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Final word on "Make Love, Not Warcraft"
So I just downloaded the "Make Love, Not Warcraft" South Park episode (I was in ZG when it first aired, and it's now made its way out into the various bittorrent networks), and just like everyone else, I found it pretty well done, and pretty darn funny. If you haven't seen it yet, it's also appeared on Google Video (we'll see how long that link stays up), and you can probably find it on YouTube as well, depending on how fast Comedy Central is on the lawsuit button. Since I'll assume that you've seen it, the rest of this post is spoilers.I completely agree with David-- if we don't see an item called the Sword of 1,000 Truths (or the Bow of 1,000 Lies, which is supposedly what the bow Kenny was using is called) in the expansion, I'll be greatly disappointed. Of course, maybe we don't have to wait that long: Thundgot on the EU forums says the sword currently drops "from boars in Elywnn Forest." Unfortunately, a four-man raid is required. If you want the model for the sword, you could always pick up The Hungering Cold.TV.ign drops a review of the episode (they liked it), and the forums over at WorldofWar.net have an interesting theory: Cartman says it will take them "7 weeks, 5 days, 13 hours, and 20 minutes" to become uber enough to beat the bad guy, which, if you add it up from the time the episode aired on October 4th, puts the date at November 28th. Did Blizzard hide a BC release date hint in there? Of course, when Stan's dad shows up at the Best Buy, the price shown is $49.99, and we all know that's not true.Finally, I'm not sure if we've mentioned this here yet, but most of the machinima for the show was actually done by Rufus Cubed, the studio behind "The Return"-- also the guys that were hired by Blizzard to make the Eastern Plaguelands PVP trailer. Not only is this show the first mainstream TV show to use the word "pwnage," it's a huge success for machinima in general.
Joystiq review: South Park makes love, not Warcraft [update 2]
To kick off the fall season of South Park, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided to take on gaming phenomenon World of Warcraft. The episode kicks off in Goldshire. Cartman, "a mighty dwarf," takes back from a bathroom break before they all take on a quest. The boys collide with a half-naked avatar who dances and then kills the boys ... without agreeing to a duel! Ooh, he breaks the rules. Blizzard is helpless to stop them -- he can actually kill admins. So all the children -- even Butters, who had to switch from Hello Kitty Island Adventures -- all band together to stop the foe. Failing that, the boys power-level for over 17 days in the small hope that they can overcome the foe with "absolutely no life."A majority of the episode takes place in World of Warcraft, and the in-game choreography is superb. The episode is more of an homage to WOW than a satire, though it has its moments of absurdities (especially when involving the Blizzard staff). It's the hardcore World of Warcraft players that get the butt of most jokes. Portrayed as overweight, Rockstar-drinking, pimple-faced nerds with carpal tunnel syndrome, these "pros" are shown as possibly having even less than no life.It's the craziness you would expect from Parker and Stone, with due respect given to the source material. Relation to video games aside, it's a great social satire that ranks with some of the better episodes."Scroll over him with your mouse cursor and ... right click!"[Update 1: Here's another take on the episode from sister site TV Squad. 2: Grab the entire episode over at You NEWB.]
WoW on South Park...what did you think?
Regardless of how funny this episode may or may not have been, one thing needs to be said... Their use of the WoW engine in the episode was AMAZING. Blizzard had to have given them a bunch of help, and for that I give Blizzard a lot of credit. A lot of companies would shy away from a South Park tie in, but Blizzard knows their target audience. Maybe this is why they make so much darn money. As for the episode itself, while the plot didn't make a whole lot of sense from an actual game standpoint (and it doesn't have to, as this is, you know, a cartoon), they seemed to take care to mention actual places and keep things fairly consistent within the game. From Butters' frustration at only four Alliance races to choose from to bragging about questing in the Fargodeep Mine, they did a decent job trying to keep things grounded in the game. You can tell they have at least one WoW fan writing for the show. And who is betting we might see a Sword of 1000 Truths at some point in the WoW universe? Of course, some things in the episode weren't consistent with WoW game play (human hunter?), but again, this is a cartoon meant to entertain the masses, not just the WoW geeks who tune in. The stereotype of the fat, lazy WoW player was out in full force, but if you are playing for 18 hours a day, everyday, it might be hard to be fit and trim. All in all, I was pretty entertained. However, if I was not a WoW fan, I'm not sure if this would be among my favorite episodes. My playing WoW added a lot, and I don't think I'd have enjoyed it nearly as much as an outsider looking in. Either way, the marriage of South Park and WoW was certainly something to see, and will surely keep the WoW community buzzing for a while. What did you guys think? Funny? Lame?Oh yeah, one more thing...you can rest assured we will be launching Hello Kitty Island Adventure Insider very, very soon.
