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XBox (Games) Entertainment

Xbox As An Indie Movie Studio 114

Posted by Zonk from the gotta-love-machinima dept.
jhsiao writes "The NYT has an article about machinima and movies set entirely within video games. In the article they interview a number of machinima artists including the folks at Rooster Teeth Productions who brought us Red vs. Blue." From the article: "He created a comedy series called ''Red vs. Blue,'' a sort of sci-fi version of ''M*A*S*H.'' In ''Red vs. Blue,'' the soldiers rarely do any fighting; they just stand around insulting one another and musing over the absurdities of war, sounding less like patriotic warriors than like bored, clever video-store clerks."
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Xbox As An Indie Movie Studio More

Xbox As An Indie Movie Studio

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  • It may well be the Monty Python skit of the funniest joke ever told being lobbed into the warring enemy's camp stirred the imagination of Rooster Teeth Productions to bring us "Red vs. Blue".

    • Re:Obligatory pointer to the Monty Python Skit (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      For reference, here is the aforementioned "funniest joke ever" (which kills anyone who reads or hears it):

      My dog has no nose. How does he smell?

      Terrible.

      • That is not the funniest joke ever. That was the German attempt to counter the funniest joke ever. Oh, and it goes as follows:

        Hitler: "My dog has no nose."

        Crowd: "How does he smell?"

        Hitler: "Awful."
      • I hope I have time to get the location of the Grail written out before I die.

        Here may be found the last words of Joseph of Arimathea. He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the Holy Grail in the Castle of aaarrrrggh....
    • It's obvious you've never watched Red vs. Blue.

      Keith
      • If you want to see some quite interesting (in what they are capable of that is) machinima, check out some of the World of Warcraft movies out there.

        Sure, a lot of the movies you will find are just recordings of pvp battles or new techniques for doing something but there are some true films (though I have yet to see one with full voiceovers like rvb). Check out "Not Just Another Love Story" which has a fairly large cast (lot of extras), cool "sets", in-game special effects and a fairly entertaining story

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @02:44PM (#13265083)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Well, I think other animations like StrangerHood [roosterteeth.com] are quite nice and more than just 3D models standing and voices like the ones in Red vs Blue... and as the animations and models advance in the games and the API's felxibility allows those films will be easier to do.

      As for the copyrights lawsuits I do not know, can Red vs Blue count as a derivative work of Halo?? I think that is an interesting ground for laws uh? I do not doubt the big companies will try to suck the last dollar from those indies film makers..
      • It probably counts as parody or satire.
      • As for the copyrights lawsuits I do not know, can Red vs Blue count as a derivative work of Halo?? I think that is an interesting ground for laws uh?

        Red vs. Blue uses maps, textures, models, etc. directly from Halo. It definitely counts as a derivative work. If, as some machinima, it used all-original textures and models, it would not be.

        I do not doubt the big companies will try to suck the last dollar from those indies film makers...

        In is case, Microsoft/Bungie has been openly supportive. In fac
    • 2. If successful independent films started coming out of X-boxes or other consoles at any significant rate, there'd be royalty, DMCA, and/or copyright lawsuits from the console makers.

      What makes you think Microsoft owns the copyright to every game played on the XBOX? Those rights lie with the game manufacturer. And where's the defeating of a protective measure that would bring the DMCA into play? This is done by capturing non-Macrovisioned analog outputs. Or is any recording device now considered a circ

  • Ha! Could make Doom the way it should be made (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Instead of the hollywood mess and foot dragging that has been going on.

    Watch out Pixel! XBox, PS3, and Mac Mini's are coming to an apartment near you!

  • Something actually new (Score:5, Insightful)

    by panurge ( 573432 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @03:00PM (#13265158)
    This is actually pretty interesting, but likely to be stamped out by the IP owners.
    It actually shows pretty clearly what is wrong with present attempts at continued IP extension; it suppresses innovation and originality at the expense of a fossilised business model.

    Kids have always played with dolls and toy soldiers and engaged in imaginative play. This is actually a way of actualising that play in a reproducible manner. It's getting back to a core process of the human imagination, and suddenly making it more than just a transient entertainment for a few children.

