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DC Universe Online releases the commentary edition of the cinematic trailer
DC Universe Online is entering a crowded field, but it's aiming to enter said field with both guns firing. The cinematic trailer alone is the sort of thing to make any long-time DC fan happy, showing a large-scale battle between heroes and villains in the vein of the best comic crossovers. In the new director's cut variant, however, Jim Lee and Tim Miller sit down to examine and discuss the trailer, from the large-scale goals of the video to the easter eggs that tie everything together. It's clear from watching the trailer and the commentary that the people involved adore the work they're doing and the source material, with everything from an homage to Kingdom Come to Batman's role mirroring the end of The Dark Knight Returns. Click past the break to see the full trailer with commentary, which is certain to point out pieces that you missed. If, on the other hand, you haven't seen the original DC Universe Online trailer, it's available on the official site.
The Queue: Getting ready for heroics edition
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mat McCurley will be your host today. Hey, I'm back! Blame Alex. Yesterday, heroics opened up for testing in the Cataclysm beta. Tonight, the epic quest to get absolutely destroyed by these dungeons begins! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday! Come one, come all. Witness the horrors, trials and tribulations of stalwart souls! The slaughter in the Stonecore! The battle in the Blackrock Caverns! Throne of the DIES ... The quite literal Deadmines! Hellish Halls of Origination. A truly Grim Batol! Uh... Vortex Pinna...culling? What do you want from me? It's early. Enough of that. Let's get on with some questions. There are some Cataclysm spoilers in a couple of The Queue questions this week, so be wary if you're avoiding that sort of thing.
Hyperspace Beacon: Testing the SWTOR waters
If you didn't know already, just over a week ago three writers from Massively, including me, traveled to Seattle, Washington for PAX Prime. During that time, besides catching the flu, we were able to catch a glimpse of some of the games that have yet to be released. We were able to play games like TERA, The Force Unleashed II, Guild Wars 2, RIFT, End of Nations, and many, many others. Some were pretty good; others, not-so-much -- but most seemed very polished and perfect for presentation. Of course, you all know I was there to see Star Wars: The Old Republic. I caught a lot of it. There were six of the eight classes available for demo at the gorgeous LucasArts booth. (BioWare did have a booth there, too, but the team was displaying some small game it was trying to get off the ground called Dragon Age 2.) Visitors had a chance to try out the smuggler, trooper, agent, bounty hunter, and both Sith classes. Because of the enormous lines that constantly encircled the booth, I was only able to play three of the classes: smuggler, trooper, and Sith inquisitor. For this edition of the Hyperspace Beacon, I will give you my impressions of the gameplay for those classes. However, I want to take a slightly different look at them. At E3, Massively's editor Seraphina Brennan was able to give her impressions of the smuggler class -- she covered the mechanics and so on. Although I will touch on the combat mechanics, I have decided to focus on some of the features BioWare is famous for: cinematics, character development, and overall storytelling. Follow after the break, and I will give you an honest breakdown of how SWTOR measures up to its predecessors.
SOE and Blur release DCUO story trailer
Sony Online Entertainment has just released a lengthy story trailer for its forthcoming DC Universe Online superhero MMORPG. Debuting early Saturday morning on GameTrailers, the massive video clocks in at over six minutes in length and features nearly all of the DC Comics notables, including Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Wonder Woman, the Joker, and others. The hyper-violent cinematic is the latest creation of Blur Studio, also known for its Star Wars: The Old Republic teaser work. The cinematic sets up DCUO's overarching story, in which the heroes team up with Lex Luthor to stop Brainiac and his latest threat to humanity. You can view the trailer, appropriately named "Who Do You Trust," after the cut or at GameTrailers.
The Daily Grind: What's your E3 highlight?
Whew! This past week has been a rollercoaster of craziness, a carousel of attractions and a mirror maze of sights from E3. We certainly hope you've enjoyed the coverage here at Massively, from interviews to exclusive peeks to mind-snapping trailers. As we all continue to sift through the mountains of E3 information, we'd love to know what you consider to be the expo's highlight, your own personal "Best of Show" award. Was it the brand-new trailer of the previously hidden Warhammer 40k: Dark Millennium Online? The exceedingly awesome new SWTOR cinematic? The in-depth look into DC Universe Online? Or perhaps you're a Marvel fanboy and Super Hero Squad Online's gotten you revved up? Could it be the exciting conversations with Final Fantasy XIV's devs? The Agency's PvP side or LotRO's brand-new zone? Or perhaps you found yourself charmed by one of the smaller titles, such as Forsaken World, Taikodom, Swordsman Online, Battlestar Galactica Online and Zentia? If you were asked -- and hey, we're asking you! -- what's your E3 highlight? Who gets the blue ribbon and who ends up empty-handed?
