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WoW Moviewatch: Flekz Fire PvP 5
PvP movies aren't the normal trade of WoW Moviewatch, but we do occasionally see PvP movies that we want to mention. It's good to be aware of the variety out there, and maybe each genre can learn a little something from one another. Flekz from Eredar (EU) created Fleks Fire PvP 5 as a movie mostly about, you got it, his fire mage doing stuff in PvP. But there' are a few things in this that I want to point out as being special and interesting.First, the entire movie is basically framed as if it were a comic book. I like when PvP movie-makers take a little extra time to try and present the action in a new and interesting way. Insane Gouge Crits did something similar a few weeks ago, and I'm definitely interested to see where this trend will go. Dialogue in speech bubbles, framed shots, and even the opening magazine cover reinforce the 4-color world of Fleks.Second, Flekz puts effort into being playful with the movie. Odd cuts and angles frame scenes in a jaunty kind of way. (Do I lose points for using the word 'jaunty'?) It refers to Flekz as 'our hero,' reminiscent of other web-slinging comic books that play with 4th wall awareness. Lastly, I'll admit, the rock-and-roll won me over. Anything that starts out with a good, old Iron Maiden tune definitely scores in my book.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
Rumor: Marvel's Punisher making video game return
It's been more than three years since our favorite comic book antihero last waged a one-man war against video game criminals, but the above artwork, allegedly leaked to 4 Color Rebellion by Marvel editor Ryan Penagos, suggests that Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, may soon be making a suitably bloody return. Nothing beyond what you see above is known about the upcoming project, including whether Marvel intends the game to stand on its own, or if the title will serve as a tie in with this December's Punisher: War Zone feature film. The report suggests that more information is due next week. Until then, sic vis pacem, para bellum. If you want peace, prepare for war.
DC Universe Online interview with Executive Producer John Blakely
Sony Online Entertainment's (SOE) upcoming MMO DC Universe Online (DCUO) was well-received at Comic-Con '08 and has the potential of connecting with gamers and comic fans on a whole new level -- allowing them to play alongside the heroes they grew up with in comic books and cartoons. Christian Donlan from Eurogamer has an interview with John Blakely, VP of Development at SOE Austin and Executive Producer of DCUO, from the 2008 Fan Faire in Las Vegas. Eurogamer spoke with Blakely about keeping underperforming titles alive, remaining flexible in terms of DC Universe Online's vision vs. its evolution over time, and the fan reception to DCUO at Comic-Con '08. The interview touches on the choice to bar gamers from playing established heroes in the DC Universe like Batman and DCUO's payment model as well.
Read the Mirror's Edge comic teaser issue
The gang at Silconera grabbed a copy of the Comic-Con 2008 teaser issue of WildStorm's Mirror's Edge comic, jumped across a few rooftops, performed a couple leaps of faith, then landed safely at the office to scan it. You have to admit that sounds cooler than "EA was handing it out and they scanned it."Anyway, the site has indeed posted the comic in its teaser-short entirety. It contains dialog from the game, which was previously confirmed to be the work of Heavenly Sword scriptwriter and Alanis Morisette look-alike, Rhianna Pratchett. After reading it, we're left to wonder if we'll be hearing a lot of female protagonist Faith's inner dialog throughout the course of the game as well. We'll find out in November, which is when both the game and the comic book mini-series based on it perform somersaults and land on shelves.
WoW Insider's exclusive interview with WoW comic artist Jon Buran
Jon Buran is the artist who took over the artwork for the World of Warcraft comic book at issue #8. With #9 now available, we're thankful that it seems Jon's going to be around for a while.This isn't Jon's first book, obviously. (I say obviously, because he is being trusted with Blizzard's baby, so it's safe to bet he's got the chops for it.) My favorite of his previous books includes Midnight #13 through #15, and a short stint on the City of Heroes comic book. (Hey, the CoH story might have been a little weak, but I loved the art.)We were fortunate that Jon was willing to do an interview with your intrepid reporter at WoW Insider. Check out what he had to say behind the cut.
WoW #8: The king is back and there's gonna be trouble...
A sneak peak of World of Warcraft #8 (the comic book) is available from Blizzard. And it's a doozy. Whether you're a comic book fan, or just a lore fan, it definitely looks like it's going to be worth the $2.99. Remember that pesky Missing Diplomat quest? Varian Wrynn, King of Stormwind, was on a mission to visit Jaina Proudmoore when he went mysteriously missing. Turns out, he got kidnapped. Then, he got free. Then, he was getting his Arena on, kicking ass, taking names, and getting entangled with unsavory sorts. (Presumably, Season 3.) He'd had a case of amnesia, but got better. And now he's realizing he's the King, baby.WoW #8 opens with an obvious imposter prancing his merry way along the gates of Stormwind and being kind of a jerk to Anduinn. But, off at the dock, a dwarf sees three mysterious "thugs" step off the boat. Through some beautiful art, the book foreshadows exactly how bad-ass Varian has become. This is Elric or Conan quality bad-ass. This should definitely have some impact on Stormwind's royalty when WotLK arrives. It'd be nice continuity to have Varian clean up the mess in the comic, and then see a few less dragons standing around Bolvar. Here's hoping.
