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WoW's new Blood Elves arrive in update 6.1
Our sister site WoW Insider reports this morning that World of Warcraft's Blood Elves, left off the roster of races that received model revamps with the Warlords of Draenor expansion last November, will finally meet their new faces. Actually, it's just the bodies: The male faces aren't entirely done yet and currently share the same facial geometry. "While we're excited to share with you our progress on these new models, I do want to stress that the models, textures, and animations are not entirely finished. Bug fixing and iteration can and will occur, and that's where you come in!" writes Blizzard QA on the US and EU forums, soliciting costructive feedback. MMO Champion has full-size, head-to-toe bikini shots of both the female and male models because of course it does. Also arriving in update 6.1 are class tweaks, new heirloom gear, garrison expansions, follower mission fixes, and the chance to buy (with gold) those followers you missed while questing. The first iteration of the update landed on the PTR in early January; the patch's launch date on production servers has not been announced.
WoW Moviewatch: Pokerface
Volcano sent us this tip about Pokerface, the new video by Ayukyo. Volcano hints that Ayukyo could be one of Demachic's favorite machinimators. Whether or not that's true, I can certainly see how that might be the case. Ayukyo's style is light, friendly, and warm. While your mileage is going to vary depending on whether you like the main character Blood Elves, I certainly enjoy the sense of fun Ayukyo is putting in the video.Like I mentioned, Ayukyo describes "Pokerface" as the first video the author created using Sony Vegas. I think the animation is a little raw, but you can definitely see how Ayukyo is using the tool to expand the video over usual ingame footage. I've seen the card background in a few places, but nowhere as appropriate in this film. (It's a song about poker as an analogy, you see.) Overall, I like the video, and I'll be keeping an eye out for more by Ayukyo.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: Breaking
X Cross says that he created Breaking as a way to overcome his fear of Blood Elves. It's his first music video, which makes this solid, satisfying movie an impressive feat. ("Music" is the operative word there, since X Cross has obviously done other work.) I'm not sure I understand what he means by fear of blood elves. Maybe that's why his first video, Kippo's X-Mas, didn't feature that waifish mainstay of modern machinima. (I think gnomes would have been a wiser choice anyway, even if the model selection was based on some secret belfophobia.)Like I said, the video for "Breaking" is solid and satisfying. I'm not sure it vastly redefines anything about the way WoW rock videos work, but it definitely exemplifies the genre. The hardcore band members writhe appropriately on stage, and there's enough elements of "metal" to make me want to throw the horns. I like the lighting, the blur effects, and the prominent machismo of the characters.The backdrop "action" of the video features of blood elf woman seducing and killing several different men. She shape-changes from "fleshy belf" to "undead belf" several times. I think X Cross was wise to avoid completely explaining that action inside the video, as it lets the audience play with its meaning against the song's lyrics.Overall, this is a pretty good piece. I look forward to the next X Cross video.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: Britney Spears - Piece of Me
If you'd told me two days ago that I'd be featuring a WoW music video based on a Britney Spears song, I'd have called you a bloody liar. But. Well. Here I am, featuring a WoW music video based on a Britney Spears song. Real life is stranger than fiction, I guess. Check out Britney Spears - Piece of Me.This video was posted anonymously on Machinima.com. I didn't really expect a lot from the video. First, it was anonymous. Usually, that means the author is expecting to get flamed and burned for their efforts, and don't want to associate his or her identity with the piece. Second, the anonymous author also said it's a first-time-out piece, and that he or she is learning the ropes. Lastly, it's a Britney Spears song. I mean, c'mon.I was pleasantly surprised. No, shocked! While I can't say that I loved the song and that it's going to change the world, the quality of the video absolutely astounded me. The Blood Elf singer is an obvious choice to represent Spears, but the screen glows, white-outs, and effects are perfectly suited to the persona. The graphics and settings are well chosen and cleverly pieced together, exactly as I'd expect a Spears video to go.So, while this might not be your schtick, exactly, you've got to applaud the incredible first effort from this Anonymous author. Well done, and here's hoping for more. My only real note to the author is that you should go ahead and reveal your identity with this -- you've got some growing skills, and should be proud of what you've done.Click here to see it yourself!If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..EDIT: As commenter Stalwart has pointed out, this is a video first created by Demachic, and reviewed by Moo Money. Still, the video's worth another watch.