Wrath Retrospective: Lore and the art of storytelling
With the final content patch of this expansion on our doorstep and Cataclysm following close behind, we'll be taking the next several weeks to look back on Wrath of the Lich King and everything that made it what it is, for better or for worse, in WotLK Retrospective. Wrath of the Lich King wasn't just an expansion -- it was an experiment in progressive storytelling featuring story lines and lore that we haven't seen since Warcraft III. While Burning Crusade tackled new issues and races, it did little to further any of the Azeroth stories we'd seen in the earlier Warcraft games; Wrath took a step backwards to move the prior stories forward. Along with this change in direction, we saw the introduction of a few things that hadn't been seen in Warcraft before that made a large change to the way we view stories and quests in World of Warcraft, and a re-introduction of many of the heroes and prominent figures that we'd only caught glimpses of in vanilla. Today, we're going to look at Wrath lore: what worked, what knocked it out of the park and what failed to impress. Phasing Quite possibly the biggest technical advancement in storytelling was the introduction of the phasing mechanic. This allowed players to play through quests, and as the stories progressed, so did the world around the players, giving a new and unique feel to story line progression. Suddenly, instead of playing through a zone with no indication that you'd made any changes to the status quo, the world changed around you -- the chain of events in Conquest Hold in Grizzly Hills and Frosthold in the Storm Peaks both actually ended with NPCs being replaced as a direct result of player interaction. In the quest chain of The Battle for the Undercity, both Alliance and Horde players are teleported into a phased version of Orgrimmar, designed as a vehicle to further the story line -- and as a way for Alliance players to interact with Thrall without being attacked.
Realtime Worlds releases APB intro cinematic
Realtime Worlds and Electronic Arts have released the opening cinematic for their upcoming All Points Bulletin urban crime MMORPG. The teaser, clocking in at just under a minute and a half, features gameplay footage cut together cinema verite-style, with heavy use of filters, distortion, and the occasional newsreel effect, all of which combine to produce a palpable sense of dread and tension. The video also sets up the game's back story, briefly hinting at the assassination of San Paro mayor John Derren, the ascent of his daughter to assume his position, and the resulting descent of the city itself into a storm of gang-related violence and vigilantism. "I just want to know how it feels, realizing you're trapped in a situation where you're losing control of the city," says a journalist to recently elected mayor Jane Derren in a chilling voice-over track that accompanies the violent footage. Check out the teaser over at GameTrailers, or click past the cut.
Breakfast Topic: Speculation on the Cataclysm cinematic
Everyone seems to be pretty excited about Cataclysm -- whether it's playing one of the two new races, exploring all the new zones or just being able to finally fly around in Azeroth. But one of the things I'm most looking forward to is getting to see what Blizzard has put together for the Cataclysm cinematic. I have to admit that while I enjoyed the Wrath cinematic and thought it was wholly appropriate for an expansion surrounding the Lich King, I found myself missing the flavor of the first two cinematics. You know what I'm talking about -- the orc and night elf duking it out, the warlock with the gigantic infernal, the dwarf hunter and his bear; the characters that were simply unnamed players like us. The first cinematic gave us a small introduction to these guys; the Burning Crusade cinematic fleshed them out even further, but they disappeared entirely with the Wrath cinematic. Don't get me wrong, there was nothing bad about Blizzard's choice with the cinematic for the second expansion, I just found myself wistfully wondering what happened to the tauren after the mage sheeped it. Where did the draenei go after smashing in the heads of his enemies? And most importantly -- we got the teeniest glimpse of a troll in the Burning Crusade cinematic; how about we see more of him? Or how about a gnome or two for a change? What would you guys like to see in the Cataclysm cinematic? Deathwing bursting out of the ground and setting Azeroth ablaze? Sweeping landscapes? Goblins and worgen, of course, but what other races or classes would you like to see?
The Digital Continuum: Lost in worlds divided
In the many MMOs I've played, the ratio between games that got world design right and those that got it wrong is surprisingly skewed towards the latter. Nothing kills the thrill of discovering a new online world faster than feeling like you're being kicked around seemingly unconnected environments without possessing any real understanding or control. This week's The Digital Continuum is aimed at discussing practical ways to address this problem. Obviously this is -- as per usual -- my personal opinion taken mostly from my brain and the experience gathering within it.
Spoilers: Fall of the Lich King cinematic
Be warned, there are incredibly massive spoilers for the end of Icecrown Citadel beyond the cut below, and in the embedded video. We will say no more until you've clicked through. If you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading right now. Seriously! Update: The video has been removed due to a copyright claim by Blizzard.
Breakfast Topic: Which Warcraft moment would make a great cutscene?
