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Race to World First documentary releasing soon
Looking for Group Productions has been hard at work on its documentary Race to World First for a good long while now, capturing many top-tier World of Warcraft guilds' attempts at claiming coveted world firsts in the raiding game as well as following Blood Legion's race to a top spot. Set to release in a few weeks, Race to World First looks like it's going to be an introspective look at the time and energy that many of these guilds put into the raiding game, as well as an examination of the multicultural nature of the game and the general excitement that goes along with MMO accomplishments. Each week, Race to World First looks at clips from players in guilds that have been fighting for or actually achieved world firsts. Looking back a bit, this clip with Narilka of Ensidia chronicles her time spent with the guild downing Kil'jaeden at the end of The Burning Crusade when she was still just 16 years old. We loved having the Race to World First production team at the WoW Insider reader meetup at BlizzCon in 2010 -- they were some of the nicest guys and had a blast talking to real players and real fans. I am excited to see this documentary. Check out the trailer -- you might even see some familiar faces!
Catch The Raid's world premiere for free
Hot on the heels of 2009's Second Skin, MMO players are once again the subject of an in-depth documentary about their lives and playing styles as Gamebreaker.TV is hosting the world premiere of The Raid for all to enjoy. Directed by gamer Kevin Johnson, The Raid follows a guild of World of Warcraft players who tackle some of the toughest challenges of the game and open up about what being a raider means to them. The 20-minute runtime examines what drives players to the raiding scene and introduces outsiders to the collaboration and competition that goes on during these events. The primary focus, however, is on the social aspect of raiding and how it binds a group of people together for a single purpose. You can catch the documentary after the jump until Wednesday evening at 10 p.m. EDT. Please note that the film starts around the 26-minute mark if you don't want to sit through the pre-show interviews. Give it a watch and let us know what you think -- did The Raid hit the spot or miss its target?
King of Kong remake has a new script, penned as a mockumentary
Director Seth Gordon launched his first major film back in 2007, King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, and has since gone on to a successful career in directing several feature films and major television shows. He's even pinned to the forthcoming remake of '80s hacking classic, WarGames. His next move, however, could be a return to the documentary that launched his career, with Gordon telling The Playlist that he's still hard at work on a New Line Cinema-backed remake. Bizarrely, said remake may actually take on a mockumentary feel. Gordon credits his recent television work as inspiration: "There's a few different avenues. I've done some work on 'Modern Family' and 'The Office' and have worked in this doc style, and so that inspired me to say, instead of doing a traditional narrative feature script, what if we did the remake in the doc style?" Black List contestant Melissa Stack penned the most recent draft of the script, which Gordon takes as confirmation that the project is still "quite real." We can't imagine Billy Mitchell being too responsive to direction in Gordon's remake, but then again that tumultuous interaction could turn out to be a hilarious documentary unto itself.
Planet Earth Special Edition Blu-ray arrives October 4th
Warner has officially revealed the launch date and pricing for refreshed editions of the epic Planet Earth series on Blu-ray and DVD. There are two versions planned, the Limited Collector's Edition pictured above with the globe packaging, and a Special Edition in more every day trim. The MSRP for the LCE is $99 and the Special Edition runs $79 when both arrive October 4th, check out the official list of extras after the break.
"CNBC Titans" Steve Jobs biography airs Thursday
CNBC will air an unauthorized biography of Steve Jobs on its "CNBC Titans" show this Thursday. The season premiere of the Titans show will explore "the undisputed king of Silicon Valley for the better part of three decades." Being an unauthorized documentary, there's probably not that much new information on Jobs that people can't find elsewhere. However, any show about the man who brought us the Mac, iPod and iPhone is sure to be interesting -- at least if you're a tech geek like me. If you don't want to wait until Thursday, CNBC has posted some web extra video clips on its Titans site. CNBC Titans: Steve Jobs airs Thursday, June 23 at 9 PM PT/1 AM ET. For those of you interested in more Steve Jobs history, his official biography is now available for pre-order on Amazon; the book is scheduled to be published in 2012.
