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Cubs Forever documentary coming to WGN HD
Alright, Cubbies fans -- this is your year. What better way to end the streak than on the 100th anniversary of your last World Series win, right? In preparation for the upcoming season, WGN-Channel 9 is gearing up to air a two-hour documentary called Cubs Forever, which is in celebration of the 60th anniversary of WGN airing its first Cubs baseball game. For the historians in the crowd, that April 16th, 1948 matchup between your beloved Cubbies and the cross-town White Sox was actually an exhibition, but on April 20th of this year, fans will be able to witness "interviews with more than 60 Cubs players, fans and team staffers" that have been a part of the WGN / Cubs partnership. No word on an exact airing time just yet, but you can rest assured that it'll be beamed out in glorious high-definition.[Image courtesy of VacationsByRail]
WoW Moviewatch: An interesting WoW "documentary"
The Bitfilm Festival is currently taking machinima submissions until March 15th, 2008. Last year, Olibith took the top prize, with "I'm Only Sleeping". This year, with machinima more popular than ever, the competition is heating up.Alin Putinelu decided to submit this humorous documentary into the contest. He walks the viewers through the development process of a video game, while showing images and video of WoW. While I found it informative, I don't know if it's award-winning material. The easy listening music and serious voiceover were a nice touch, though![Via Warcraftmovies.com]Previously on Moviewatch ...
WoW Moviewatch: Gametrotting machinima documentary
Lifeskool highlighted machinima as part of their Gametrotting series last year. According to Jun Falkenstein, of Stone Falcon Productions, those interviewed were asked to speak to the audience as if they'd never heard of this emerging medium. While most coverage of gaming and machinima tends to miss the mark, I found this documentary to be humorous and quite informative.Some of the juicy morsels of this short doc include commentary by Philip Debevoise, of Machinima.com, and machinima from a variety of different platforms. World of Warcraft is discussed pretty heavily in the documentary, showcasing clips from Snacky's Journal, WoW 300, the South Park WoW episode. [Via Jun Falkenstein]Previously on Moviewatch ...
Cinemassively: Gametrotting machinima documentary
Jun Falkenstein recently blogged about a machinima documentary that she was in last summer. When I checked it out, I was surprised to see the all-star crew of machinimators that they assembled for it. They were asked to explain machinima as if the audience had never heard, or seen, of it.In the video, Philip Debevoise, the President of Machinima.com, discusses what machinima is all about. Frank Dellario, of the Electric Sheep Company-owned ILL Clan, gives us a peek at how his team works as well. I really enjoyed seeing the variety of platforms that this mini-documentary highlighted, and I hope to see more coverage like this in the future![Via Stone Falcon Productions]
Cinemassively: Wonderland documentary focuses on virtual adultery in cyberspace
The BBC recently aired a documentary about Second Life that focuses on a much darker side of it. A husband, Lee, starts to notice that his wife of nine years, Caroline, is spending more time online and less time with the kids. When he tries to come into their bedroom, she'll shove him out and dodge questions about what she was doing.This leads to heartbreaking revelations by her kids, who feel that she doesn't care as much about them as she does SL. Caroline ends up risking everything to meet her lover, who lives on another continent! Will she come to her senses and realize that she has a family at home? You'll just have to watch this sad tale to find out.[Thanks, Fenlock!]
Broadcast student creates documentary on MMO player relationships
Sure, we've got Second Skin coming up, but if you can't wait that long, here's a well-produced, nicely narrated audio documentary about the mechanisms of MMO relationships. It was created by a student from Central Michigan University's School of Broadcast & Cinematic Arts named Nathan Bender.For a change, this documentary focuses on Final Fantasy XI, rather than World of Warcraft. It provides a great deal of insight into how players interact with each other, and an insider's perspective on what it's like to enter a larger social world than previously experienced. Running under 30 minutes, it's well worth your time and may have you nodding in recognition.[Thanks, Fusionx!]
