeeVee, which I had not heard of before:

Known professionally as Myndflame, the Hackleman brothers have developed a lucrative career from their machinima; Clint tells me the projects earn them $50,000 to $100,000 annually. Adhering to Blizzard’s rules around machinima, the brothers don’t sell DVD copies or downloads of their Warcraft movies, but instead monetize them with online ads and CD sales of the movies’ soundtracks.

Are there other WoW machinima makers who are monetizing their creative products?

Apparently Machinima Is Still Cool

And the fad just won't die. Two examples:

Waltz With Bashir used animation for most of the length of the documentary. Perhaps they should have done a mixed format like this machinima "The Rescue Of The Lost Battalion" which utilizes footage from the Go For Broke National Education Center along with machinima clips from The Movies.

Noted because the makers will be at this upcoming conference in LA.



The other is a combination of the Max Payne story and World of Warcraft into a 25 minute machinima made by Blackhand Pictures.

Prologue:


Max Payne - Noir Undercity Prologue from Varath on Vimeo.

Episode 1:


Max Payne - Noir Undercity Chapter 1: The Darkness Inside from Varath on Vimeo.

It's even got the self referential film noir clips playing on the TVs that were inside the game Max Payne! Great fun! I haven't seen the Max Payne movie, but this is probably much better.

I'm telling you, this thing has got legs.

Blind

This WoW machinima is impressive not only for the animation, but also for the story which apparently has some WoW lore behind it.


The Craft of War: BLIND from percula on Vimeo.

Now if only you could throw in a smile and a sneer.

Is Blizzard The Pixar Of Videogames?

Blizzard announces Diablo3 (never played Diablo1 or 2).

Pixar has just released Wall-E. This sounds like a Pixar movie I might actually want to see. Very little dialog, Roger Deakins as a virtual cinematography consultant, apparently wonderful sound design, and robots (I have not seen it yet).



One important difference: Pixar produces few sequels whereas Blizzard seems permanently stuck in rehashing their past efforts. Why? They have enough damn money to strike out for something new, so why don't they?. After playing and reading about GTA:IV and Rockstar (WSJ article here) that seems rather conservative. Now would be the perfect time for Blizzard to do something completely novel. Is this because they're tethered by a MMORPG that requires constant maintenance unlike the other two companies who basically produce one-off products? Are MMORPGS a creative drain even if they can be cash cows?

BTW, as far as I know Pixar has never produced a dud (9 features and counting?) and I don't recall Blizzard producing any subpar games either (maybe something before Warcraft II)?

Somewhat related is this fan made movie, UnstuntedII that uses exported WoW character models to produce animation you will not see in game. Interesting twist on the typical machinima workflow.


Unstunted - Vol II from James Dunlop on Vimeo.

Also vaguely related is this new WoW tool that allows far greater control of in-game camera controls. This could be a very interesting development.


World Of Warcaft Machinima Tool from Mads Lund on Vimeo.

And somehow I missed this, but the winners of the invitational contest have been announced. In the machinima section:

"The machinima movie contest winners are:

• Best movie: Olibith
• Best Editing: Olibith
• Best Special Effects: Daniel Wasiluk
• Best Scenario: Raphael Daniel"

Congrats to the winners!

Pointless question goes here:

So which would you rather be? A Pixar or Blizzard employee? Or neither, hacking the system from without as shown in the last two clips?

World Of Warcraft Account Issues

Apparently a third party accessed my account (or so Blizzard alleges), and changed my account password. This is amusing since I have not played World of Warcraft in over a year. Why does Blizzard still have my account information at all? Here's some fun information regarding the access.

Please review the World of Warcraft Terms of Use (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html) which states in Section 6 [Security of Login Information] that "You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Login Information, and you will be responsible for all uses of your Login Information, whether or not authorized by you."

That's funny. I'm not legally responsible for unauthorized access of my credit cards. Why should I be responsible for unauthorized access of my WoW account?

Their brilliant solution is to lock the account and request that I send in even more personal information (government issued photo identification) in order to get the account unlocked. I could care less about the account. What I'm worried about is access to the personal information in my account.

All of this from a company that actively searches active programs running on your computer when WoW is running and is trying to expand copyright definition in the courts.

I wonder if there is any legal recourse.

Virtual World Documentary

Two documentaries I found out about recently, both having to do with virtual worlds.

This trailer for "Second Skin", is about some of the interesting events going on in virtual worlds (dating, addiction, gold farming, etc.). The trailer shows a lot of scenes from World of Warcraft.

This series, "Wonderland", from the BBC is about cheating in a virtual world (seems to be about Second Life).

Virtual worlds are beginning to have a very real impact on other media. The topic of virtual worlds is becoming more frequent in broadcast television (let alone cable TV) and not just in journalistic or documentary settings. I've now seen several episodes of sitcoms or copudramas referring to SL or WoW.

I can see where this is going

WoW MMovie

Haven't seen this anywhere, maybe I missed it.

Stealth Films has released a trailer for their WoW MMovie, a parody of many popular films using World of Warcraft. The press release states:

This film-making process, called "Machinima", has been done before on many platforms, including WoW, but MMOvie will be the first full-length theatrical machinima film.

Is that true? Are they really going for a theatrical release? Before Blizzard's own WoW movie (of course, that will be live action)? If so, that's bloody impressive. If so, then they must have some sort of agreement/deal with Blizzard.

Full Stealth sounds like a guerilla film making studio, some commercial work, video remixing, etc..

Stealth Films MySpace channel.
Interview at DigiMag.
Interview at Livid.

WSVG Brings WoW To Esports

Hmmm...massive multiplayer roleplaying online esports game?

WSVG announces one of their games for the upcoming year will be World of Warcraft 3v3 arena battles (best of 5 - via Amped). Interesting choice, but so are the others on their list: Q4, Guitar Hero? and Friday Night Round 3 (a boxing game) as primary games with $750 K in prizes. I suppose they are really differentiating themselves in the somewhat crowded esports scene. This announcement comes hot on the heels of MLG's PR on their $1 million prize structure for Halo2 and Rainbow 6.

In fact along with the olympics of esports, the WCG, and the newcomer CGS, there's actually not a lot of overlap in the games selected. Is saturation about to hit? How many video game tournaments and different games can the public actually support?

Murkilla - WoW/Movie Monster Mashup

Murkilla is a brilliant mix of monster movies and WoW. Short version available here (YouTube). It was part of a longer 10 minute video released by AFKplayers.com as the #1 movie (YouTube). Start watching at about the 6 minute mark if you're strapped for time.

For more RPG fun, check out the RPG Motivational Poster Site. This one is my favorite:

World of Warcraft and Men in Black/Bitfilm Festival

This short trailer for MiB II done in WoW is hilarious. The same YouTube user (Gnomechewer) also redid a Geico advertisement using WoW. Both videos are well done and put together.

In festival news, Bitfilm is now open. They have a machinima section, and the deadline is June 15, 2007, so plenty of time for you to submit.

World of Warcraft and Classical Literature

I never would have guessed that WoW and classic lit could be mentioned in the same sentence, but apparently a WoW player used the game to produce a machinima of The Pardoner's Tale (one of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales - via Metroblogging Azeroth, originally on WoW Insider) for his high school english project. It's not very well done, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Hey! Would students be more interested if you used today's media such as games and machinima to increase interest and participation in the old classics? Would this help as a study and function aid? Could this benefit those who don't have the time/money/space to put on plays themselves without having to build expensive sets/costumes in an auditorium/theatre?