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Cinemassively: Can't PUG KZ
Infamous World of Warcraft player Nyhm (and before you complain that he can't sing -- we've got to say it's part of his charm) always delights us with his hilarious music videos. And though Can't PUG KZ is full of World of Warcraft references, we think that any MMO gamer who's wanted to raid, but had trouble finding the manpower, will sympathize with Nyhm's PUG plight. And though Nyhm has done quite a few videos, Can't PUG KZ is our sentimental favorite, perhaps due to our own PUG nightmares.
WoW Moviewatch: Welcome to the Jungle
Twenty years after "Welcome to the Jungle" was released, Axl Rose is making a comeback ... as an orc. When a woman is sexually harassed by guards, a mysterious man comes to her rescue. As they make a run for it, Guns N' Roses takes to the Warcraft stage to perform their hit song.Revenge is sweet, and so is this music video. David Ciavarella did an amazing job on the editing, creating a visually stunning scene. While I wish there were more of a storyline to it, I do love the cut scenes of the band rocking out. I highly recommend viewing the high resolution version. He also gives us a preview of what will be his final machinima film, "The Hunt." Say it isn't so, David![Via Warcraftmovies.com]Previously on Moviewatch...
TuneCore offers iTunes Music Video sales
Earlier this year, I posted about TuneCore, a service that allows you to sell your music on iTunes. Now TuneCore has given us the heads up that the service has expanded to include Music Video sales. You can upload your music videos to iTunes and sell them alongside all the normal music labels. Selling your music video is kinda pricey. Expect to pay $125 plus $20/year for a 5 minute-or-less video. Compare that with the $20 you'd pay to upload an album with eight tracks that I priced out in my original post. Unfortunately, the service I'd really like to see isn't there yet. You can't use this feature to host non-music videos. TuneCore writes that iTunes has a different set of standards for short films, shows and movies and that you can only sell music videos at this time. Hopefully regular videos will soon follow because I know of a lot of wedding videographers, ballet and karate schools, and other for-profit and not-for-profit organizations who would love to get access to the iTunes store to sell their products.
Today's apologetic video: Blame Halo 3
When he's not bringing Shatner back, MySpace user, James at War turns Akon's apologetic anthem, Sorry Blame Me, into a Halo 3 tribute. And while it's an attempt to appease the videogame widows as much a song about the game, notice how the lyrics never take responsibility; you can sense the singer slinking back to the game during the slow fade-out. Yes, that sounds like a typical gamer to us. Watch the music video after the break, and hum it to your loved ones.
Growl 1.1.1 available now
The latest version of Growl, the all-in-one notification app, has been released. 1.1.1 is available for download right now over on the site.New to this version, you'll find speedier notifications, an improved Music Video style (which was one of the main complaints with the last release), improved iTunes notifications, and a few other bugfixes and improvements. Not a huge release by any means, but considering how much Growl pops up on my screen, even the little stuff matters.Thanks, Peter!
WoW is a Work of Art, part 3: All the world's a stage
We have discussed ways in which World of Warcraft is not only full of audio-visual art, but presents in itself a gaming experience that can reward players the same way that art forms like music or film can. For some, however, WoW is not only a game, but a stage. For them, the gaming element may sometimes fade into the background, when it becomes only a means to an end; they use WoW as a combination of acting and creative writing, telling stories and making performances all their own. They call it roleplaying. One kind of roleplaying that is getting a great deal of new attention these days is "machinima." For those who don't know, machinima is basically a kind of film in which people use the game's existing 3D models and environments to make their own movies, and then share these movies with everyone on the internet (or very rarely on TV). As we have seen here at WoW Insider and elsewhere, these movies are especially powerful as comedies and music videos, especially for viewers who are already familiar with the game that they're made with. But for most people who roleplay, it is not a scripted performance, but an improvised one; it is not carefully lip-synced, edited recorded and for all to see, but imagined, written out, and remembered only among those who played the parts. Someone not familiar with roleplaying might wonder why people bother with it.
WoW Moviewatch: Ni Hao (A Gold Farmers Story)
I'm on the fence on this one. On the one hand, Madcow Studios has done a funny parody song about gold farmers. On the other hand, it could be perceived as borderline racists. So, I leave it to you, gentle readers. Watch this music video about Chinese gold farmers and let us know if it has crossed the line from entertainment to insensitivity.For the record, Ni Hao is Mandarin chinese for Hello. It's a common greeting received when approaching a gold farmer.Previously, on Moviewatch...
Music video contest winners announced
For those interested in the results, today Blizzard has announced the winners of their recent music video contest. (And before you complain about the winners, remember, you had a chance to vote on them!) WoW Insider would like to congratulate the winners: in first place, Sedrin; in second place, Baron Soosdon; and in third place Dead Workers Party. If you fancy yourself a machinima-maker and didn't make the winner's list for this contest, there's always the BlizzCon movie contest. And with entries due on July 19th, you'd best get started!
Get your Boogie on, save it for posterity
Boogie just looks like good, clean dancin' fun and we're really excited about giving it a try, particularly after seeing this new video of ... well, video! Specifically, the video-making function in the forthcoming EA title. Looks very easy to use, and the results are pretty spiffy. Seems that impressions from the Nintendo Media Summit were on target -- Boogie is ready to get down. Now if only we could speed ahead to August!
The Ataris music video contest: Vote for winners!
If you don't recall Blizzard and Machinima.com's The Ataris music video contest, I can't blame you -- originally announced at the beginning of May, Blizzard's site hasn't served as much of a reminder since it opened. However, the entry period for the contest has now closed, but now you have a chance to pick the winner by checking out the finalists and voting for the best ones. All of the machinima are well-made and have their own unique interpretation of the music -- and if you're interested in cool machinima, they're all worth a watch. Good luck to the finalists!