Second Life: BBC documentary about virtual adultery
Well, it's been said often enough before, but Second Life is all about sex. That, at least, would be the impression you would gain from the documentary that has just finished (2:30 SL Time) on BBC2. The programme dealt with 2 Second Life couples. One couple were both in a RL relationship with others, in the other couple she was married, he was single.The first couple were both unhappy, have separated from their former partners, married in Second Life, Real Life and are expecting a baby. The other couple, she was depressed (not necessarily about her marriage), he agitated for her to come and visit in RL. She wouldn't, he left her and so she went to visit. Whether or not it would have been different if she'd gone earlier, who will know. They're now separated in SL, not interested in RL, and she is working with her husband in therapy to make her marriage work.In that sense, a fairly balanced programme I guess. And there are definitely people I know where this describes their SL relationships well. Then there are couples where they meet in SL as single people, get together in SL, get together in RL and get married. The whole gamut of human relationships (and some others too) are expressed, because the thing that is so often forgotten is that it's people doing this, bringing their human strengths and weaknesses to the world. An interesting programme though, even if it feels a bit like they needed the spice of adultery to sell it... shame really. Oh, I had a chuckle, if you've seen the programme and remember the lighthouse, it's one of my lighthouse lights that's all over the BBC.I've tried, I can't find any links on BBC pages but it has shown up on iPlayer. Thanks Andy.[EDIT: added link to iPlayer to allow you to watch it]
Cinemassively: Second Skin Trailer
Here at Massively, we've been anxiously awaiting for Second Skin. One of my personal friends, Nexeus Fatale, was a subject in this documentary about MMOs and I've been hearing about it for at least a year. The wait finally appears to be over as they are hoping to premiere it at SXSW in March. However, Pure West released a trailer today to whet our appetite!The trailer itself mainly focuses on World of Warcraft players as they fall in love, develop gaming addictions, and as they work together in guilds. However, I did spot two scenes with Nexeus and a short blurb from Tony Walsh, of Clickable Culture. They represent the Second Life aspect of the film, which was sadly neglected in the trailer. If you enjoyed the preview, you can check out the hi-res versions on their site.
MMO documentary Second Skin debuts trailer soon
Whether or not you're into documentaries, (for the record, we think they can be very interesting) if you've played massively multiplayer online games in any form then Second Skin by Pure West Documentaries is a movie you'll want to check out at some point. The trailer is going to be debuting tomorrow, Tuesday, January 29th 2008 according to Victor Pineiro; the writer and producer of the film.The movie itself says it will cover guilds, virtual couples, virtual world addiction, gold farming, virtual identities, disabled massively gaming, guild leadership, cybersex and consult some experts from the industry itself. That's a lot of subjects to cover in one movie, but then again when your movie looks closely at how these worlds affect the lives of the people that play them -- well, then there is a lot to talk about. Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the world debut of Second Skin's trailer.
Documentary shows our Second Skin
Ten Ton Hammer has posted part 1 of their great Q&A with the folks at Pure West Documentaries, the company behind Second Skin. What is Second Skin? A documentary film about us... the players of the very subject matter you come to Massively to read about. It's a film that tells the tale of real-life players - your co-workers, your wife, boss, or even the girl next door - living within the virtual worlds of MMOs as someone - or some thing - else.The interview asks a lot of very interesting questions and is absolutely worth the time to read. The film has been in the making for two years and was just recently finished. It's due to make it's debut at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2008. This is not a shockumentary or a slam film. The guys at Pure West are, like us, gamers who set out to put together a film that walks the tight rope between showing both the negative (of which we hear about all too often) and positive (which we hardly ever hear about) sides of this growing phenomena.Peter Schieffelin Brauer, producer of the film says: Certainly we hear a lot about the negative aspects. But I think one thing we found was really important was to really give both sides a voice. Of course, I'm a gamer, I care about the gamer's voice a lot more, but if I don't come out and acknowledge the other side, no one's going to listen to me.This statement in and of itself speaks to the legitimacy of the filmmakers. I know I'll be buying a ticket when this film hits my local metroplex.
RUSH HD delivering HD documentary on downhill skiing
Nah, RUSH HD's forthcoming documentary won't be the first high-definition program dedicated to taking a look at downhill skiing, but what better way to get you all jazzed up about the onset of winter than a fresh look at "the original extreme sport?" Okay, so maybe the Yule Log in HD takes the cake, but we're still slotting this in for second. Scheduled to air this Saturday night at 10:30PM EST (7:30PM PT; 9:30PM C), The Thin Line: Life on the Edge takes a look at what has fueled the sport over the years and includes interviews with some of its most notable figureheads. Additionally, there looks to be quite a few nasty spills crammed into the 90-minute feature, and if you're desperate for a taste a few days early, click on through for a look at the trailer.[Thanks, Erik M.]
Discovery's Meerkat Manor video game announced
And this isn't even a joke. Prepare yourself for Meerkat Manor: The Video Game, as Discovery Communications and Activision join up to make games out of Discovery's nature television shows. No financial terms were disclosed, nor any system announcements or genre types, but the games are expected to flow in the fall of '08. We're hoping Meerkat Manor will be an FPS, but chances are it'll be a sim-style game.Discovery's CEO said the company is trying to move away from being a "cable company" and into becoming a "content company." That seems to be the trend with other cable juggernauts as MTV is in the process of their $500 million spending extravaganza and Turner turns GameTap into an all-purpose gaming site from its smaller games-for-pay beginnings.Update: the source article has been updated with revised details.
