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Creators of Portal: Survive! turn to Kickstarter for Portal webseries
Colin and Connor McGuire, the brotherly duo behind the superb Portal: Survive! fan film are back in the Aperture Science testing labs, cooking up a new Portal-based live-action webseries. Revolutionary advances in the field of science don't come cheap though, so the brothers are asking for $15,000 on Kickstarter to get the series, dubbed Secrets of Aperture, off the ground. Worried the fundraising efforts will get shut down quicker than an Aperture scientist's lungs when filled with deadly neurotoxin? Don't be - Valve's video policy encourages such use of their properties. Secrets of Aperture will have five episodes at minimum funding, though stretch goals add more content. At $20,000, the McGuire brothers will add a series of vlogs, hosted by characters from the Portal universe. Every additional $15,000 beyond that will result in another episode in the series, up to a total of eight. The series will be free to view when it goes live, but backers get access to special behind-the-scenes featurettes and a DVD version that will only be available via the Kickstarter campaign. Serious Portal enthusiasts can chip in $3,000 to get a full-size replica portal gun or companion cube prop. No cake though. You know why. [Image: Colin and Connor McGuire]
Call of Duty: Ghosts Onslaught ad tries to make 'CODnapping' happen
This live-action ad for Call of Duty: Ghosts' Onslaught DLC features good-natured things like kidnapping, questionable priorities and family abandonment. The DLC includes four new maps and the ability to play as Michael Meyers of Halloween fame, and will launch January 28 on Xbox One and Xbox 360.
China gets late Christmas present of new ArcheAge beta
If you wrote to Santa asking for an ArcheAge beta, you might have wanted to specify that you meant in the west. As it is, China is the one getting the beta present the day after Christmas. The announcement of this next beta phase, called the "Divine" test, came at the Tencent Games Carnival 2013, China's largest gaming convention. Along with the beta news, the publisher unveiled the official Chinese ArcheAge trailer, showcased a live-action introduction to the game, and debuted the official theme for this version. The Chinese fans may have to wait until December 26th to get back into the game, but everyone can experience all three videos for themselves now. And that's better than a lump of coal!
Machinima to premiere live-action series based on Ryse: Son of Rome
Crytek and Machinima have partnered to produce a live-action webseries based on Xbox One game Ryse: Son of Rome called "The Fall." This four-part story will explore the character of Marius Titus, who is also the main character in the upcoming game, and will be stabbing its way to a computer near you on November 5. Martin McCready, a British stage actor, will take on the role of Titus, while Brian Beletic directs. The trailer, which you can check out above, shows no signs of the game's infamous QTE executions. You can decide for yourself whether you are or are not entertained by that.
Live-action version of iconic Dead Island trailer is even sadder
Grab some tissues, because the tear-jerking, award-winning trailer from Dead Island has been remade in live-action. That's right: Instead of looking into the soulless, dead eyes of a computer-animated horde of zombies, you can look into the soulless, dead eyes of real-life zombies and the family they devour. Aren't video games fun? The trailer comes to the Internet courtesy of Machinima, and save for the very end, is a shot-by-shot recreation of the infamous trailer. We assume the reason for the ending remaining a CG animation is because there is, in fact, no Royal Palms Resort on the island of Banoi, and building an entire hotel for roughly 10 seconds of footage is a pretty tall budget order. Or maybe the creators just didn't feel like tempting fate and starting the zombie apocalypse. While this is a fan film, it nonetheless gives us an idea of what that Dead Island movie from Lionsgate might look like, should it ever be finished.
Live-action Portal fan film explores the birth of GLaDOS
GLaDOS is widely considered one of gaming's finest antagonists, but like all malevolent robots she too was once a child - A brutal, sadistic child with no sympathy for terrified scientists. That's the basic premise behind Portal: Survive!, a new live-action fan film which explores the violent early moments of GLaDOS. Despite being an amateur production, Portal: Survive! proves surprisingly well-crafted. Colin and Connor McGuire, the duo behind the short, claim that the total budget for their project was less than $500. The claustrophic interiors you see in the vignette are almost certainly a compromise made for monetary reasons, but the film's creators did an excellent job of making these limitations work toward the short's advantage. Instead of feeling cheap, these small sets lend an appropriate level of tension to the rise of GLaDOS.
