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Cinemassively: Rage & Rapture
If it didn't contain color filters, it wouldn't be a Baron Soosdon film. Rage & Rapture is no exception, as he blends World of Warcraft and Unreal Tournament 3 to create a surreal party atmosphere. It is the story of an undead shadowpriestess that launches an attack on the Alliance, stalking them from location to location. However, it's hard to imagine that violence could look so good, as you find yourself immersed in a world that doesn't even resemble WoW!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
About the Bloggers: moo Money
Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers.What do you do for WoW Insider?I write the daily machinima posts for both WoW Insider, and its broader MMO sister site, Massively.What's your main right now?This won't make me very popular, but I actually don't really play WoW. I did for a while after it came out, but I'm not a very good grinder and it just got lonely.This is an outrage! How dare you write about WoW without playing it?That's actually a really good question. I got my start in machinima roughly two years ago when I was hired to promote it in Second Life, an oft-mocked virtual world. Through experimentation with machinima, as well as the education that I provided to others, I became known as one of the "It" people for machinima in SL. When Second Life Insider folded into Massively in November 2007, I volunteered to write the daily Cinemassively. After about 45 days straight of blogging them, WI asked me to do the same for WoW Moviewatch!Read on to find out more about the Notorious M.O.O. ...
Cinemassively: Thrall's Crib
Lagspikefilm must watch a lot of MTV. Not only did he parody MTV Cribs in this World of Warcraft machinima, but we're embarassed to admit that he got it down to the letter. Not that we watch MTV or anything. We're too busy playing and reviewing MMOs!There are too many great parts in this video to mention them all, but some highlights from Thrall's Crib include epic mounts, embarassing hair, and the mature manner in which he faces problems. Next time we're ready to upgrade our pad in WoW, we'll be sure to consult this video for ideas. In the meantime, enjoy the tour and the perfect camera work![Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Tunasushi
World of Warcraft's favorite naughty Frenchman, Olibith, has created a peace offering of sorts for the community. His latest film, Tunasushi, would actually rate PG-13! It is the story of a young man that has vowed to avenge the death of his family.If you're a fan of Olibith, it should come as no surprise that this machinima is very odd. He uses colors that pop, custom sets, and language that we're pretty sure isn't actually Japanese. While the ending is quite abrupt, we're hoping that means there will be a sequel!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: More Linden parodies
Apparently employees of Linden Lab are easy targets, because there are not one, but two parodies on the menu today! The first machinima comes from Crap Mariner, and it introduces us to his version of M Linden, who recently signed on as the new CEO of LL. In Crap's Second Life, he's a sassy little M shape with wandering eyes.The second spoof is another special episode of Bobby Lee Linden, everyone's favorite dimwitted, lovable redneck. This time, with the help of machinimator Code Tracer, he weighs in on the hiring of M Linden, as well as tips on using camera controls. Due to some adult content, we're just linking to the episode instead of embedding it. If you haven't experienced the madness yet, don't forget to add Secondlie on Twitter. With an average of over 50 tweets per day, the workdays will seem much shorter when you're laughing the entire time. Parodies have never been so good!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Now/Here
Tabula Rasa fan, JoeKcom, created a whole series of cinematic gameplay videos surrounding the sci-fi MMO. In this machinima, he takes on some big bad monsters to a soundtrack by Spartan Fidelity. While there doesn't appear to be a plot, it does give one a decent idea of what this game has to offer in terms of PvE. If you want to see the action up close, you can download the video, or check out our massive TR coverage!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Zee Linden discusses Linden Lab's finances on Metanomics
On April 21st, Robert Bloomfield, better known as Beyers Sellers in Second Life, held his weekly show, Metanomics. His guests, Mitch Wagner, of Information Week, and Steve Prentice, of Gartner, called the future of SL dire. John Zdanowski, also known as Zee Linden, then came on to address the points that Mitch and Steve made.In his two part response, he talks about premium accounts, the Lindex, and the recent lowering of land prices. Only time will tell if the situation is truly severe, but at least you can buy cheap* islands now!* Excluding VAT and $295/mo USD tier fee.If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Molotov Alva machinima contest
Last year, Douglas Gayeton made the headlines as Molotov Alva, the avatar that lived his life in Second Life. The series, of which only episode one was released so far, was sold to HBO for a whopping $200,000 USD. Now Cinemax is finally ready to air it, but first, they want to hold a machinima contest!Machinimators have from now until May 18th to enter. However, it looks like a popularity contest, as the community gets to vote for the top 10 finalists, with Cinemax choosing the top three. There are $3,500 USD in prizes being given away, though! For complete rules, check out the official contest page on Machinima.com.[Thanks to everyone who submitted this!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Flashdance SL
If the 1983 film, Flashdance, inspired you to don legwarmers and dance in place, then you'll like this video. Second Life resident, Faint Paulse, recreated the famous dance scene to an Irene Cara and Global DJs mix of What a Feeling. Personally, we're just glad that it was done in SL, one of the few places where women actually look good in spandex!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Suzanne Vega performs The Queen and the Soldier
This music video is straight from the archives, dating back to August 2006. Infinite Vision Media brought Suzanne Vega into Second Life for a special performance and interview. Despite setbacks, such as extreme lag from 80-100 people in the sim, and the guitar not fitting her frame properly in-world, she forged on. Among other songs, she sang The Queen and the Soldier, which Tao Takashi commemorated in machinima form. To this day, the emotions evoked by this video still make this blogger tear up.If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Hubert, the Caffeinated Baby Hawkstrider