    Up till now animation has been a relatively expensive process which puts it under the control of studios, or results in tiny cartoons produced with great labor by students. This shows that the process is now ready to be democratised - if it is allowed to happen. Potentially Open Source could do this, by creating Open Source animation engines which work with Open Source avatars - meaning that kids (and people a lot older) could create and release those avatars. The result? Well, if it's like music, where the means did NOT result in talented outsiders getting much exposure via the P2P networks, but does result in a lot of piracy, it will be disappointing. But it would be nice if, for once, educators and others got a clue and encouraged kids to use their creative talent on computer generated animation.

    On a slightly relatied topic, I do not believe that the real driving force behind the attack on P2P networks is fear of piracy. Piracy just legitimises the existing pyramid structure of content creation and distribution. They are under attack because of the fear that one day they might result in democratisation of content creation and distribution - which would destroy the recording industry and the movie industry as their "blockbuster" lowest common denominator model had to compete within a huge number of niche markets. That's where freedom (the right to create and distribute without being suppressed by the monopolist) meets Marxist socialism - the idea that citizens rather than capitalists should own the means of production and distribution.

    • It seems that many companies are allowing people to use their games to make videos, because it benefits them. They see the videos as free advertizing for them. At least, the ones mentioned in the article do.

    • Re:Something actually new (Score:4, Informative)

      by Have Blue ( 616 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @03:32PM (#13265276) Homepage
      Don't paint RvB as subversives hunted by The Man- they have a licensing agreement and are cooperating fully with Microsoft.

      Animation is *still* an expensive, complex, and labor-intensive process. RvB is easy to produce because it's using animations that took the original studio months to create. All they provided were the scripts, voices, and players to use the extremely simplified character controls in the game- all of these can easily be done in spare time and with zero budget and day jobs. Modeling, texturing, rigging, and animating from scratch are far more complicated processes, and they're not going to be simplified anytime soon because specifying the exact appearance and motions of every single movable part of the human body several times a second for the period of several minutes is an inherently labor-intensive task.

      • specifying the exact appearance and motions of every single movable part of the human body several times a second for the period of several minutes is an inherently labor-intensive task.

        Inherently? Why would it take any more than "several minutes" once the character is modeled, textured, and articulated? Can't an actor put on a highly contrasty suit and act on stage in real time, where video cameras and/or other sensors feed the performance into the computer and turn it into a motion sequence?

        • "Can't an actor put on a highly contrasty suit and act on stage in real time, where video cameras and/or other sensors feed the performance into the computer and turn it into a motion sequence?"

          There is software being worked on to do just that. But it's expensive (for now) and it's still not ideal. For one thing, parts of the actor are obscured during a take. The software attempts to work out what was going on from the previous and following frames, but it still requires cleanup. Sometimes it's faster ju
    • I'm sorry, you can't show the kid playing with the barbie doll in the movie since you are stealing the design and looks of barbie, hence our intellectual property.

      Ah yes, and the color the room is painted in is trademarked by our subsidary.
  • Red vs Blue isn't that great. Sure, it can be funny in a stupid sort of way. But there are far better methods of entertainment out there. Hell, I'd rather read an online comic strip. Or watch something that acually makes use of ANIMATION (like Homestar) rather than just a bunch of talking heads.

    Red vs Blue reminds me of the Garfield comic strip. Gee, what's Garfield up to today? Sitting on the table and talking to John? And he hates Mondays? And he steals Johns Lasagna then smacks Odie in the teeth? HAAHHAA
    • I think the humor in RvB comes from WHAT they say, not the medium it is on. If it was written as a story, or a webcomic, it might be just as funny.

      Where Garfield is same crap, different panel. (Oh, you missed a huge portion of strips, Jon being rejected over the phone.)
    • So did maddox, years ago. [thebestpag...iverse.net]
    • Red vs Blue isn't that great. Sure, it can be funny in a stupid sort of way. But there are far better methods of entertainment out there. Hell, I'd rather read an online comic strip.

