wow-machinima
Latest
WoW Moviewatch: Break the Trees
Break the Trees is a beautiful, cohesive music video; we don't see as many of these as we once did. Sharm provides the vocals, while the animation is created by Khayllys. The video is fairly short, only clocking in a little over two minutes. My only real criticism of this music video is that the blur and glow effect felt a little overdone. Don't get me wrong -- the whole thing was lovely. But there's only so much blur and glow a man can take before his head starts hurting. Even with that critique in place, though, I still enjoyed Break the Trees and fervently hope to see more like it in the future. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: I'll Fight For You
I love this video for a few reasons. I'll Fight For You is a guild tribute video by Antimatter (who did Colder), featuring music by Jason Derulo. The first reason I love this video is that I love heartfelt, honest, friendly videos that commemorate the friends and family we all enjoy in WoW. More importantly, I liked this video because it exemplifies a favorite aspect of machinima. While I like to think of myself as a fairly pop-culture-savvy dude, I don't know every artist, every song, and every cover created. While I obviously recognized the Toto sample, I've never been exposed to Jason Derulo. I really grooved to this song, and I loved the way it worked with the video. So now I get to enjoy a new artist, which is an added bonus to a video like this. All in all, nice job, Antimatter. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: WoW Meets Dubstep
I hear there's this dubstep music all the kids are into nowadays. Being an old man of questionable taste, I phoned some of the local teenagers for a primer. Their advice was to "listen for the drop." I kept listening for the drop, but I couldn't really hear it. Nonetheless, WoPairs created WoW Meets Dubstep as a way of bringing this newfangled music into good old Azeroth. I don't really know if it was successful, since I kept waiting for the bass line to stop gently weeping. If you have trouble making sense of this video, don't worry. It's meant to be random, I'm told. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Bring Back The Con
We've all heard the news by now: no BlizzCon 2012. For various reasons, Blizzard is eschewing the convention in favor of focusing on other priorities this year. While that's perfectly reasonable in most respects, missing out on BlizzCon is a bummer to plenty of fans. There's no way a big announcement like that could go by without some community discussion. Elysiam opted to lament the loss of BlizzCon in song with Bring Back The Con. I originally expected this video to be a webcam-fest, but I was pleasantly wrong. The musical performance is surprisingly strong, and the video does a great job evoking the feel a previous BlizzCons. While missing BlizzCon 2012 sucks, at least this video means something good comes from the change. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: RP-PvP events on Defias Brotherhood
This video is a roundup of various world PvP events on the roleplay server Defias Brotherhood (EU). While we generally don't do a great deal of PvP videos around here, this was enough of a unique snowflake that I wanted to bring some attention to it. A common complaint on official forums is that world PvP is dead. (For those who don't know, world PvP is the phenomenon wherein multiple characters flag and fight wherever they happen to be standing. Tol Barad doesn't really count.) I'm a big fan of this video because it proves world PvP is still viable; it can happen, if you're dedicated enough to getting out there and doing it. Thanks to Croftzi for the tip; I was really happy to see this video. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Racial Stereotypes
Work warning: Very mild cursing -- like, way mild ... but thought I'd warn you anyway. Wowcrendor tackles the seedy underbelly of player perception toward in-game races in Racial Stereotypes. Don't worry: this is purely trolls and elves and stuff, nothing about the real world. I admit I had that mild cringe at first, but it's just in-game stuff. I think the most painful part of this video was the number of people I know who actually line up inside Wowcrendor's stereotypes. The whole way through, I just kept thinking, "Yup, know him. And her. And her." I guess that's what makes it funny, but it definitely makes me want to go re-roll. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Soulbound
This video is an odd critter in our machinima lineup; it's a little exciting whenever I can say that. TauriMovies created Soulbound using Gigi's lyrics from the collaboration song also called Soulbound. So this is a machinima of a specific vocal track from a collaboration. How meta is that? The typography flows beautifully. TauriMovies captured this concept, fed it some grub, and made it his own. While I'm not sure how well the vocal performance works outside the context of its original track, the overall effect of Soulbound is pretty fun. You need to make allowance for personal music tastes, of course, but I think the end result is pretty awesome. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Mama Said Freeze You Out