Watch BioWare's lightsaber-fueled live-action SWTOR ad
Live-action trailers for MMOs (and games in general) are sort of hit and miss. On the one hand, a live-action video can be so over-stylized and vague that it leaves viewers saying, "Uh, what?" On the other hand, a well-made live-action advertisement has a way of drawing new interest toward a game and its world. If you're looking for a live-action trailer that falls in the "uh, what" category, it's hard to beat this head-scratcher for Guild Wars 2. But if you want to see a live-action that more successfully integrates real-life and video games, BioWare's new commercial for Star Wars: The Old Republic is pretty spot-on. The ad accompanies BioWare's announcement that new players, active subscribers, and lapsed subscribers who reactivate between today and October 20th will receive a JA-3 Subversive Battle Droid Mini-Pet and a JA-3 Subversive Speeder. Additionally, the studio confirmed that Game Update 2.4, slated for October 1st, will include new 4v4 Warzone Arenas and PvP tweaks. Check out the new ad after the break, and don't miss our coverage of SWTOR Game Update 2.4.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified live-action video is in pursuit
This live-action trailer for The Bureau: XCOM Declassified shows Lost and Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan in pursuit of an enemy while on the phone with a man that needs to shut his fridge door. The game is slated to launch on August 20 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
Red 5 celebrates Firefall open beta with live-action trailer
It's official: Firefall, which has been in closed beta for what seems like forever, has taken one tiny step toward an actual release by entering open beta. Starting today, right now, you and your friends can leap into Red 5's MMOFPS and get to shooting, assuming, you know, that you haven't already been playing it. For over a year. Anyhow, Red 5 is marking the long-overdue launch of open beta with a live-action trailer that features a surly man drinking bourbon, a girl on a stretcher, and yes, thumping. They actually put thumping in the trailer. Check it out after the break.
Payday 2 web series continues in 'The Vault'
This second episode of the live-action Payday 2 web series picks up where the first one left off: the crew is in the middle of robbing a bank and is about to make its escape from the vault. Payday 2 will launch on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC in August.
Live-action Remember Me trailer has some cake
This live-action trailer for Remember Me sets the tone for the game's beginning chapters with thoughts from the founder of the Memorize corporation. Remember Me will launch this coming Tuesday on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
Metro: Last Light live-action trailer has a distant past
This trailer for Metro: Last Light features real actors coping with their loss of identity in the series' post-apocalyptic version of Moscow. The game is expected to arrive in March 2013 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Live-action Hotline Miami trailer is so, so disturbing
This live-action trailer for Dennton Games' Hotline Miami gets creepy fast. The violent, top-down mayhem game now seems all the more appropriate as a Halloween gift for your twisted self when it launches October 23 on PC and Mac.
Final Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn vignette debuts squad
The final installment of the Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn vignette series debuts the Hastati squad from the Corbulo Academy of Military Science, which fight for a cause they don't seem to believe in. The live-action mini-series kicks off on Halo Waypoint and Machinima Prime on October 5.
Move further 'Unto Dawn' with the latest Halo 4 live-action short
The latest Halo 4 short – sans Master Chief, but with a whole bunch of tough-looking dudes no less – focuses on the psychology of UNSC rookie troopers. Not just any UNSC troopers, but the ones we'll be getting up close and personal with when 343 Industries and Microsoft Studios finally drop the full live-action "Forward Unto Dawn" video prequel to Halo 4.And yes, the Chief will also be part of that. Quit worrying.
Third time's the charm: Live-action Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist series announced
Because it was such a good idea the first couple of times, the powers that be (in this case, Capcom itself) have decided that the world is ready for a third official attempt at a live-action anything set in the Street Fighter universe.Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist is a forthcoming live-action series (presumably web series) from Capcom and Assassin's Fist Limited, a production company composed of the core team responsible for the live-action Street Fighter: Legacy fan film. The show will follow Ken and Ryu's formative years as they study under the tutelage of Gouken, master of a modified version of Ansatsuken martial arts. At some point we expect Akuma to show up and shout "Messatsu!"The script will be penned by Christian Howard (Ken in Street Fighter: Legacy) and director Joey Ansah. Global release is expected sometime in 2013.
Assassin's Creed 3 asks that you 'rise' to revolution
We imagine the folks manning the empire back in England were having a bit of a bad day on July 5, 1776. Their lucrative colonies in the New World had just declared independence, and some half-British/half-Native American was murdering all their police. Er ... wait a minute ...
Total War: Rome 2 trailer is full of murder and intrigue, light on strategy
Have the folks at The Creative Assembly been studying up on Spartacus?
You can almost see Master Chief in this Halo 4 live action teaser
The Chief is in there, no doubt, but Halo 4's "Forward Unto Dawn" live action marketing campaign has yet to really kick off. As such, the teaser above offers little more than a brief glimpse at Master Chief's super tall, super armored silhouette.
Max Payne, trying his hardest to get through his gritty, noir life
The hilarious short film about Max Payne above takes all the gritty realism of Max's latest game appearance, and puts it in the lavender-scented reality of suburban life. Might we suggest not having water in your mouth, lest you're ready for a spit take.
