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Rifftrax app takes the guesswork out of syncing jokes to film
For fans of snarky, alternative film commentary, Rifftrax has long been a haven of amusement. For only a few dollars, one can hear MST3K veterans Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett rag on classic and modern cinema. There was only one problem: syncing these audio tracks to the actual movies could be a minor nightmare. Fortunately, those days seem to be behind us: the group's new RiffTrax app will do it for you.
Joystiq Presents: RiffTrax versus Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Mega Man and Sonic
If you're a product of the late 80s and early 90s, or if you're a Netflix junkie, you may have heard of Mystery Science Theater 3000. For ten seasons, the series perfected the art of poking fun at terrible movies with its biting and hilarious commentary.Years later, Mystery Science Theater 3000 alums Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett have continued their important work of making us laugh with RiffTrax.Today – finally – the hilarious team at RiffTrax takes on the video game industry. Teaming up with Joystiq, the RiffTrax team pokes fun at our selections from Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog, and Mega Man 8.For more hilarious videos, make sure to check out the RiffTrax website and their official YouTube channel.
The Gunstringer gets level commentary (a la Mystery Science Theater)
Twisted Pixel is taking a page from the script of TV's Mystery Science Theater 3000 -- and its web heir, Rifftrax -- for some of the bonus content in its upcoming Kinect shooter, The Gunstringer. Designer Dan Teasdale dropped the news on the developer's blog, saying that the team was inspired to create "full commentary for the entire game" by the spirited online riffing given to Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). "It's not just us talking about making the game," Teasdale says of the commentary. "Much like how some of the best Rifftrax are the ones that have special guests, we've asked some special friends of ours to comment on specific plays in the game." The identities of the guests may be a secret, but we already know one possible candidate: Troma's Lloyd Kaufman, who's already been signed to play the role of a reporter in the game's live-action sequences. Of course, the developer could go all out and get the master of riffing, MST3K and Rifftrax's Michael J. Nelson, to contribute -- something sure to get fans of his work all MSTy-eyed. Whoever's involved in them, the commentary tracks will be unlocked using in-game currency, after which, Teasdale says, "you'll be given the option to turn on the soothing voices of either us, or (more likely) our awesome special guests!" [Note: not an actual gameplay image]
RiffSync for Mac perfects RiffTrax from the MST3K gang
RiffSync (US$9.99) in the Mac App Store has found very clever way to perfect RiffTrax, ... but before I get to the Riffsync app, you might need a little background about RiffTrax. If the names Gypsy, Tom Servo, Cambot and Crow T. Robot sound familiar, you know about Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). The premise was that Joel Robinson was trapped in space on the Satellite of Love by Dr. Clayton Forester and was forced to watch horribly bad movies, mostly science fiction stinkers. With the assistance of four robot pals, Joel (later replaced by the show's head writer, Michael J. Nelson) and the robots provided running commentary as the movie played. A large cult grew around the show. After the show was canceled, some of the MST3K gang created RiffTrax. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett and a host of guest riffers sell audio tracks (usually about $3.99 each) to be synced with movies, bringing the MST3K experience to a huge catalog of current films. By running the film in the DVD Player application, VLC, iTunes or a physical DVD player, and simultaneously playing the MP3 RiffTrax in iTunes or QuickTime Player (if iTunes is playing the film), the guys recreated the art of skewering movies for the current generation of bad movie enthusiasts. Though the results are hilarious, syncing the RiffTrax to the movie is a challenge. RiffTrax tries its best to help by giving you a chapter listing of how the RiffTrax relates to the film. They even give you a DisembAudio robot narrator that repeats a line in the film every so often to help sync. This can be tricky when you're trying to figure out whether the movie or the RiffTrax is slower. If you want to pause the movie, you have to pause the film and the RiffTrax audio separately. RiffSync solves this audio-sync problem and gives a few additional options to improve the movie experience. Read on for a full review of RiffSync.