I don't think it's any secret than I'm a child of the '80s. OK, technically, a child of the '70s. But my formative years of music preference were filled with plenty of LL Cool J. It's no surprise that Nananea's Mama Said Freeze You Out is a favorite of mine. Listening to the song is like sinking into a warm, fluffy blanket of my teenage music, just with Nananea instead of LL Cool J. Of course, even better than just a parody of the original song, Mama Said Freeze You Out is one of those rare, rare videos in which the Alliance PvPs the ever-loving snot out of the Horde. You don't get a lot of that. Most of the "I'm so awesome, Imma blow up your dog with my mad epic daggers" videos tend to be Horde-flavored. I guess that makes sense, since there was a time when the Horde racials were vastly superior for PvP, but it still makes treats like this video that much more delicious. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Quest: Impossible
Quest: Impossible is actually a few years old, but tipster Captain Guy suggested it for a re-watch. And since a new installment in the Tom Cruise vehicle has recently hit mainstream media, now's as good a time as any to take a look back at Quest: Impossible. The premise of the video is fairly simple. A crack team of Horde agents is tasked with blowing up portions of Alliance territory, most notably Stormwind itself. They seem to do a fairly good job, though some of the visual narrative is a little confusing. Quest: Impossible has a nice punch line at the end that explains why the Q:I team was sent in the first place. It's worth a laugh or two, although players who weren't around for world PvP in vanilla might need some translation. I'll leave that spoiler to commenters, since I don't want to ruin the joke here. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Burn it to the Ground
Work Warning: Burn it to the Ground has some suggestive language by Nickelback. Also, it's Nickelback. Let's get this out of the way: Yes, it's Nickelback. It's also the Horde band that was once L70ETC and whose name I can no longer realistically follow. I get it, OK? And while I really wasn't looking forward to featuring another video containing those two things, Burn it to the Ground managed to get my attention. RaddarFX says this is his first machinima. If he hadn't said so, I never, ever would have guessed. His control of the models, use of lighting, and general staging of the entire video is absolutely amazing, especially for someone new to the machinima scene. I'll admit the subject matter didn't make me jump for joy, but RaddarFX's actual execution is so skillful and impressive that I absolutely had to share this video. You can see it yourself over at Warcraft Movies. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: LFR Summed Up in 30 seconds
We all love the Raid Finder. I mean, it's pretty awesome -- you can go and do raids when you have time, enjoying a good chance of actually finishing the raid and grabbing some gear. The Raid Finder is the very definition of a Good Thing. Of course, it has the same drawback random 5-man groups suffer: the people. While most WoW players are fairly awesome and fun, you always get a person or two whose intense personalities make for a memorable instance. Wowcrendor tackles this subject with LFR Summed Up in 30 seconds. Take the time to check it out; just like the title says, it's only 30 seconds long. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: IRL - In Real Life
IRL - In Real Life is about one player's struggle with WoW addiction. While I normally get a little apprehensive when this subject gets brought up, I think the creator did a good job of talking about how he fell down a tunnel, got somewhat obsessed, and then pulled himself out of the hole. The video is incredibly smooth, well produced, and excellently narrated. I think the little in-jokes, clever, informative graphics, and carefully balanced approach is what makes the movie so effective. It'd be easy to go on a rant about how the game's never done -- you can't ever say you're "done" -- and so on. Instead, the narrator looked inside himself and found his own answers. This video won't be for everyone, but it's definitely worth watching. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Operation GnoVibrator Fury
Who knew? It turns out that Anonymous is largely made up of gnomes. That's probably not a surprise to any of us who spent real time with gnomish engineering. With all the recent talk of SOPA, PIPA, and Megaupload, the gnome members of the hacktivist community finally decided to take action. Working through Olibith, these gnomes have announced Operation GnoVibrator Fury. They are Anonymous. They are pretty small. They do not forgive. And most of the time, they do not forget. This is a super-short video (see what I did there?), but it's a lot of fun. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Mister Evil Runs for Office
Mister Evil Runs for Office is an older Oxhorn video, released a little over a year ago. While the video was a general political parody at the time, it's been on my mind lately as we all consider the ramifications of SOPA. Ostensibly, the video is about Mister Evil's doomed race to become dean of Evil University. When I watch the video, though, I can't help but think about the shenanigans, sound-bite politics, and general distasteful miasma that surround our elections. While the entire political speech is obviously fantasy and fake, Evil's words unmistakably remind me of actual, real-world campaigns. That's a scary thought. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Worgen of Stormwind