WoW Moviewatch: Love is Blind
The story of the forbidden romance of a Blood Elf for his dwarven love. This was done as part of the Ataris World of Warcraft music video contest. I know this song will be in my head for a while.[via WarcraftMovies.com]
The Ataris music video contest begins!
Blizzard, Machinima.com, and The Ataris are sponsoring a new machinima contest for all of the machinima-makers wanting to show off their talent. Your task, if you choose to accept it, is simple: Create a music video using World of Warcraft footage and music from The Ataris. Submit your video any time between May 1st and June 5th. ... Profit! (By walking away with a new NVIDIA graphics card.) Sound interesting? Check out the official rules and get started!
Wipeout inspires trippy music vid
I'm sure many readers may have seen this before, but I hadn't and therefore I share it with you. A band called Fluke put out the song "Atom Bomb" as part of a Wipeout soundtrack and it definitely shows. The song not only sounds like a Wipeout song, it has some incredible Wipeout style visuals and will likely have you saying "cool" after you see it. But don't take my brain damaged word for it, check it out for yourself and prey for a new Wipeout title on PSP. Video after the jump ... [ Via Game Set Watch ]
Rip Slyme sells his soul to Sony in latest music video
Here at Engadget, we've got no qualms with a jumpin' beat, and we certainly have no issues with Sony's svelte lineup of (admittedly pricey) Vaio lappies, but even those two shameless endorsements can't hold a candle to Rip Slyme's latest vid. Presumably funded entirely from the linings of Howard Stringer's own pockets, the music video for I.N.G. seems to mock a typical Sony end-of-quarter board room meeting, but after 30 seconds or so of dancing around with Sony laptops (the C-series in particular), we get the feeling this just might be for real. While the artist could've just looped his tune behind a large Sony billboard and got the same message across, the "product placement" here would make any marketing professor quite proud, and while we have no real way of verifying, we'd speculate that Mr. Slyme's producers used a few Sony-branded machines to do the tweaking. So while all these words might not make much sense just yet, click on through when you've got a tick and watch the whole thing through -- now this is a Sony fanboy.[Thanks, Louis S.]
WoW Moviewatch: Mr. Lonely
Sometimes I forget that I'm a giant WoW nerd, and that I see things that maybe not all our readers have seen. I know this made the rounds a little while back, but I think it's an excellent example of a WoW Music Video. The song is by Akron Akon (EDIT: I swear, I'm addicted to the R key this week), originally, not the Chipmunks. After watching the video, I'm left with one nagging question, "Can gnomes and night elves even hook up, biologically speaking?" Honestly though, the skills that are out there when it comes to Machinima are impressive. I wish I could just fire up FRAPS, throw the video onto my iMac and create some magic with iMovie, but I think it's outside my skillset (which is mostly limited to playing WoW, writing about WoW, and watching WoW videos). If you have a great example of a WoW video, be it music or otherwise, send us a tip!
Friday Video: Smoke the Wii
If we could distill all of Nintendo fandom in a short video, it would probably look sort of like this. Well, if we'd had a few beers, but hey, it's Friday and that's okay. But all discussion of our plans for the evening aside, this week's featured video is a music video that spent this week in the spotlight at YouTube, so there's a chance you've already seen it. It's worth another watch, for the humor if nothing else, but there's probably something in there that rings true in all of us ....[Thanks, Aylmer!]
WoW Moviewatch: Code Monkey (with bonus Brains)
Since posting that Skullcrusher Mountain video, it has come to my attention that Mr. Booth has several more excellent Coulton/WoW videos, of commensurate quality. You can see them all at his YouTube page; here are my favorites."Code Monkey" is the song that first got me (and a lot of other people) into Coulton's work. It's cute, it's funny, and it's catchy as hell. Booth's version visualizes the song pretty well, though I'm not sure why when Coulton says "Tab" we see what looks like cans of Horde (with Taurine?). "Re: Your Brains", on the other hand, was a totally new song to me, but I love it already, and it's perfect for the WoW treatment. Blazing quote of glory: "All we want to do is eat your brains/We're not unreasonable; I mean, no one's gonna eat your eyes". If someone made a parody of the excellent comic The Walking Dead, and that parody had a theme song, this would be it.
EMI Music UK offers paid video downloads on small site
The record label, EMI Music UK, has recently announced their efforts to bring their music videos to PSP owners through a fairly small site, psp-playlist.com. "PSP owners are substantial in number and content hungry," said Graeme Rogan, commercial manager of digital media for EMI Music UK, speaking to GI.biz.The videos cost 1.89, and don't appear to use any DRM encryption of any kind. Considering how amateur the site looks, I highly doubt that this will really take off. [Via DCemu]
Lumines website updates, showcases more music videos
The Lumines II website has entered Phase II. In this stage, it will develop chrysalis around its body, to protect itself during metamorphosis. It will also showcase music videos in the new Video Hub section. Artists you can preview include the Black Eyed Peas, Fatboy Slim, Beck, The Go! Team, The Chemical Brothers, and more.Lumines II flutters to store shelves on November 7th.
MacBook (PRODUCT) RED already in production?
Color me crazy, but the MacBook in this music video looks a lot like it could be one of those (PRODUCT) RED MacBooks that have been rumored before. Of course, it could also just be a ColorWare job to stir up some hype - though who exactly is doing the stirring is anyone's guess. You'll know more as soon as we do.
