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WoW Moviewatch: Happy Up Here
Happy Up Here is the new machinima by that maestro of Gnomes, Baron Soosdon. He spelled out the premise of the video best when he said, "So, I was flying around in Elwynn and found this lonely little house in mountains. It had no residents so that had to be changed!"Happy Up Here shows the same inspired music choice as the Baron's previous works. According Soosdon himself, he's not done "area creation" before this video; he just wanted to make a video that would help folks smile. Considering the laughs and smiles the gnomes seem to be having, I think he succeeded. The little gnome resort he's created looks like it would be a rolicking good time, complete with dance space, rockets, swimming pool, bars, and more.This is definitely a fun video to watch, though I could see some folks might be confused if they're looking for something like Little Nikita's action. This video just doesn't work that way. It's a short vignette of fun, and just meant to be enjoyed in its bite-sized lightheartedness.If you have trouble with the YouTube stream, you can also see Happy Up Here on Vimeo or WeGame. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
WoW Moviewatch: A.D.I.D.A.W.
Some days, it's a little slow in the world of WoW machinima. Other days, I log in to my email and find out we're starting the week with a Baron Soosdon machinima. Which is, frankly, awesome. The good Baron got a tip about this song from his YouTube activity. He was drawn, motivated, and compelled to create a signature machinima for it. Thus was A.D.I.D.A.W. born. After hearing the music, how could you not empathize with the frenzied, holy compulsion to put gnome-to-screen for this song?The song in A.D.I.D.A.W. is a take-off from Korn's A.D.I.D.A.S.. This musical re-creation is the brainchild of the band Electric Sex Pants. And, man, they really do hit the sweet spot for lyrics. All day I do, in fact, dream about WoW. I admit I've not been into scream metal for a while, but these guys just "did it" for me.The video story itself is pretty awesome. I don't want to give it away, because the action is totally worth the watch. I'll summarize as best I can. Some horde are mistreating gnomes, in a wide variety of ways. But at the end, the song ends, and the abuse stops. Then, a little revenge comes their way. (No pun intended.) The graphics and animation are all clean and sharp. The action is easy to follow, and instilled with enough "whoah, cool" to make you want to reroll a Gnome. As always, I'm thankful to the Baron for continuing the people's revolution, making gnomes cooler and cooler every day.You can find multiple options for a video stream at the good Baron's blog.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
WoW Moviewatch: No Point: Stretching Time trailer
Soosdon. With a name like that and the skills he has, any machinima or even a sneak peek at his machinima deserves mention. Today on WoW Moviewatch we'll take a look at a trailer for his new work No Point: Stretching Time.I'm going to put on my fanbois hat for a minute and say that everything this man does is golden. I really only started following machinima when I began writing for WoW Insider, and at that Soosdon's The Device Has Been Modified really got me into it. So with this trailer we see a gnome fighting some bad guys. Adal is in there, along with some spirits of resurrection. A brief kiss between some gnomes and more epicness. The quality of the trailer is what you'd expect from Soosdon – professional quality that is nearly as good as what you'd see on the big screen.Take a look at the trailer, and keep your eyes out on Moviewatch for when the full length machinima hits.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
Wednesday XBLA update adds Carcassonne 'King & Baron'
Sierra and Microsoft have revisited the grid-based fortified town of Carcassonne, as the XBLA rendition of the popular European board game has gotten a new downloadable expansion titled "The King and Baron" as part of today's regular XBLA update, which also includes block dropper Tetris Splash. With an asking price of 300 Microsoft Points ($3.75), the download is the second such expansion following the already available "River I & II," and adds a set of five additional tiles described as 'interesting configurations of Town pieces,' as well as pair of new rules. We're not exactly sure what they mean by "interesting" ... perhaps they glow.The new rules are designed to award those players with either the largest city or the longest road at the end of the game with a pair of icons placed next to their avatars and Gamertags. But it's not just for looks or bragging rights, no sir! With this expansion, the player with the biggest city, identified by a newly added 'portly' King icon, will receive one point for each completed city in the game, while the player with the mightiest of roads, denoted by a 'crafty' Robber Baron, will take home one point for each completed road in the game -- and you know how much we love to pile up them points.
WoR previews Zul'Aman
World of Raids has posted everything they know about Zul'Aman, the next 10man instance due in patch 2.3. Tigole has said that Zul'Aman is coming to the PTR next week, so if your guild is a big fan of the PTR, you could be headed to the Troll city in the Ghostlands very soon.They've got pictures up of four of the bosses, and info about the two last bosses, Hexlord Zin'jakk and Zul'jin himself, that we'll fight together. The first boss (whichever one that is-- I thought it was the Bear boss, but that fight seems more complicated) is supposed to be easier in terms of raid coordination, but Zul'Aman is definitely a continuation of what's going on in Karazhan, according to Blizzard. They say the difficulty will start around Nightbane or Prince and head upwards from there. Also, as we've heard, Zul'Aman will have a timed quest similar to the Baron Run, where you can try doing the instance quickly to earn better loot.Exciting stuff. I usually stay away from the PTRs, just because I like seeing stuff when it's released live on the realms, and any progress I make in the PTRs is eventually lost. But 10 mans are always fun, and I love the Zul instances, so whenever the PTR hits this week, you just might find me there taking down Trolls.Thanks, Atryd!
XM vehicle to showcase real-time "infotainment"
Although XM's supererogatory features that compliment the actual music transmissions have been available for awhile, the company is apparently going all out to demonstrate its latest inclusions at CES. Dubbed the "infotainment" concept vehicle, this mysterious whip will reportedly feature the "first personal weather tracking system for GPS navigation," which is intended to compliment XM's real-time traffic service (NavTraffic). The system is designed to focus on weather patterns for your specific route, and also provides short-term forecasts to help you decide whether the scenic route would suit you better. Partnering with Baron Services, XM plans to bring the WxWorx technology already used in "airplanes, boats, and emergency responders" to the comforts of your ride. Additionally, the company is set to showcase "in-car video systems" co-developed by On2 Technologies that can not only receive audio, but even video (sound familiar?) from the same satellites and ground repeaters that XM already delivers tunes by. Of course, we can expect to see a fleshed-out demonstration of the parking locator technology (dubbed ParkingLink) that has been in the works, and XM even plans to demonstrate a voice-recognition control scheme developed by VoiceBox Technologies. Notably, XM suggested that its weather-tracking system should be officially available "this summer," while the other introductions might just hold off until this whole "sorta maybe merger" thing gets ironed out.
Attempting Strat 45
I've had the quest for the 45-minute Stratholme run for a while now, but never managed to get a group together until yesterday. Having read about the run I was reluctant to try a pick-up group, so I jumped at the chance to join members of my raid group to rescue poor Ysida from the evil clutches of Baron Rivendare.Most of my usual Strat runs have been slow-paced, with careful pulling and crowd control, but this Strat 45 was very different. Our group composition was interesting; we had a mage tanking, a druid healing, with a paladin, feral druid and hunter as everything in between. It strikes me that an experienced and versatile group is really a must for the challenge, especially a group used to working together.