Earlier this month, an interview was conducted with Jeff Kaplan by Phil Kollar of Game Informer where they talked shop about World of Warcraft. One of the items that piqued my interest was that a new cutscene was being included in patch 3.3. I'm sure we can guess that it has something to do with Icecrown Citadel (and Arthas). I know the Wrathgate cinematic itself was a big hit. Blizzard is certainly no stranger to creating movies. There's the Ulduar trailer, the Call of the Crusade trailer, and the Fall of the Lich king trailer. Remember the Sunwell Plateau? That one is my favorite out of them all. I'm sure there will be new cinematics to come. But if you could pick a moment in the game, what would you like to see in cinematic form?
Philips 56-inch 21:9 3D TV's future is so bright we had to wear shades
If you haven't noticed, 3D is going to be big in 2010. Not at Philips though, at least not yet. Instead of charging in to the market like Sony, Philips is willing to hedge its bets and wait on consumer demand. Consumers, of course, are waiting for content. And hey, maybe everybody's wrong and quad-HD will be the next big thing to drive TV sales. Regardless, Philips wants everyone to know that its technology is ready when you are so its got a 3D prototype Blu-ray player and stunning 3D version of its 56-inch Cinema 21:9 TV here at IFA in Berlin. While the idea of watching movies in 3D sounds like a novelty, the idea of gaming in 3D is downright compelling -- awkward passive polarized glasses be damned!
Call of the Crusade Trailer
A lot of people were wondering if there was going to be an official Blizzard trailer for World of Warcraft's Patch 3.2, Call of the Crusade, and lo' and behold, there is! Just not out in its usual promptness. The trailer itself is made up of mostly in-game footage of the various events in the new dungeon, the Argent Tournament. We see some boss fights in the coliseum raid, a few overviews of the tournament grounds, etc... The new Battleground, the Isle of Conquest, is also featured in the trailer, and there are some good shots of PvP going on there.There isn't really any lore or story to it - other than that the Argent Tournament is preparing us for Icecrown Citadel. Nothing we don't already know. You can get a cool desktop background though.You can watch the trailer above on YouTube or head over to the Blizzard site and download it in super high def. WoW's Patch 3.2 ushers in the Crusaders' Coliseum, the Isle of Conquest, flying mounts at 60, and much more. WoW.com has all the patch information your Worgen obsessed mind can handle in WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2!
This is the Star Wars: The Old Republic trailer you're looking for
Bioware released the first cinematic trailer for their Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, and it's so awesome you might just forget that Jar-Jar Binks ever existed. Bounty hunters, Jedis, lightsabers, blasters, dramatic orchestral soundtracks, and gravelly Sith voices making threatening statements -- if it's from a long time ago and a galaxy far away (and incredibly awesome), you'll find it in this trailer.The trailer itself is called "Deceived," and apparently it's about the Sith Empire's sacking of Coruscant. And that's how it begins -- Sith baddies are invading a Jedi temple, and dispatching the meager forces they find there. But a Jedi temple has some strong defense of its own... and that's where the video gets really good. Bioware has also released information about something called The HoloNet, an ingame database of gameworld history, classes, planets and factions, and they've told us that the game is "fully voiced" -- every character you meet will have audio to share. Head on over to our sister site Massively for more.
Blizzard cinematic team appears at Chapman University
Nick Markham is a student at Chapman University , and he recently dropped us a tip about something special that happened there. Chapman University is fairly close to Blizzard's Irvine headquarters, which could be why they were able to take the time to drop by. One of their film classes had a treat when six members of the Blizzard cinematic team came by to give a three hour presentation about what they do, how they do it, and other miscellaneous film-related issues. So what's the news?The most crushing news is another confirmation that we shouldn't expect to ever see a gnome in an official World of Warcraft cinematic. The quote from Jeff Chamberlain, the director of the cinematic team, is "Not if I can help it!" Apparently, while gnomes are arguably one of the coolest races in WoW, the director doesn't feel that they're "epic" enough. I can see that viewpoint, I guess, but that just means we'll have to rely on Baron Soosdon to brings us the gnome love.The Wrathgate animation, of course, was a significant topic. According to Nick's report, the cinematic team and Blizzard both consider Wrathgate to be a complete success. We should expect to see a new, similar animated event with each significant content patch, though it's going to take a little bit to get that going.
Finally an answer on Gnomes in the cinematics
We've very closely covered the lack of Gnomes in any of Blizzard's major cinematic pieces so far. We had hoped to see them in the Wrath cinematic, but of course Blizzard went a completely new direction with that one (retelling the story of Arthas rather than showing players fighting), and so they weren't there either. In fact, the problem has gotten so bad that at least one person has remade the Burning Crusade cinematic, filling it with Gnomes just to see what it would be like. And while we've gotten some snide comments from the Blues before ("they're there, they're just too short to fit in frame"), Bornakk has finally given us an honest answer as to why the Gnomes haven't been show in cinematic form: they're just not awesome enough?Wait, that's not what he really said? Well that's what we heard -- he says that the cinematic folks go for what seems most awesome, and Gnomes have just never been a part of that combination. He says Trolls have gotten nearly the same treatment, and while that's true, you can see a Troll for a split second in the Burning Crusade cinematic -- they haven't had the complete shutout that the shorter denizens of Azeroth have had so far.In fact, Murlocs have gotten more screen time than Gnomes have. But the good news is that the more Blizzard leaves Gnomes out, the more awesome it'll be when they finally appear. The cinematic team can't leave them out of the game forever, right?