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South Park World of Warcraft clip! [UPDATE]
I wondered yesterday if World of Warcraft was going to be the main focus of South Park this week or just a minor plot device. My question is answered. WoW is going to be featured on South Park in a very, very big way. If the preview clip on the front page of WoW.com (thanks to Medivak for the quick heads up) is any indication, it looks like WoW and the millions who play are going to be savagely mocked by the South Park crew. This is going to be fantastic! And no matter how brutal the parody, Blizzard has to LOVE the South Park spotlight with the Burning Crusade right around the corner.UPDATE: Thanks to the comment crew, we have the original clip on Youtube. Additionally, we also have another clip from the show, via South Park Studios. Thanks to Agrar and Tim for the info!UPDATE #2: The synopsis for the WoW episode at South Park Studios reads: "The boys dedicate their lives to defeating a mad gamer and saving the World of Warcraft." Is the mad gamer Professor Chaos? Elizabeth Harper? Who knows! Am I hyping this episode a little too much? For sure!
World of Warcraft and South Park?
According to this article in the Denver Post, when South Park returns for their 10th season this Wednesday, the episode will include a riff on World of Warcraft. The article is not clear about whether WoW will be the sole focus of the episode or just a minor plot point. South Park has a pretty good track record of video game parody, with the PSP episode and the original Towlie episode standing out. Cartman was especially proud of his 360 last season, but the poor guy had to settle for the Core model. So what are we in for? Cartman griefing newbs on a PvP server? Butters meeting a hot Night Elf? You can catch the episode this Wednesday night at 10 PM on Comedy Central.
PSP created to defeat Satan's army
This may be old as hell, but it's just too good to pass up. In this hilarious clip from South Park, we can now solve the age-old question of why the PSP was created - to defeat Satan and his hellish minions. In a parody of Lord of the Rings, Kenny, who honed his skills slaughtering digital demons on the PSP, must single-handedly combat Satan's onslaught of heaven with the ultimate weapon - the Golden PSP. Wow, what I wouldn't give for a Golden PSP, but knowing Sony, I'd most likely have to sell my wife into slave labor just to afford one. However, it just might be worth it.
ProCare promo video inspired by South Park, created by Apple Store employees
We don't know how legit this is, or whether there's an Apple Store out there actually using this, but it appears as though some Apple Store employees have created a ProCare promotional video in the spirit of South Park. It features short, animated kids in a few quick scenarios of customers entering the store and requesting Procare support, as well as another customer pimping some of the various features that ProCare offers, such as personalized support and training. It probably won't make the Apple.com homepage any time soon, but it's an interesting effort from some enthusiastic employees (who probably didn't even get paid for their efforts).
MTV pimps branded MP3 players in Europe
Just a few weeks after the launch of their Microsoft-supported music service Urge, MTV has tapped European company Mini Media to produce two MP3 players emblazoned with branding from Viacom franchises such as South Park and Pimp My Ride. The lower-end MIVI-P1GB sports 1GB of storage (expandable with SD), WMA playback, an FM tuner and a voice recorder, while the higher-end MIVI-P1GBV1 adds photo/video playback on a 1.5-inch CSTN screen. Yeah, the specs are nothing special but MTV is hoping the wacky rubberized finish and cheesy graphics will be enough to separate consumers from their cash after the European release slated for September. No word on price or plans for a US release yet, but we're betting we'll see these before we ever see that other MTV player again.[Via I4U]
Xbox 360 spotted on South Park ... with 4 wired controllers?
Microsoft's Xbox 360 made its South Park debut last night. In one scene (seen here), Stan, Kyle, Butters, and Kenny are all using wired controllers. What up with that?Could this be a hint? Is Microsoft planning a major Xbox 360 announcement at E3? A revelation that would trump anything that Nintendo or Sony could whip out? A new Xbox 360 model with four — yes, four! — USB ports?Consider this ... what if Microsoft has already played out wireless? Heck, for that matter, what if the next-gen forerunner has already played out the entire HD era (notice the standard def hookup)? Is the next turn for Microsoft ... the retro era? A mess of tangled wires ... a pile of dusty cartridges ... 2D-pixelated Halo? C'mon, admit it, that would better than any of this Wiimote propaganda or those fourth dimension rumors we've been hearing from the other guys.... Okay, we're just being silly — we'll stop. So did anyone else catch the South Park episode last night?
Scrubs, more South Park in iTunes
Season five of NBC's Scrubs has been added to the iTunes music store this morning [iTunes link]. No season pass, however. South Park fans will be glad to know that a season pass is now available for that show [iTunes link], as well as seasons 3 and 10, starting off with the infamous "The Return of Chef!" episode. Have at it.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
South Park moving to Xserve SAN arrays for storage
No South Park episodes in the iTMS yet, but TV Squad points out that South Park is switching over to Apple Xserve SAN arrays for keeping track of all the animation craziness that is the show. This ComputerWorld article details the move: "Franzen said he chose Apple hardware based on a 'gut' feeling that its technology would be good, and so far, he has not been disappointed. Franzen said he now expects to add two more Xserve arrays for a total of 15TB of storage and place his disk storage behind a couple of switches from Cisco Systems Inc. in order to make managing his storage easier." That's the kind of gut feeling I like to hear about.