Microdrones' flying robot films African wildlife, finds peace with nature
Sit back, relax and grab a cold one, because you're about to take an aerial tour of the Serengeti, courtesy of that flying drone you're staring at. Developed by Microdrones, this MD4-100 quadrotor was recently sent off to Kenya, where it gathered footage for a TV nature documentary produced by TBS Japan. By hovering over the terrain, the craft was able to get relatively up close and personal with zebras, elephants and other wildlife, without creating the same kind of disturbance that heavy duty, camera-laden trucks can wreak. Presumably, that's because the animals have no idea what to make of a flying robot, though part of us wants to believe there's some sort of full-circle, techno-evolutionary dynamic at work here, momentously bringing bot and beast together in some sort of pre-apocalyptic symbiosis. But that's just us. Hover past the break to see the video for yourself.
Planet Earth Special Edition Blu-ray set coming to the US from BBC America
Last year, BBC revisited its acclaimed Planet Earth series of nature documentaries with a Special Edition Blu-ray set, and now BBC America shop has revealed the set will also be released on this side of the pond. While the discs shipped last fall in the UK and were region free, they were encoded in a 1080i50 format that most US Blu-ray players (most notably the PlayStation 3) don't support. The new special editions fix one of the quirks of the original releases by opting for two 50GB BD50 discs instead of four 25GB platters, and adding new high definition extras including audio commentaries and options to isolate either the music or sound effects. There's still more to see however, with content from Planet Earth's Greatest Moments, Snow Leopard: Beyond the Myth and a sneak peek at the upcoming Frozen Planet project on the discs. The set also includes the standard def extras omitted from the original high definition releases, that consists of several Making Of featurettes and a three part Planet Earth - The Future documentary, and two new standard definition extras. There's no word on a release date or pricing, but if you've been drooling over the UK rereleases (which apparently suffered a problems on a couple of the discs in initial runs but have since been fixed) a little patience should pay off nicely -- if you've forgotten how amazing the footage is or somehow missed out the first time around, check out the original trailer after the break.
2 Player Productions looking to build player stories into Minecraft film
Has Minecraft changed your life? If so, you probably work at Mojang, and are therefore already in 2 Player Productions' fan-supported documentary, Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. But if you aren't a newly minted Swedish millionaire and still feel that the game had a huge impact on your life, 2PP would like to hear your story. The company put out an open call for fan stories today, for possible inclusion in the film. " They may take it to unexpected places and push the limits of its design; or they may find the game itself changing their lives in unexpected ways." If you believe you have the perfect Minecraft story, and you can tell it in 350 words or fewer, send your tale of awesome times to minecraft@2playerproductions.com.
ESPN 30 for 30 Complete Series Blu-ray set comes to Best Buy tomorrow
If you enjoyed the ESPN 30 for 30 series of documentaries, you can finally get all of them on Blu-ray in one six-disc set at Best Buy starting tomorrow. The set has all 30 films plus five hours of extras. The MSRP is right at $100, but since we couldn't dig up the set on Best Buy's site yet, we don't know if it will be on sale for a lower price. Either way, keep your eyes peeled tomorrow if you're looking for a gift for yourself or for your dad. We'd offer up our favorites from the documentaries but it's an impossible choice between selections like Once Brothers, The Two Escobars or The Pony Excess -- based on the content alone this series is a must-have. The press release with all the details and original trailer with clips from several of the segments is after the break.