Guilds that do it with style
WoW enjoys a community created through informative blogs, forums, and most importantly -- Guilds. Guilds form the foundation of most players' experiences. Some Guilds, though, just seem to conduct themselves with a little more style. Nihilum's live stream efforts are a good example -- they're letting us into their little corner of gameplay, showing us how they do things. Nihilum's well-known for their success, and it's fascinating to get an insider's look at how they conduct their raids. The members of Agony issue their news with a bit of artistic flair. They turn their raid screenshots into comic book updates. While the plot might be hard to follow if you've not done the raids yourself, the pages are rather pretty to look at. Sometimes, though, Guilds break up. They can do it with a bit of a drama, or they can choose to do it with a little class. When Forte called it the end of the road, they left a final "goodbye" to fans and foes alike. They ended their story in a way that let everyone know what was going on, and with a final farewell to their fans. These three Guilds are just examples. We've all encountered Guilds who do something a little extra to make the game fun or enrich their community.
Check out the Champions Online stars in comic form
Some brand new and very awesome concept art is being shown at the Champions Online website. This is a bit different from some of the previous stuff though: you get to see the heroes and villains of CO in the way that heroes and villains are meant to be seen -- in comic form.The characters on show are the heroes Defender and Ironclad, and villains Doctor Destroyer and Menton, and the frames of the comics depict their origins. A forum thread has been provided for any feedback on the artwork, and so far it is overwhelmingly positive. The character causing the most divided opinions is Menton, whose exposed and enlarged brain seems to leave people on both sides of the fence. For the record, we think you look fine Menton -- now please don't mess with our free will.
Kablamo! Multiple: Option releases audio-enabled digital comic
Homebrew comic book readers have been available for over a year now, but Multiple: Option's latest release, A Question of Promise: Digital Comic, brings several innovations and welcome additions to the "reading comic books on a handheld" experience: A single ROM that doesn't require any conversion and should have minimal DLDI-patching issues Sound effects and music for specific panels/sections An option to save the page you're on by simply hitting the Start button The comic, a digital adaptation of Thuyen Nguyen's A Question of Promise, originally released in 2002, is a pleasant read, too, so long as you're not expecting any superheroes in tights. It's a "light-hearted story of a guy, a girl, and a sentient pool-of-water."
Promotional Consideration: Toy soldiers
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.We had so much fun presenting fan-made commercials these past two weeks, we decided to create our own ad, repurposing an old page ripped from a 1970s comic book, its pages yellowed with age. Strap up your boots, grab your rifle, and report past the post break for this week's edition of Promotional Consideration!
New CoX comic book: relive the wedding
On Valentine's Day, players who were able to access the Test Server had the opportunity to see Sister Psyche and Manticore wed. Today, however, the rose petals are swept up, giant mutant zombie pigeons have consumed the rice, and the confetti's been acquired by the Clockwork for use in their bizarre building schemes. Manticore's back on duty, as is Sister Psyche, but does that mean that the wedding has been retconned? Never. NCsoft, in conjunction with ChaseArcanum, has provided a downloadable comic book to commemorate the event, and is also allowing players to see the vows exchanged during the ceremony.
Comic book manual makes No More Heroes even cooler
Perhaps "cooler" isn't the best word to use, since comics tend to be associated with, well, nerdy lifestyles. Fortunately, though, this is a video games blog, meaning that we completely eat up geek culture like it's delicious candy. The folks over at Grasshopper Manufacture seem to understand this, and have therefore decided to incorporate a comic book motif into the No More Heroes instruction manual. We can only hope that Ubisoft decides to use this style as well, but in case they don't, check out some pictures provided by Siliconera's Spencer Yip after the break.
Conan newsletter brings blood, savagery, information
Funcom sent out the new "Clan of Conan" newsletter today, and it includes a bunch of cool stuff to whet your Age of Conan appetite. It's mostly the usual sorts of stuff, just new content. This time we got an article on mounted combat, info on a couple of new enemies and the "Sanctum of the Souls" location, as well as screenshots, desktop wallpaper, and a two-minute video of the area. You can also download a complete 23-page Age of Conan comic book, but it's the same one that was included with the last newsletter, so if you were already on top of that, it's nothing new.The article on mounted combat is the most interesting part of the package. Mounted combat is not something we're used to in MMOs; it's one of the most exciting innovations AoC offers. According to the article, there are many different kinds of mounts with different kinds of strengths and weaknesses. One mount might charge faster than another, for example.[Via Warcry]
Inside World of Warcraft #1
You probably forgot about it in all the shaman-loving, melee-hating, troll-centric patch fever, but World of Warcraft #1 came out in comic book stores Wednesday. For those of you without access to the book -- or maybe those who want to know the story without carrying around a giant GEEK! GEEK! sign -- I've summarized the plot and characters here. Spoilers follow beyond the cut, so beware!