Cinemassively: In for a Penny Prologue
Selserene is going to be the "IT" girl of 2008. She took fifth place with her first Machinima during the Warcraftmovies Christmas Spirit Contest, then she got right back to work on her epic film noir, In for a Penny. It is going to be released in two parts, with the first being the Prologue. The second part has no scheduled release date yet, despite the poster in the movie showing Spring 2008. If you enjoyed the video, you can download the high quality version.The Prologue focuses on a lost girl that stumbles into a shady club. What she witnesses transports her into a black and white world where all is not what it seems. It looks like sex, lies, and murder are on the menu of IFAP. I can't wait![Via Warcraftmovies.com]
WoW Moviewatch: In for a Penny Prologue
When I first saw Selserene's Warcraftmovies Christmas Spirit Contest entry, I knew that she would be someone to watch in 2008. Her latest video, In for a Penny: Prologue, certainly doesn't prove me wrong. The editing is brilliant, the storyline is engaging, and well, it's just awesome. As always, if you liked the movie, you can download the high quality version.When a clueless blonde ends up in the wrong part of town, she uncovers a seedy underworld like no other. A seductive belf temptress lures a strapping belf lad to bed, which leads him to discover a body outside. When the police arrive, he is falsely arrested for the crime.It's a little too convenient if you ask me. Hell hath no fury like a belf woman scorned. I guess we'll have to wait for the movie to come out this Spring! [Via Warcraftmovies.com]Previously on Moviewatch...
Spiritual Guidance: The shadow diaries
As you might expect for someone who writes a Priest column, my main is a priest. I've been Holy for quite some time (enough that it's starting to make me feel old), and I feel like I know the Holy game play style pretty well. I even leveled Holy from 60 to 70, shortly after Burning Crusade came out, and it was a blast. And I love healing. But lately I've been hearing the call of the dark side: I want to play Shadow.But this leaves me with a conundrum. I can't really get my Shadow on without abandoning (albeit temporarily) my Holy nature. Or can I? After all, we get up to 50 characters per account; there's no reason I can't delete one of those level one alts I made to talk to somebody for a story and make a brand-new priest, destined for Shadow, instead!So that's just what I did. I had other motivations, of course; just wanting to play Shadow probably wouldn't be enough to get me to trudge through the 1–60 levels yet again. I've never played much Horde, so I'd like to see how the other half lives a bit. I've never played a Blood Elf at all, and I'd always heard those zones were well designed. And I wanted to hang out with some people on their server, which would mean rolling a new character anyway. Several factors conspired, and Hieronymus of Draenor was born (that link is giving me an error right now, but I assume it'll go away).
Breakfast Topic: Azuremyst or Eversong?
By this point, even inveterate Alliance players like me have gotten a chance to check out the Blood Elf areas, and presumably Horde players have looked at Draenei too. There's no question that both Azuremyst Isle and Eversong Woods, as well as their associated next zones, are very well designed. In fact, they may be a little too good: the quests and quest rewards make the old-world starting zones look a little shoddy. I'll be highly tempted to roll Draenei whenever possible for my new characters in the future. (The excellent racials don't hurt, of course.) How do you think the starting zones stack up, both with respect to each other and as compared to the old-world zones? I have to say, I like Azuremyst a little better than Eversong, but then again, I did play it first, and I do have a bit of an Alliance bias.
Breakfast Topic: Who's the fairest of the elves?
Here's a simple question to start your morning off right: which is more attractive, Blood Elves or Night Elves? Personally, I'd have to go with the blood elves (though that's probably because they look more human). I believe this male Blood Elf is from before the models were beefed up; be sure to take that into account.So how about it? Would you hit that, and if so, which one(s)?