Tetris documentary is titled 'Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters' and here's the trailer to prove it
What's more fun than playing Tetris? Watching other people play Tetris of course! While that statement doesn't necessary hold true as a rule, it does when you're watching Tetris world champs. Cut from the same cloth as crossword and Scrabble documentaries Wordplay and Word Wars, the unfortunately named Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters follows a handful of world-class Tetris players as they prepare for, and participate in, the Classic Tetris World Championship. The full movie won't be available until 2012 but, until then, you can watch the trailer we've embedded after the break. Oh, also embedded below: a poll, so you can register your opinion on that title. %Poll-63639%
NYC's last great arcade documented in 'Arcade: The Last Night at Chinatown Fair'
"Chinatown [Fair] was the last one, it had the best players, and this was like our last spot. So now hearing that this is closing, we gotta find another spot to migrate to," one defeated-sounding patron of Chinatown Fair exclaims in the short clip from Arcade: The Last Night at Chinatown Fair. The documentary intends to capture the iconic New York City arcade's last evening, and the ambitious project is being funded entirely by Kickstarter. Rumors surrounding Chinatown Fair's closing began in early February of this year. Though a brief glimmer of hope saw the owners renegotiating their lease, the 50+ year-old arcade eventually closed for good later that month. As of mid-day on Monday, the project has raised over $13K, with a goal of $20K (and another 22 days left). The film's production staff are also offering incentives for donation, with everything from a digital copy of the finished product and a credit in the film for just $10, to a "custom designed Chinatown Fair theme arcade cabinet" for pledges of $5,000 or more (One person already signed up! Madness!). Head past the break and see the full pitch video, as well as the premiere trailer.
3net launches 3D 'sportumentary', monthly news show and Civil War series
We're still waiting for the Sony / Discovery / IMAX backed 3net to pop up on more providers than just DirecTV, but for now it's concentrating on building up a library of 3D content and it's had several notable announcements recently. The freshest one is a new four episode "sportsumentary" called Bullproof that will start airing tomorrow and focus on highlighting the dangers faced by bullfighters who protect the cowboys competing in the Professional Bullriding Circuit. Also new is a weekly entertainment news show called In The Qube that launched April 24th and features Nicole Dabeau from E! News. The premiere episode reportedly features looks at 3D content and hardware, no word on what it's focused on since. A little further off in the future is The Civil War 3D, a four hour minseries that claims to be the first native 3D war documentary. There's more details in the press releases after the break but so far we're not quite moved to pick up the phone and ask our TV provider "where's my 3net?".
First Orbit offers a glimpse at Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight 50 years later (video)
It's been exactly 50 years to the day -- in some places, anyway -- that cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's maiden voyage set off an international space race that defined an era, and while only Gagarin knew exactly what it was like to be the first man in space, documentarian Christopher Riley is giving us a glimpse of what the world might have looked like from the porthole of Vostok 1. As we reported before, First Orbit is a mashup of sorts that features original audio recordings from Gagarin's flight, coupled with footage taken by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli from aboard the International Space Station. The result is nothing short of stunning, but you don't have to take our word for it -- in fact, go ahead and grab yourself some popcorn, hit the play button, and prepare to be amazed.
Civil War to stream for free on iOS and iTunes
History buffs may want to check out the free PBS video app this week. The first episode of the award-winning Civil war documentary, The Civil War by Ken Burns, is available for free for the next 10 days. The documentary can be streamed through the PBS app or downloaded for free from iTunes. Besides The Civil War, the PBS video application includes 250 hours of free videos, PBS TV schedules and an episode reminder that syncs with iCal. Originally aired in 1990, the entire Civil War series will be rebroadcast from April 3 through the 17 on PBS to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War on April 12. All episodes of the series will be available for purchase from iTunes -- if you want to see how the "Ken Burns effect" got its name, be sure to at least watch the first episode.
Researchers claim discovery of lost city of Atlantis, conveniently located in southern Spain
We had to do a double take when we read this headline from Reuters, but sure enough, it's not April1st yet and its writers don't seem to be joking: the location of the lost city of Atlantis has finally been discovered. Such is the bold claim from an international team of researchers, dreamers and intrepid adventurers. With the use of ground-penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography, they've unearthed evidence to suggest that a spot on the southern coast of Spain, just north of Cadiz, played host to what may have been human society's first metropolis. One of the reasons why it's taken archaeologists so long to pinpoint its whereabouts may be the fact that it lies 60 miles inland, where you wouldn't really expect it to be susceptible to the effects of tidal waves (which is what Plato's account of the ancient city identified as its demise). A National Geographic documentary on the subject will be broadcast this evening where we may learn more about what was discovered, the methods for doing so, and the gorgeous tans those scientists built up in sunny Spain.
