Veteran video site shuts its doors

YouTube channel Machinima has finally closed operations. The video creator, recently acquired by AT&T's brand Otter Media, had been producing content for over a decade, having launched with the advent of YouTube in 2006. The closure was noted in a statement made to Deadline at the weekend.

A report filed with the California Employment Development Department reveals that some 81 employees have unfortunately been laid off as a result of the closure. Hopefully all those affected will be able to find work elsewhere very soon. Suspicions of Machinima's future were first raised when all of its video content was set private, without notice, last month.

"A select number of Machinima employees remain with the company, which is now actively providing services to supercharge the combined portfolio of Otter Media," said a Machinima spokesperson in their Deadline statement. "Machinima has ceased its remaining operations, which includes layoffs. Russell Arons remains with Machin?ima, and is assisting with transitional activities as she explores new opportunit??ies".

As for over a decades worth of videos, who knows? But i??t's a reminder of the fragility and disposability of internet co?ntent, that can be potentially wiped out with the flick of a switch.

Machinima is shutt?ing down, with 81 staffers laid off [Deadline]

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You don't know what you got 'til it's gone

A huge swath of video game-?related video content was erased with one fell swoop yesterday. Machinima, a large network of YouTube gaming channels, had all of its videos removed without any sort of prior warning given to the creators.

This comes as a result of a planned merger with Ellation, which is a part of Otter Media, which is actually a division of AT&T and WarnerMedia. [Correction: A representative has reached out to clarify that Ellation isn't involved, but rather this is part of a larger merger within Otter Media.] Rooster Teeth's Lawrence Sonntag, who is a producer on the Funhaus series, was one of the first to discover the mass removal. Sonntag used to work for Machinima as a key member of the Inside Gaming team.

In a Twitch clip, Sonntag sheds some insider insight on why AT&T and WarnerMedia opted to functionally erase thousands of hours of content (the videos were technically set to private, but they're essentially gone): "Warner, at this point, cannot verify the copyrights to all videos in Machinima's network -- and there are a ton of videos," he says. "It'd cost a lot of money to do it, and this is on videos that aren't getting any views. So, they cu??t it loose. That's? that. It's a business. That's how it goes, man."

This seemingly caught everyone by surprise, even the people who are still creating content for Machinima. Some YouTubers with Machinima contracts received an email that said their contracts were transferred to Fullscreen, which is part of Otter Media's portfolio of companies. Others were told they were being dropped from the netw??ork.

Moving forward, it's anyone's guess as to what AT&T plans to do with the Machinima network. It's still a valuable channel, as it has approximately 12.4 million subscribers on YouTube. But this story isn't about the future. It's about the thousands of hours of original video game content that suddenly disappeared into the ether -- beloved series like Two Best Friends Play, Arby 'n' the Chief, Teenage Pokemon (which was created by Destructoid's own Jonathan Holmes), and so many mo?re.

It feels irresponsible to talk about the legacy of? Machinima without mentioning that Machinima had a reputation for locking a lot of its creators into predatory contracts. For that reason, many people will celebrate t??hat it's essentially dead -- at least as we once knew it. But Machinima also hosted so much original video game-centric content, and a lot of it came in the early days of internet video production. It grew fast and became one of YouTube's largest channels, and it hosted an overwhelming amount of content. And now that's all gone.

Machinim?a just had their YouTube channel wiped clean [reddit]

The post All of Machinima’s videos were removed without any prior warning appeared first on Destructoid.

Get your green screens ready

If you love to watch talented athletes wave their hands around and pretend to throw fireballs at each other, I have some good news for you. Street Fighter: Resurrection, a live-action mini-series intended to serve as a prologue for the events in the soon to be released Street Fighter V is on its way. 

Made by the team behind Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist, Resurrection looks like it will provide more of the same -- decen?t production values, great live-action interpretations of the series' iconic characters, and slightly (well, maybe more than slightly) goofy looking action. Look, it's hard to keep up the pathos while yelling "sonic boom!" and flailing your hands about. This is totally the kind of silliness I can get behind. And hey, they nailed Nash's hair!