Blizzplanet corners Walter Simonson on the comic
Blizzplanet has posted an interview with Walter Simonson, and is it me, or is it time to stop poking around for information on the new comic? Just let the nice people write and draw the thing already!Simonson doesn't actually confirm the non-secret secret that Varian Wrynn is the amnesiac starring in the comic, but that doesn't keep Blizzplanet from prodding and poking everything they possibly can out of him. He says the comic will be set in the present, but when they nerd it up with some more lore, he admits it'll actually take place before the Burning Crusade. Simonson tries to drop a hint that the hero will end up in Orgrimmar, but then he's eventually exasperated enough to reveal that Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff and the Pools of Vision, Ashenvale, Darnassus, and the Eastern Kingdom will all make appearances inside the comic. And while Blizzplant has heard rumors that Dire Maul will be featured in the comic, they eventually get Simonson to tell them that "we're going to witness an event involving ogres (and others) that occurs regularly in a hitherto underutilized part of Dire Maul." And that sounds, of course, like a Tribute Run.I can see how, if you're a big fan of the comic already, learning stuff like this might be fun and interesting. But at some point, you've just got to leave Simonson alone and read the comic for yourself. Enough interviews, enough hinting, enough speculation. Just let him write it so we can read it already!
Breakfast topic: Are you going to read the WoW comic?
Among many other fine personality traits, my boyfriend happens to run a comic book store. As such, he's gotten a lot of phone calls recently about the World of Warcraft comic book that's coming out next month. The success of the Halo comic has led him to order extra copies of the WoW book, but he's uncertain about how well it will do. The comic definitely appeals to a niche audience, and a lot of players aren't too interested in lore, so those are factors working against it. But the book also has some top-notch writers, and no one ever went broke counting on WoW players to be kind of crazy about WoW-related stuff. This could mean a lot of walk-ins from WoW players on the street desperate for more stories from their favorite game. I'm definitely going to check it out -- it'll make a great Know Your Lore, and I'm a hopeless WoW addict anyway. Plus, one of the dudes in the book is using a Thunderfury! How cool is that? Are you planning to read the comic book when it comes out? Why or why not?
First five pages of Warcraft comic on the web
MTV's Multiplayer blog landed an exclusive interview with comic book legend Walt Simonson about the upcoming Warcraft comic shipping next month. Included in the interview is the first five pages of the comic.We already knew the plot was about an amnesiac human enslaved by an orc shaman to compete in an Arena tournament. What we learn in this interview is some of the other major characters. They include a blood elf, a night elf druid and a dwarven warrior. All of these characters are also available as action figures. In fact, we here at Wow Insider just finished up a contest to give away the Thargas Anvilmar action figure in a Brewfest contest.Simonson promises a mix of the familiar and the surprising. While deeply immersing himself in the lore of Azeroth, he also found new stories to tell. Blizzard themselves have approval, so we know the lore will be spot on.You can read the entire interview and see all five sneak peak pages here. Or you can wait til November for the comic to hit the shelves.
Warcraft comic book free to read online
The Warcraft universe is constantly expanding. Trading card games, sound tracks and board games abound. It seems we can't get enough of Azeroth online or off. Blizzard has tried to meet this growing demand is by creating a series of fiction novels and comic books. One of those endeavors is a Korean manga title, Dragon Hunt, the first novel in the Sunwell Trilogy that was published last year.Now, our friends over at the WoW Europe official site have made Dragon Hunt available to read online for free! Every week they are putting up a new chapter. So far there are three chapters to read and I already can't get enough. Head on over, check it out and tell us what you think.
Today's hottest game video: Hellboy trailer
We plunge GameTrailers for today's video pick, a Hellboy trailer that makes us tentatively look forward to comic franchises again since the Neversoft Ghost Rider game that never was. Of course it's still just a trailer, and a lot can change before the game is released this summer. But Hellboy looks good, with its 3D engine rendering in a style that fits its comic history.Judge for yourself after the break.
Today's monkey vs. robot video: er, Monkey vs. Robot - The Movies
Today's movie isn't topping any charts, but it's a dash of much needed Monkey vs. Robot-ness. Comic book artist and musician of the wacky James Kochalka created Monkey vs. Robot eons ago, and has appeared on cds, as a graphic novel, and in animated form. However, this version was created with the PC game/simulation The Movies. Yes, it's inane. Sure, it's repetitive. Damn skippy, it's simple ... but c'mon, it's monkey vs. robot. Check out the damage after the jump. For a real royal rumble, someone needs to do a Monkey vs. Robot vs. Ninja vs. Pirate mashup. At least this thing is better than the episodes of Lost that have aired so far this season. Sawyer vs. Robot, FTW!