Baka Savant and Wicked Wood created Worgen of Stormwind long before the Gilneans all went fuzzy. It's an older video, but it still retains its charm. Even though the video uses the old mob model for worgen, it's still a whole lot of fun. I like the music, love the vocals, and I'm still enamored with this video. I wouldn't hate seeing an update to it, since we now have worgen as a playable race. That probably wouldn't be worth the effort, though, considering how pitch-perfect the rest of the video is. We can just use our mind's eye to sub in the player models for werewolves instead. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: WoW Hardware Store
Reader Kristen wrote us and said, "This is actually the very first machinima I ever saw. For the time it was made, it was quite sophisticated." The WoW Hardware Store has been around for a long, long time. It was released in 2006, six years ago. That means children who were born when this video was released are now in the first grade. The animation in the video was definitely sophisticated for the time, but I actually consider them sophisticated even now. That's because the animation, visual effects, models, and graphics all work together very well; the visual effect is pleasing and driven by the movie. The video has aged well. I guess someone could remake this video now, using all the new widgets and models put into the game to support the goblins. But I'm not sure it'd actually be any better -- just new. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: The Story of Dumass
Wowcrendor occasionally creates these background stories for NPCs. It adds a little flavor to the stories already in the game (kind of), and the technique really lets Wowcrendor show off his comedy chops. The Story of Dumass focuses on the NPC Dumass, one of three NPCs involved in Welcome to the Machine. In that quest, the player takes the role of quest giver, handing out goals to other adventurers. It's a very meta story, and Dumass really underscores the habits of some of our more challenged player peers. Given that Dumass is already a parody, creating a parody video of Dumass seems like a stroke of genius. Check out the video and let us know whether you think Wowcrendor succeeded! 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Exodar Disco
It's been about a year since we last featured the Exodar Disco by Greyfoo. I could be off, though; it's not like it takes a lot of work to get me to play Exodar Disco. Still, we get new folks around here at WoW Moviewatch all the time, and I want to make sure every last person playing WoW is familiar with this song. If it could ever be said that I have an Alliance bias, blame the Exodar Disco. Moon lights, grooves, and a talking disco ball. What more could you possibly want? I regularly grab a space goat and get my boogie on in the Exodar. I couldn't tell you what makes this video so brilliant. The song is awesome, the animation is wonderful, and the voice acting is spot-on. But plenty of videos have those things. I think it's something about the raw love and affection for the game, draenei, and disco shown in the performance. It's just all tone-perfect, as if the Exodar were solely created expressly so this video could happen. Enjoy, folks. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: The Hills Have Eggs
Work warning: There's some language in this video, some scary and violent scenes, but it's mostly comedy. Just be prepared. Wow. It's been a long time since we've seen a video like The Hills Have Eggs. Created by Olibith, this movie features an amazing cast of voice actors including Jesse Cox, Shockdingo, Nathalie Berggren, and Genna Bain. The music is by Cirkle, and the sound design is by Caruu. Sound like a big list of talent? It surely is, and the results show in the final product. Nominally a movie about some lost gnomes and the tragic results, The Hills Have Eggs shows off some of the most mind-blowing animation we've seen in a long time. The acting is fantastic, and the dialogue is creative and hilarious. Everything about this video reaffirms it as a professional, amazing movie. While I love all genres of machinima, it's a breath of fresh air to see something like this. I'll admit that I was worrying this kind of skillfully produced, cinematic machinima had been lost from the scene. I'm glad that Olibith has proven me wrong in spades. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: An Inconvenient Expansion
With all the panda jokes flying around, plenty of people are expressing some paranoia about Mists of Pandaria. It's way too early to tell whether those jokes are serious concerns or just the sort of knee-jerk hand-wringing that's common on official forums. This is not the first time critics have freaked out about an upcoming expansion. Lagspike Films created this parody video to shout out to those folks who feel every expansion is the death of WoW. If every expansion is An Inconvenient Expansion, when can we finally be happy? Just remember, Cataclysm turned out all right. Mists will be awesome. 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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