Rise of the Videogame documentary impresses
If you missed Discovery Channel's video game documentary's first episode last week, try extra hard not to miss episode two. Rise of the Video Game is actually a pretty solid documentary (so far) with the right interviews, research and b-roll to make an entertaining and informative hour of television. Rock, Paper, Shotgun puts it best by saying, "Rise Of demonstrates a depth of research and work that lifts it above the usually banal, patronizing rubbish that television normally produces on the subject."A good general overview of games before the rise of Nintendo made for a great first episode. The second episode is scheduled for tomorrow at 8PM (with a few repeats sprinkled over the next week) and chronicles consoles and PCs bringing video games to a larger audience in the home. This episode will feature EA founder Trip Hawkins, adventure game guru and Psychonauts creator Tim Schafer, and Leisure Suit Larry creator Al Lowe. Hm, 3DO, the golden age of adventure games and Larry -- tragedy, triumph and sex. Sounds like a good hour of television.
Reminder: Rise of the Video Game starts tonight on Discovery
Tonight the Discovery Channel begins its five-part series Rise of the Video Game. Part one goes from the 1950s to the early '70s. Dang, this thing should be on The History Channel. A new episode will premiere every Wednesday at 8PM. Discovery also has a poll on its site for the show to vote on "classic" games. Obviously the fanboys have taken over as New Super Mario Bros comes in first place over Pac-Man and Space Invaders.The documentary definitely seems to be taking a highbrow approach to video games. So, go set your DVRs now if you'll be out or too busy watching Kid Nation (Lord of the Flies lite) or America's Next Top Model (Go Heather!).
Tivo alert: Discovery airing 'Rise of the Videogame' Nov. 21
FiringSquad reminds us that when we're not busy playing the video game or writing mean things about the video game, we should be watching a documentary about the video game and the rising thereof. Being the fickle and narrow-minded individuals that we are, it's fair to say it's just about the only thing on the Discovery Channel we'd care to see rising, even if they did write it as one word.The first episode in the five-hour long mini-series, which delves into the game industry's history and its significant contributors, airs Wednesday, Nov. 21 at 8PM, with subsequent episodes following on the Wednesdays thereafter.
Watch Akira Kurosawa's films on your DS
Having already added an assortment of horror movies and martial arts flicks to its archive, The Moon Books Project has elected to host several of Akira Kurosawa's films for fans to download and watch on their Nintendo DS. For the homebrew uninitiated, the site also has information on what hardware and software you'll need to play the movies on your handheld.Titles like Sanshiro Sugata, They Who Step on the Tiger's Tail, Rashomon, Stray Dog, and Ikiru, all films from the first ten years of the Japanese director's filmography, have been posted. While Kurosawa's samurai classics -- Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Ran, etc. -- are noticeably missing, you really can't argue with free movies! We just hope that the English subtitles aren't too hard to read on such a small screen. Swing past the break for trailers of two of the available films.
Behind the scenes of Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
Sony's been becoming quite versed in the promomentary -- documentaries meant solely to promote a certain product. Considering the incredible moves Logan can pull off in Logan's Shadow, that's certainly not a bad thing. After a brief introduction to Rucka's work, see how Logan can take out his enemies by using blind fire and grappling. We can describe it, but seeing it actually unfold in front of your eyes is another thing.This latest Syphon Filter title received a 9.0 from PSP Fanboy, and comes highly recommended.
King of Kong director loves Saved By The Bell
While we might not be impressed with his love for Screech, we can certainly agree with his love for The Last Starfighter. Who hasn't dreamed, at least once, that the game they're playing is secretly an alien training device? Maybe that's just us.Karina Longworth at Spout scored an interview with King of Kong director Seth Gordon, and he gives her some interesting facts ... namely what he'd take on a desert island with him. A fairly decent list except for the aforementioned Saved by the Bell. Did he think she said torturous desert island?Anyhow, check out the article and see how Gordon responds to Roger Ebert's now famous statement about video games as art. One choice quote, "I think it's a faulty distinction to divide games into sport vs. art. There's a huge spectrum of gaming and playing styles that ranges from the 'single narrative, single outcome' type of game to the 'every game is different' type of game and in that sense games are part sport, part art, and part puzzle."Amen.
Bringing the epic God of War to PSP
It wasn't an easy task bringing God of War to the handhelds. A brand new engine (Ready at Dawn Engine 2.0) had to be created, and the controls had to be adapted to a whole new system. Our time with the game at E3 proved that Ready at Dawn has been successful in recreating the God of War experience on the handheld ... but how did they do it? This new video documentary provided by Sony attempts to go behind the scenes of the game, and showcases tons of new gameplay footage.[Thanks, Random!] Download MP4 for PSP
Joystiq interview with Chasing Ghosts producer Michael Verrechia
Producer Michael Verrechia had time to answer some questions for us about his film Chasing Ghosts while getting it ready to show at the Los Angeles Film Festival. They're having a premiere on Sunday in Westwood, so if you live in the LA area stop by and grab a ticket.Read on to find out what song the crew used to pump Michael up, how they nailed Billy Mitchell's theme music, and what it's like trying to convince a convicted felon to participate in a documentary.You can also check out our review of the film, watch the trailer, and read the interview with director Lincoln Ruchti.