Video Games Live interviews Jason Hayes in Austin
This is really interesting -- our friend Tommy Tallarico of Video Games Live recently did a show in Austin, Texas, and during the performance, they actually brought former Blizzard composer Jason Hayes up on the big screen via Skype and chatted with him about the Warcraft music they had just played. Hayes worked on some of the cinematic music for Warcraft III, and though he is no longer with Blizzard, he put together some of the new music you're hearing now in Wrath of the Lich King as well.Hayes talks about how he works closely with the cinematic team to try and come up with an appropriate mood for what's happening on screen as the music plays. Even with early animatics, he says, you can get a good sense of where the scene is going and what the story is about. He also says that the Latin lyrics in his songs aren't necessarily Latin -- he uses a translator online and picks and chooses what sounds best. So not exactly historically accurate, but it's Warcraft -- as long as it sounds good, they can justify it however they like. It's definitely a fun little chat with one of the people behind some of the sweet sounds of Azeroth.[via WorldofWar]
WoW Insider Show Episode 86: No love for Gnomes
Here's this week's episode of the WoW Insider Show, in which we recapped patch 3.1 and all of the class goodness and new content included in there, as well as the Ulduar cinematic and that fact that Gnomes have been historically dissed by Blizzard's machinimists. We checked in on your emails as well -- we got some Rogue theorycrafting in the mix thanks to our Encrypted Text writer Chase Christian stopping by, and we checked back in with Duncor of WoW Radio for the first time in a while on both which tank is the best and whether leather-wearing casters should get cloth upgrades or not.Was a good show -- you can give it a listen at any of the links below, or just subscribe to us in iTunes to get the show automagically every Monday. We'll be back live on the air next Saturday, and we're climbing ever closer to a few big goals: in just 14 weeks, we're set to hit our 100th show, which will definitely be a nice anniversary for us, and we're only 600 followers away from hitting our goal of over 9000 followers on our Twitter account. So join up there if you haven't yet, and I'll get the tux out to the cleaners in anticipation.Enjoy the show this week and we'll see you next time!Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
Blizzard unveils Wrath of the Lich King Cinematic Artbook
So hey, this is pretty cool. I like to consider myself a connoisseur of video game art, owning a good number of hardcover, glossy-paged artbooks that help me out when a) I need some inspiration, or b) I need to feel really inferior about my art. The artbook released with the Collector's Edition of Wrath was very well put-together (and certainly an improvement over the original WoW artbook with its half-pages of pre-rendered art for every race but orcs and humans) and had everything I like in an artbook--but oh, what's this, Blizzard? An entire book that shows and discusses the process of making the Wrath cinematic? Yes, this will do.Published by Insight Editions and titled The Cinematic Art of Wrath of the Lich King, it features 200 pieces of high-res concept art and CG renders, two 8x10 art cards with concept art of Arthas and Sindragosa the Frost Queen, lots of lore bits about major players in Wrath's storyline, and (I think this is the coolest) a 12-page illustrated storybook that tells the tale of Sindragosa. And even beyond all that, there's behind-the-scenes commentary about the cinematic every step of the way. It's valuable insight if you're interested in storyboarding, production, or just the Blizzard creative process.I think we can all agree that it sounds pretty awesome, whether you're into art or WoW itself. You can pick it up, if you're so inclined, at Amazon.com for the very reasonable sale price of $19.77 USD. If you're as-yet-unconvinced, you can check out a preview of the book at Blizzard's Wrath site.
The making of the Warhammer Online cinematic
Just before Warhammer Online launched, we were treated to a gorgeous new cinematic to give us just a taste of what to expect in the game. This teaser launched right about the same time as World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King trailer, making for several heated forum debates on which video was more amazing. No matter which side of that fence you're on, the fact is that Mythic gave Blizzard a run for their money in the cinematic department, there's no doubt.Now the actual creators of that cinematic, Blur Studio, have compiled a two-hour video depicting the making of that Warhammer teaser. It's broken down into four parts, so you can pace yourself, but it's certainly worth a watch if you're into the whole CGI scene. You'll learn about the concept stages, how Blur took liberties with actually creating new content before it was designed for the game, how the Orcs were made as an army and much more. Check out Blur's website for their impressive CGI portfolio which includes the Tabula Rasa cinematic as well.
