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Watch 2 Players' Minecraft documentary for free on YouTube
2 Player Productions uploaded Minecraft: The Story of Mojang to YouTube over the weekend, so if you've got a spare block (guffaw) in your schedule, now you've got a way to fill it up. Like when 2 Player brought its film to The Pirate Bay at launch, the docu-specialist studio asks for financial support through DVD and DRM-free download purchases. The 100-minute film explores the phenomenal rise of Swedish indie studio Mojang in its first year, featuring interviews with Markus 'Notch' Persson and other team members, as well as cameos from industry luminaries like Perter Moylneux and Tim Schafer. The film's arrival comes hot on the heels of Notch's star turn as a guest on The Late Late Show.
2 Player Productions uploads 'Minecraft: The Story of Mojang' to The Pirate Bay
So, you know how the Minecraft documentary Minecraft: The Story of Mojang premiers on Xbox Live today, and will be available for purchase on DVD tomorrow? Well, that world premier just become a bit less exclusive, as 2 Player Productions has uploaded its film to controversial torrenting destination The Pirate Bay."We wanted to come here first because we knew the movie would end up here eventually," the listing reads, "and the best thing to do seemed to be opening a dialogue. Torrents and piracy are a way of life and it probably won't be going anywhere anytime soon. There are many people that want to punish you for that, but we have a more realistic outlook on things."2 Player Productions goes on to urge torrent-folk to at least "consider" supporting its operations by purchasing the film, either digitally or on DVD: "We're just three guys trying to make a living doing what we love. We love the world of video games, and we love making it real. If you buy the movie, you support those efforts. The reason we Kickstarted this movie in the first place was that we didn't have enough money to make it ourselves, and even then, we still put A LOT of our own money into it."
Minecraft: The Story of Mojang hits DVD December 23
On December 23, Minecraft fans will get their chance to pick up a DVD copy of 2 Player Productions' documentary, Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. This follows its debut on your Xbox 360 this Saturday, December 22.The DVD will be on sale through Fangamer for $20, with the first 7,000 copies coming wrapped in a custom "dirt brown" case, and including a reversible cover and a code for a free download of the film in 720p HD. Otherwise, you can hit up the official site on Sunday and stream or purchase from there. But after you're done, get back to playing Minecraft proper – that massive lava tower isn't going to build itself.
Minecraft documentary world premiere on Xbox Live, Dec. 22
Minecraft: The Story of Mojang, a documentary from 2 Player Productions, will premiere on Saturday, December 22, on Xbox Live for Gold members in the US, UK, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal, Austria, France, Finland and Sweden. The documentary, strangely enough, tells the tale of Mojang founder Markus "Notch" Persson as he rises to indie fame with the development of Minecraft. It will air at 8 p.m. EST in the US and 8 p.m. CET in Europe on Saturday.The documentary secured funding through Kickstarter, raising $210,000 of a requested $150,000 in March 2011. 2 Player Productions isn't new to the video game documentary world, having produced films for Double Fine, a chiptune documentary called Reformat the Planet, and more. Check out the launch trailer for Minecraft: The Story of Mojang above and click the Minecraft tile on your Xbox Live dashboard for viewing times in your area.With Indie Game: The Movie and now this, gaming has officially entered the realm of sans-serif white letters and Sundance hipster chic. Good job, everyone.
Minecraft documentary building towards December 7 release date
2 Player Productions is laying the foundations for a December 7 release of its Minecraft documentary. Speaking to Eurogamer, Minecraft: The Story of Mojang director Paul Owens said that while an exact date hasn't been settled on, December 7 is the aim. After getting the documentary funded on Kickstarter back in March 2011, 2 Player also committed to a similar production for Mojang's upcoming Scrolls. The Oregon-based production company has a strong history of gaming documentaries, having made videos for Double Fine, Sony, and Penny Arcade among many others.
Ask Tim Schafer anything this Sunday
Double Fine has raised well over $2 million on Kickstarter, and in exchange it's given you these minutes of unintentional amusement. Well, you'll eventually get a video game and stuff too, but enjoy these bloopers from the developer's Kickstarter pitch video for now.For amusement of a more informative variety, studio head Tim Schafer will host an "ask me anything" thread on Reddit this Sunday from 1-3pm PST (4-6pm EST). Don't ask him about all his hilarious bloopers, though, just in case he's really embarrassed by them.
2 Player Productions also crafting Scrolls documentary, first part now available
When they're not busy producing work for Penny Arcade or working on development house documentaries, the folks from 2 Player Productions are also slicing off choice cuts of tape regarding the legally embattled next game from Mojang Specifications: Scrolls. The documentary group's website recently revealed the first of several pieces that make up the entire Scrolls doc, featuring interviews and footage from inside the studio. As expected, Mojang co-founder and Minecraft lead Markus "Notch" Persson makes a few appearances, but the focus instead falls on Scrolls lead Jakob Porser, who 2 Player describes as "long-time friend of Markus "Notch" Persson and co-founder of the company." The first clip, seen above, delves into the germination of the project, the team, and eventually the legal battle brought forth by Bethesda regarding the name, Scrolls. Especially interesting, Porser notes during the clip that "Minecraft isn't just a great game, it's a Cinderella story," when asked whether he thinks Mojang will be able to overcome its first game's success with future projects. "Even if we do the world's best game after Minecraft, it's not gonna be a Cinderella story," he admits. But perhaps a well-publicized legal battle with a monolithic corporation will help, we imagine.