      8-bit Theater [nuklearpower.com]
      Ctrl-Alt-Del [ctrlaltdel-online.com]
      Van Von Hunter [vanvonhunter.com]
      Cup of Suffering [keenspace.com]
      Elf Only Inn [elfonlyinn.net]

      Enjoy.
    • You have a valid point about Garfield, but much of the reasons for the popularity of Garfield are precisely the reasons you have given - the well engineered mediocrity and conformity hard coded into the Garfield universe. Read this slate piece about it: http://slate.msn.com/id/2102299/ [msn.com]


      --------
      My Pop Culture Theme Quizzes, have fun reading and solving them.
      The First [blogspot.com]
      The Second [blogspot.com]
      The Third [blogspot.com]
      Solutions to #1 [blogspot.com]
      • You have a valid point about Windows, but much of the reasons for the popularity of Windows are precisely the reasons you have given - the well engineered mediocrity and conformity hard coded into the Windows univers

        Fixed it for you.
    • Hell, I'd rather watch an online animated series. Doh!

      But seriously, I like online comics, but I find animation of any kind interesting even if it's David Firth on Newgrounds. Talking heads or not... It's still made me laugh and thats what counts.
    • When my friends and I play Halo2, we literally laugh our asses off at some of our antics. I just think that the medium has so much more to offer rather than just a bunch of speculation and chatter. Some of the commentary is funny, but it is equally funny in comic-strip format, or even simple audio. The video simply contributes NOTHING. Plus it is a waste of bandwidth/storage. I wanna see them pull some Dukes of Hazzard stunts with that Warthog. YeeeeeeeeeeeeHAAAAaaaaa!

  • No, Thanks... (Score:5, Funny)

    by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @03:06PM (#13265179)
    Bored, Lazy Video Game Store Clerks: The Game

    Buy your copy of the game at the store today to get it autographed by a bored, lazy video game store clerk! Hurry while supplies last.
  • It's about time somebody started an open source equivalent of Stunt Island, but expanded to the whole range of movie requirements....

  • 1. Copy story location.
    2. Paste into google search
    3. click on link that appears on the google search page.
    4. ???
    5. Profit

  • Just A Game (Score:2, Interesting)

    by MuNansen ( 833037 )
    Keep an eye out. Hopefully in about a month I'll be releasing something that should change a few minds. (btw, I created "Ours Again," and am one of the producers referred to working on "Game On" in the article).

  • Why Xbox? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ilyaaohell ( 866922 ) on Sunday August 07, 2005 @03:40PM (#13265311)
    Referring to the Xbox as THE game console is like referring to the Mac as THE personal computer.

    What's up with Slashdot, and these other publications like the New York Times, talk about Xbox like it's what the kids are playing these days? It's selling like 1/5th the rate of the PS2. I don't have either of these consoles, but I'd still like to know why the less successful product in an industry composed of only a handful of competitors get this publicity.

  • Quake machinima seems forgotten (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 07, 2005 @03:41PM (#13265315)
    While I'm not 100% certain, I believe machinima began with Quake, yet it's strangely absent from machinima discussions. Arguably the greatest (but certainly the largest and most ambitious) machinima movie for Quake is Seal of Nehahra. It's a background movie to the Nehahra modification (which has extensive cutscenes as well). I think the length is close to three hours. The story was written by a published writer, and it's an expanded version of Quake's originally vague backstory interconnected with Nehahra's own storyline. Custom engine, custom maps, custom music, custom models, multiple voice actors... even before Nehahra and Seal of Nehahra were released, Quake was already forgotten by the rest of the gaming world, so I guess that's why it's never mentioned.

    Another movie worth mentioning is Eschaton: Darkening Twilight, which was one of the few attempts at serious machinima (along with Nehahra). I think it had some Cthulhu themes in it. A sequel was made for Quake II (Nightfall), but as far as I know it was discontinued after that.

    Quake had a lot of great machinima, far more ambitious than what I've seen these days. I've seen a bit of Red Vs. Blue and it didn't really impress me. Maybe I just watched some lackluster episodes. Over the Counter-Strike had a few funny episodes, but it was really just voice acting in official CS maps. I admit that I don't actively follow machinima, so I don't really know what kind of stuff is being made these days, but the more famous (or "mainstream") machinima like RvsB isn't as good as the older Quake stuff.

    The new Half-Life 2 short movie, "A Few Good G-men," is a nice example of what Source can do with its facial expressions and lip synching and such, but I wonder if anyone will take it further by making a longer, original movie.