Street Fighter: Resurrection is a narrative prologue to Street? Fighter 5; check out Ken, Nash, and?? Ryu in the upcoming live-action series [Event Hubs]

The post Street Fighter V live-action prologue coming?? in March appeared first on Destructoid.

The Lasterest Ride

Fast and Furious 6 is an excellent film. I know Fast Five is the zenith of the series for most fans, but I prefer Furious 6 for the same reason I prefer Saints Row IV to The Third; the excitement ramps up in a way that feels natural in the context of that universe, as opposed to just slamming me in t?he face with all-out lunacy at random intervals. Also that part with the flip??ped car was sick.

YouTuber Sam of RUNitsAlpha agrees, because he's created a near shot-by-shot recreation of Dom Toretto's crew pursuing Owen Shaw through the streets of London. At first blush, it's legitimately impressive. The movement is synced perfectly to the audio, and it's neat to see the obvious potential inherent to a GTA/Fast and Furious crossover finally realized.

And then you see the side-by-side comparison, and that's when you really begin to appreciate this video. Obviously, it's not a perfect recreation -- the 60 FPS presentation on the GTA side honestly threw me off, and there are certain limitations that are just unavoidable -- but I'll be damned if I wasn't truly impressed. Also, the use of music from the Fast and Furio??us soundtrack was an obvious touch, but I dug it nonetheless! Good work, Sam.

The post Fast and Furious 6 chase recreated in GTA V appeared first on Destructoid.

Microsoft absolved of any wrong-doing

In late 2013, around the time that the Xbox One launched, YouTube content creation group Machinima struck an advertising deal with Microsoft. The marketing campai?gn would feature videos from Machini??ma's network of influencers. More specifically, each video would cast the Xbox One in a very positive light.

The problem with all of this is that the positive coverage was never portrayed as the advertisement that it was. It was released as if it were the objective opinion of the stars in the videos, even though they were given strict guidelines and well-compensated. There was never any sort of ?disclosure.

The United States Federal Trade Commission came down on Machinima for this and called its actions "deceptive." A Complaint was filed earlier this year, and the case was settled this week. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but Machinima is ba??rred from acting this way again; it's unknown if it will pay some sort of monetary penalty for the infraction.

In a news release, the FTC said "Under the proposed settlement, Machinima is prohibited from similar deceptive conduct in the future, and the company is required to en??sure its influencers clear?ly disclose when they have been compensated in exchange for their endorsements."

Microsoft and Starcom (a Microsoft advertising group) were absolved of any wrong-doing by the FTC. "While Microsoft and Starcom both were responsible for the influencers' failure to disclose their material connection to the companies, (FTC) staff considered the fact that these appeared to be isolated incidents that occurred in spite of, and not in the absence of, policies and procedures designed to prevent such lapses. The companies also quickly required Machinima to remedy the situation after they learned that Machinima was paying influencers without making ??the necessary discl??osures," the FTC said.

To give an idea of what kind of money and statistics were at play, here are a few snippets from the Complaint. Machinima guaranteed Starcom a minimum of 19 million views for this campaign. One influencer was compensated $15,000 for his two videos; another was given $30,000 for two videos. By the end of the five-week campaign, there were more than 30 million views. That's a lot of people?? being unduly influenced by this deceptive ad campaign.

We need not look any further than the amounts paid out to understand the reach of these Intern?et stars. $15,000 for one video is a lot of cash. Just keep that in mind the next time your favorite YouTuber o??r Twitch streamer tells you how great something is. These people always have their best interests in mind, which might not necessarily align with yours.

Xbox One Promoter Settles FTC Charges That?? it Deceived Consumers With Endorsement Videos Posted by Paid ‘Influencers’ [Federal Trade Commission]

The post FTC comes down on Machinima for ‘deceptive’ Xbox One marketing appeared first on Destructoid.