Last month, we asked viewers what their gamer fuel of choice was. The answers ranged from Red Bull to tea. Now you can get your energy fix in World of Warcraft with Hubert, the Caffeinated Baby Hawkstrider!What makes this video particularly interesting is that it was created for a machinima class taught at the University at Buffalo. Their assignment was to make a caffeinated product commercial, and she actually won several Mana energy potions! As this form of expression becomes more mainstream, we wouldn't be surprised if machinima appeared on the big screen![Thanks, Allie!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Public service announcements with "Bobby Lee Linden"
(Warning: The video above is brief and tame, but the videos linked to this creator do contain some adult language and subject matter.)After the initial hype of Second Life died down, there started to be an intense backlash in the way the media reported on it. However, the residents stayed strong defenders of the virtual world. That appears to have changed over the weekend, though, as evidenced by Secondlie and Bobby Lee Linden.Both accounts are humorous parodies of Linden Lab and their employees. Secondlie mysteriously materialized on Twitter on Thursday night, and has amassed an incredible 300 updates, spoofing notices about everything from JIRA to the Terms of Service. Then this morning, someone released a series of introductions, as well as a cheeky first episode, for a King of the Hill-esque show with a redneck "employee" of LL. Which parody do you like better?If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Second Afterlife Cemetery
If you thought that joining Second Life meant leaving all your cares and worries at the door, you were wrong. Now you have to pay for cemetery plots in your virtual world too! We haven't seen something this morbid in SL since the coffin design contest last year.Lena Anthony and Rocket Flasheart aim to help residents move on to their third life, back to their first, or just honor someone they know that has left. From what we can tell, it's a little like buying an investment property in SL, except you can't use it unless you're dead, but you really don't die. To pay your respects to these undead, visit the Second Afterlife Cemetery.If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Toontown Friends Forever
Not only is the machinima hard in Toontown, but the gameplay is even harder! This free-to-play virtual world for kids doesn't appear to have a way to turn off the User Interface (UI). However, even then, you'd need a buddy code just to communicate with anyone to coordinate movements! These setbacks don't deter members of the community, though. There are over 4,000 Toontown videos on YouTube! In this music video, Friends Forever, dating back almost two years, ToonTownGeekFangs gives thanks to the world and friends that have kept them safe.If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Global Kids Kofi Annan Simulcast to four different virtual worlds
Global Kids has been quite busy with their activities this year! They recently streamed Kofi Annan receiving the MacArthur Foundation's first International Justice Award. Not only was this event special and meaningful in the first place, but it was also fairly unique in how far it reached. The award ceremony was broadcast to the web, Second Life on both the main grid and the teen grid, There, and Whyville! Could this be a glimpse of the future of event outreach? For more information, check out their site, Holy Meatballs!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Hogger goes to Undercity
Every now and then, we here at Massively want you to think of the little guy. For example, Hogger, the misunderstood gnoll. Despite being just a level 11 lowbie boss, he'll run with you wherever you want to go, which is exactly what Ganouille and friends did. They took him all the way to Undercity! While it may seem like an easy task, it was actually quite difficult due to random passersby killing him. Have you taken your (WoW) boss anywhere lately?[Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Inspire Space Park presents "Tormented Twilight"
We remember when machinima was very niche in Second Life. Only a handful of residents were creating it, and now there are probably more voiceover artists that actually cater to the SL medium than there were machinimators back in the day! However, they also appear to be branching out into other hobbies as well.Voicedude Renoir, the multi-talented avatar that he is, put on a special musical performance at Inspire Space Park. With Earth Primbee filming, he used his Roland D70 to entrance the audience as the camera moved around fog, fireworks, and a virtual solar system. If all live music shows looked like this, this blogger might actually attend one!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Persephone Milk interview
In real life, Tim O'Connor plays his keyboard, hoping to catch a break someday as a musician. In Second Life, however, he is Persephone Milk, a piano crafter. A local Fox station in Florida interviewed Tim to find out why he was in SL and whether it pays off emotionally and financially. While we applaud the news station for highlighting entrepreneurial residents, we do take issue with how easy they make it sound.Ever since the Anshe Chung press release announcing that she was a millionaire from SL profits, we've faced a barrage of sensational news reports about people making money. Sure, there are some residents who actually make a nice living off of the virtual world, but that's not even one percent of the population right now. The rest just scrape by, if they make anything at all. Of course, I'm sure most have realized that by now and continue to log in for the social interaction. We can only hope!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Real Biz in SL looks at Cisco
The mere mention of most businesses in Second Life can send residents into a fit of rage. However, at least one business has done something right. Cisco Systems has been in SL for over a year, and has no plans to go anywhere yet.On last week's episode of Real Biz in SL, Cybergrrl Oh got a tour of Cisco's four islands by Christian Renaud, who famously pledged that he would not travel by plane for the remainder of 2007 in order to help reduce airline-related emissions. After that, she asked him five questions. They even put the shortened Q & A up on the screen for you to read! If you haven't seen the show, you can check it out on the Second Life Cable Network.If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Invisible Threads, or the making of a virtual sweatshop
Yesterday, we took a brief look at the recruitment tactics of Double Happiness Jeans. Today, we'll check out the short documentary created for the art project, which was actually meant to simulate a sweatshop! In ten easy steps, they outline how to start the business, keep your employees happy, and where to go from there.Annie Ok did a great job with this machinima. Project producers Stephanie Rothenberg and Jeff Crouse will be hosting another mixed-reality event on Tuesday, April 15th. You can find more details on the National Art Museum of China website.If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