Full-length 'Gamers' MMO documentary available on Hulu
Feeling guilty about your lack of documentary consumption leading up to the Oscars? Well, director Ben Gonyo's MMO-focused doc Gamers is now available for you to watch on Hulu (or after the jump). It's not nominated for anything, though it deserves consideration for "Most Free Movie of the Year."
Minecraft documentary gets a 20 minute preview, needs you to chip in for the finished product
Do you love Minecraft? Wait, don't answer. We know the answer. Well, we know how you feel -- and so do the folks at 2 Player Productions, the documentarians that brought you the extra-special chiptune film, Reformat the Planet. The scrappy team of filmmakers has once again gone back to work, this time focusing their attentions on the gaming phenomenon and its creator, Markus "Notch" Persson, in a project entitled Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. 2 Player has taken its project to the streets (and by streets we mean internet) by posting a 20 minute teaser of the forthcoming documentary, and asking for funding via Kickstarter. Just think, you could be your very own Hollywood mogul. There are all kinds of goodies for those who lay down the cash; for instance, if you pledge more than $2,500, you'll get an actual pick axe mounted on a stand signed by the Mojang team. And for $10,000? You get an Executive Producer credit and your own profile page on IMDB. The project is aiming for $150,000 of funding, and has already scored $22,048 (at the time this article was written) with 32 days to go. If you were serious about what you said earlier when it comes to Minecraft, you owe it to yourself to put your money where your virtual mouth is. You can also take a look at a teaser clip after the break -- and that won't cost you a dime.
See 20 minutes of the Minecraft documentary, then help finance it
Today, 2 Player Productions, the company behind the chiptune documentary Reformat the Planet, along with the first season of Penny-Arcade: The Series, opened a Kickstarter page to fund development of its next film, Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. Since opening the site this morning, it's already raised $17,278 of its $150,000 goal. We wouldn't be surprised if Notch himself wired a payment from his secret base on the moon. If you'd like to help 2PP get this movie made, the Kickstarter page offers some appealing bonuses, including autographed DVDs, posters, and even wind-up Creeper toys. If you pledge $2,500 or more, you get "an actual pick axe mounted on a custom display stand signed by the staff of Mojang Specifications." Along with the Kickstarter page, 2PP released a 20-minute preview of the film to GameTrailers. You can watch it after the break.
Billy Mitchell opens 'King of Kong' arcade at Orlando airport
Apparently, Billy Mitchell isn't too concerned with his portrayal as a professional bastard in the acclaimed gaming documentary, The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters. The film's star-spangled villain has opened up a "King of Kong Arcade" in the Orlando International Airport, which possesses the aesthetic charm of the film -- yet, puzzlingly, there's not a Donkey Kong arcade machine to be found within the joint. We can't fathom why the machine is absent -- but, if we were to guess, we'd assume that Billy doesn't want his establishment to sire any more potential usurpers of the high score throne. Check out the video after the jump for a brief tour of Billy Mitchell's decidedly modern airport arcade.
Kenneth Clark's famed documentary 'Civilisation' returns tonight on BBC HD
When it first aired in 1969, Civilisation was one of the BBC's first documentaries produced in color and it was popular enough to earn producer Kenneth Clark the title Baron Clark of Saltwood. Newly restored for high definition television from the original 35mm film, it's ready to come to a new generation now on BBC HD, surely looking even better than the original run which was said to have often prompted Civilisation viewing parties at the homes of the lucky few with color TVs at the time. Telling the story of the growth of western civilization, it was commissioned by David Attenborough and set the bar for most modern documentaries as Clark actually took viewers to visit the works of art he described. There's no word on any US broadcast schedule, but since PBS picked up the original 40 years ago we'd hope they see fit to do the same sometime soon.