Promoted from our Community Blogs

_{[Dtoid community blogger SeymourDuncan17 remembers a pioneer in the machinima scene. Rest in peace, Kitty. --Mr Andy Dixon] [Image credit: SpikyMilkshake]}

This has been the hard??est blog for me to write. Even though I have the motivation and the energy, writing about death isn't an easy thing.

What's there to be said that hasn't already been said? God forbid I were to type up something I th??ought was delightful comic relief, only ??to seem classless or at least a little inappropriate. I mean, death is a very very sad thing and, no matter how often it occurs, it continues to surprise and remind us all of the frailty of life. That nobody, not even those of us that our loved by hundreds, thousands, or even millions are impenetrable.

More specifically, this blog is about a YouTube user by the name of kitty0706. I don't know about you or anyone else who may happen upon this blog, but between 2009 and 2012, this person meant quite a lot to me. Unfortunately, after what was, no doubt, a valiant, two-year fight against leukemia, at the all too young age of... well, all I've been able to research was that he was born in 1994. So, whether he was 20 or 21, that is just too fucking young. God?dammit. 

God-fucking-dammit.

Much of his older material (such as Left 4 Farts or Louis' Pills of Ultimate Destruction) may be crude or tame by today's standards, but he, along with users like Raikujo and RubberFruit, were honest-to-goodness pioneers of their form. Like RoosterTeeth was to Halo machinima (heck, machinima in general), these guys and others were to Garry's Mod machnima. Amidst all the one-off's and trend clips (remember What Happens When [X] Gets His/Her/It's Pills?), they ??went above and beyond and put out a plethora of... really weird, original shit. 

Over the years and especially with the advent of Source Filmmaker, their brand of entertainment has seen a sort of falling out. Can't say I'm surprised, as much of its charm and random nature came from the limitations of using Garry's Mod as a vessel for machinima. Using what was simply not made for advanced animation resulted in lots of jarring cuts, flailing limbs or outright disturbing facials and what was often used to compensate was a decidedly quirky sense of hum??or. To further inspire, the modding community set out to provide thousands upon thousands of readily-available 3D models and landscapes. 

All you needed from that point on was a loooooooooooot of patience. I should know. I tried my hand at Garry's Mod machinima many years back (since been deleted, apparently), partially thanks to the videos I watched from kitty0706. There's a reason why I never continued past that first video whereas I can't count how many projects I've attempted with Halos 1 through 3. 

_{This one hasn't aged much. Me and a friend still quote it from time to time.}

That these guys had the moxy to complete so many of these stupid (and I say that with the utmost respect) videos in the fashion they needed to is pretty amazing. Who knows? If it hadn't been for people like Kitty and the enthusiasm people showed towards content like that, ?Valve might have had little reason to provide us with Source Filmmaker. A competent little tool that has made videos like this possible: 

And that's pretty great. 

_{Probably my favorite video of Kitty's.}

Kitty, second only to RoosterTeeth, has provided me with hours and hours of awesome machi?nima content for nothing but my time and it's fucking tragic that he can't continue doi??ng what he so obviously loved to do because life had dealt him a very unlucky hand. 

Writing this up, I didn't think it'd simultaneously piss me off and depress me this much that he had passed and, hopefully, moved on to a better place. But, from the beginning to this very point, I haven't been able to stop thinking about how much he used to mean to me, how much ??he still meant to so many people, and how unique I still think he was. 

The world needs more unique, funny pe??ople. One more is now gone.

Fuck.  

_{A lovely taste of what Kitty could do with Source Filmmaker.}

Rest in piece, dude. It's unfair you were taken from us so early. My deepest respects to you and my condolences to your friends, family, and bigge??st fans. 

The post Remembering kitty0706 appeared first on Destructoid.

Way more enjoyable than the Mortal Kombat live-action series

So Machinima's Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist series is surprisingly enjoyable to watch. I was worried this would be another hit-or-miss situation as with the live-action Mortal Kombat stuff, but that's not the case here. I believe that's largely attributed to t??here being less reliance on special effects.