    As for that article, I find it very strange. It makes machinima seem like it was invented by Red Vs. Blue, and that there's something profoundly mysterious and amazing about it. I mean, does RvsB take as much work as making maps, models, music and textures from scratch along with engine modifications? I doubt it. Some of the earliest machinima pieces for Quake were much like RvsB, but they became more complex, and now it seems like we're back at square one.
    • The new Half-Life 2 short movie, "A Few Good G-men," is a nice example of what Source can do with its facial expressions and lip synching and such, but I wonder if anyone will take it further by making a longer, original movie.

      I'm in late script-writing phase for an original full-length machinima for UT2004, I'm calling "Skaarj Wars". I'm looking to release it sometime around this time next year. Depending on how soon I can get the attention and efforts of good modelers and mappers, it may get released s

    • Re:Quake machinima seems forgotten (Score:4, Interesting)

      by ILL Clinton ( 734169 ) on Monday August 08, 2005 @01:11AM (#13267414) Homepage Journal
      Yes, Machinima started with Quake. I know because I directed one of the first Machinima movies, Apartment Huntin'. We used Quake for that. You can see that movie if you scroll to the bottom of this page. [illclan.com]

      In fact we still sometimes use a modified version of Quake 2 called Qfusion which allows us to use Quake 3 assets within the open source Quake 2 game engine. A nice example of this can be seen in a series of shorts we did for SpikeTV called Gamer Gags. [spiketv.com]

  • You're late by 3 seasons.
  • Has anyone else noticed a disconnect between the people who tote rifles into harm's way and the people who write stories about toting rifles into harm's way? Back before Rumsfeld ended the draft (hehe, during the Nixon administration), there was a chance that an future playwrite or author would get drafted and come back writing something like Catch-22 or Platoon or somesuch. And the guys working on the movie with him would have a gut feel for what things are like based on their memories of Korea or Germany,
  • sounding less like patriotic warriors than like bored, clever video-store clerks.
    Get it. It's a good movie [imdb.com]. :-) And, come to think about it. The humour in both RvB and Clerks is darn similar. Hm, something to ponder about.

  • 2005 has been a good year for Machinima (Score:4, Informative)

    by ILL Clinton ( 734169 ) on Monday August 08, 2005 @01:04AM (#13267380) Homepage Journal
    There's actually quite a bit going on this year in the Machinima movement...

    The Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences has announced the 2005, not so annual, Machinima Film Festival [machinima.org]. The festival will once again be held at the American Museum of the Moving Image [ammi.org] in Astoria, New York.

    Machinima in general has grown in popularity and commercial success since the last festival in 2003 with such recent work as Paul Marino's Half Life 2 music video, "I'm Still Seeing Breen" [machinima.org] appearing on MTV2's Video Mods, Rooster Teeth's recent series of shorts [ifctv.com] for IFC, the Nisha Chronicles [stolena3.com] for GMD Studios' latest A.R.G. promoting the Audi A3, and The ILL Clan's [illclan.com] "Gamer Gags" [spiketv.com] for SpikeTV.

    In all it's been a good year for Machinima, and it's only August.

  • I, for one, welcome the New York Times to two years ago.

  • Just have to say... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Krater76 ( 810350 )
    ... that you'd be smart if you didn't waste your time doing machinima. I'm not going to get into the argument of whether or not something is funny or interesting, what I am going to talk about is ownership.

    I can't remember when I read it but Gabe at Penny Arcade explained why you should not use sprite animations in a comic strip. He wasn't talking about drawing your own sprites, he was referring to making a comic from Mega Man sprites or some other game. The fact is you don't own the sprites and while

  • Doesn't the new york times have something better to write about in their sunday mag?

    What a god-awful boring story...

    I would of probably enjoyed an expose on the lightsaber dude better.
  • "He created a comedy series called ''Red vs. Blue,'' a sort of sci-fi version of ''M*A*S*H.'' In ''Red vs. Blue,'' the soldiers rarely do any fighting; they just stand around insulting one another and musing over the absurdities of war, sounding less like patriotic warriors than like bored, clever video-store clerks."

    M*A*S*H was a war comedy about a medical unit during the Korean War -- wounded soldiers were flown/driven to their location, operated on, and sent back into the war. They were rarely under fire

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