That Minecraft documentary you helped fund is moving along nicely
Back in February, the gaming community stepped up and pledged more than $210,000 to fund a Minecraft documentary from 2 Player Productions, makers of the rockin' chiptune doc, Reformat the Planet. The new doc, Minecraft: The Story of Mojang is a more subdued, Swedish story, but it still has plenty of action, as a batch of new screenshots demonstrate. 2 Player is interviewing the Mojang team, influential game-industry veterans and, of course, school children. Grab a sneak peek at the documentary in still-life below, or watch the 20 minutes of actual film that inspired gamers to donate $60,000 more than 2 Player asked for in the Kickstarter campaign.
2 Player Productions looking to build player stories into Minecraft film
Has Minecraft changed your life? If so, you probably work at Mojang, and are therefore already in 2 Player Productions' fan-supported documentary, Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. But if you aren't a newly minted Swedish millionaire and still feel that the game had a huge impact on your life, 2PP would like to hear your story. The company put out an open call for fan stories today, for possible inclusion in the film. " They may take it to unexpected places and push the limits of its design; or they may find the game itself changing their lives in unexpected ways." If you believe you have the perfect Minecraft story, and you can tell it in 350 words or fewer, send your tale of awesome times to minecraft@2playerproductions.com.
See 20 minutes of the Minecraft documentary, then help finance it
Today, 2 Player Productions, the company behind the chiptune documentary Reformat the Planet, along with the first season of Penny-Arcade: The Series, opened a Kickstarter page to fund development of its next film, Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. Since opening the site this morning, it's already raised $17,278 of its $150,000 goal. We wouldn't be surprised if Notch himself wired a payment from his secret base on the moon. If you'd like to help 2PP get this movie made, the Kickstarter page offers some appealing bonuses, including autographed DVDs, posters, and even wind-up Creeper toys. If you pledge $2,500 or more, you get "an actual pick axe mounted on a custom display stand signed by the staff of Mojang Specifications." Along with the Kickstarter page, 2PP released a 20-minute preview of the film to GameTrailers. You can watch it after the break.
2 Player Productions working on Minecraft documentary
Independent documentary outfit 2 Player Productions is making quite a name for itself with it's gaming oriented films -- you've probably already seen one of their works; a list which includes Reformat the Planet, season one of Penny Arcade: The Series and short behind-the-scenes videos for Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch Productions. The group is adding another high-profile name to their list of subjects with their next film: Mojang Studios, the creators behind the indie blockbuster Minecraft. We'll have to wait until next month before we can lay eyes on the film, but 2 Player Productions uploaded a few production stills to get the ball rolling. It might be too soon to say, but we're pretty sure that we're going to ... dig it?
Reformat the Planet DVD arrives at (more) retailers December 7
The DVD version of Reformat the Planet, 2 Player Productions' chiptunes-centric documentary, has been available through some obscure online channels since this past summer. However, folks hoping to receive it as a gift from a not-so-tech-savvy relative should have better luck in a couple of weeks when select retailers, including Amazon, will begin carrying the film starting December 7 -- making it much easier for Uncle Grandma to find the movie, wrap it and place it beneath your chosen holiday's gift-hiding object. The DVD, which includes two discs' worth of bonus features, director's cuts and commentaries, will cost your beloved holiday shopper $25, which seems like a fairly reasonable price to pay for a movie capable of making you dance forever.
'Reformat the Planet' chiptune doc on DVD this month, Laserdisc version slated for 2012
It's no secret that we love chiptunes around here, so we'll just go ahead and say that we're super stoked about Reformat the Planet, an in-depth look at one of the few groups of people we can unequivocally say are geekier than we are: those who make music with Game Boys, NES's, and C64's. 2 Player Productions has combined footage from the insane Blip Festival with up-close-and-personals with some of our favorite retro-gaming musicians -- Nullsleep, Glomag, Tugboat and Bubblyfish -- for a thorough portrait of the rapidly-growing scene. A little art, a little science, a lot of awesome. The 2-disc set is out on August 24th, but for now, you can check the trailer (which includes an introduction to square-wave moshing) after the jump.
Chiptune documentary 'Reformat the Planet' on DVD August 24
Reformat the Planet is a documentary by 2 Player Productions about the 2006 Blip Festival and the artists who helped put it together (and then played a bunch of amazing chip music on stage), including Nullsleep, Glomag, Bit Shifter, Hally, Anamanaguchi, and more. 2PP just announced the date for the long-awaited DVD release: August 24. The two-disc package includes the original movie, as well as a "Reformat the Planet 1.5" featurette that follows up with the next couple of years of the New York chiptune scene (a clip of that can be found after the break). The discs also have music videos and songs from some of the included artists. In addition, 2PP partnered with Fangamer to create some lovely merchandise that can be purchased in bundles with the DVD. If you want to look like a person who knows a lot about music made with Game Boys, you can buy a shirt, square buttons (how is this possible?), a poster, and Blip Festival DVDs and CDs. Then you can watch the movie and actually know a lot about it!
inFamous 2 video goes behind the scenes at Comic-Con
Remember those excellent mini-docs on the original inFamous from 2 Player Productions? The team recently produced a behind-the-scenes video on inFamous 2, focusing on the game's comic book influences -- just in time for Sucker Punch's panel at this year's Comic-Con.
2 Player Productions' inside look at Sucker Punch raises dev diary bar
Here's a fun, recently discovered fact -- people who make video games are ... people! We know, we know. Stop the presses! This fact came to our attention in the form of 2 Player Productions' recent three-part developer diary for inFamous -- though, really, inFamous isn't the centerpiece of their work. It's about the minds behind the game: The charismatic, hard-working folks from Sucker Punch Productions. It's a great piece of work -- the diary and the game are, that is -- and we've posted it after the break for your perusal and enjoyment. So ... peruse! Enjoy!