Anyway, all 13 episodes are now available to stream. Assassin's Fist details the co??ming of age story of Ryu and Ken, showing how Gokun thought the street fighters the Hadouken te??chnique.

The post This live-a?ction Street ??Fighter series is actually pretty great appeared first on Destructoid.

First trailer is uh...

Ah man! I love?? Honda. Not E. Honda. Just Honda. Great lawnmowers?.

I also love videogame fan films. Watching them feels kin??d of like eating 3 pints of Ben and Jerry's in one sitting. Wrong but tasty. Guilty but satisfying.

Also, Ken's hair. [inhales deeply] Ken's hair.

I HAVE to see this series.

Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist officially debuts on May 23 on the main Machinima ??channel.

Through the coming of age story of Ken & Ryu, we are ??shown the backstory?? of some of the game’s most ic??onic characters, and over the course of the series we will see how the past, present, an?d future of all of those characters are intertwined, as the battle to become Ansatsuken Master threatens to tear apart another generation of brothers.  

 

The live-action series, which is distributed by Content Media and presented by Honda Fit, is the brainchild of Joey Ansah (The Bourne Ultimatum, Snow White and the Huntsman). Ansah, who also stars in the series (Akuma), wrote the script with Christian Howard, who reprises his role as Ken Masters from the original fan film. The series also stars Mike Moh as Ryu, Togo Igawa (47 Ronin, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Last Samurai) as Gōtetsu, Akira Koieyama as Gōken, Gaku Space as Gōki, Mark Killeen (300: Rise of an Empire, The Dark Knight Rises) as Mr. Masters, and Hal Yamanouchi as Senzo.

 

The series is produced by Assassin’s Fist Lim??ited (a UK based company) in association with Lonely Rock Productions, Gloucester Place Films, Capcom U.S.A., Inc. and Evropa Film.

 

The post So there’s this: Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist appeared first on Destructoid.

Mega Man, Mario, and Captain Falcon

Super Smashed Bros. is the new cartoon that I've been working with Machinima and a group of like minded artists who like Nintendo and drunk cartoon characters. The first episode is about Captain Falcon and Mario getting to know Mega Man, one of the newest members of the Smash Bros. Family. The animation here is by Mike Lambert (Binding of Isaac: Rebirth) and I think he did an amazing job. 

We'll?? be rolling out new episodes for the next 3 Sundays. From there, anything's possible, though the more views we get, the more likely we are to keep going, so if you like the show, be sure to? spread the word about it. Thanks for watching everybody!

The post It’s the world premiere of Super Smashed Bros.! appeared first on Destructoid.

Watch DTOID news... with your EYES!

Welp, here's your exciting video game news! Lots and lots of fun things, like Nintendo's financial problems, [obvious] lack of plans to move into mobile games, a single Super Smash Bros. screen, and the rumored new console,"Fusion." Microsoft, meanwhile, is in hot water over secretly paying Machinima partners to say nice things about the Xbox One. Alienware's Steam Machines will be un-upgradeable AND annualized, oh boy! Resident Evil 4 is coming out for PC in HD, Sony's got some great Playstation Plus deals, the Candy Crush Saga guys have copyrighted the word "Candy," Disney has abandoned copyrights for Star Wars 1313, and there's a sexy new Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes action figure.

The post Nintendo Fusion, Machinima Xbox Scandal & ‘Candy?’ Crush appeared first on Destructoid.

'Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket'

[Update: In a statement, Microsoft said it "was not aware of individual contracts Machinima had with their content providers as part of this promotion and we didn’t provide feedback on any of?? the videos. We have asked Machinima to not post any additional Xbox One content as part of this media buy and we have asked them to add disclaimers to the videos that were part of this program indicating they were part of paid advertising."]

As I was sitting here drinking a refreshing glass of Bulleit Bourbon -- the best small-batch, Kentucky frontier whiskey -- I was shocked to find that Microsoft has allegedly paired with Machinima to surreptitiously market the Xbox One, Ars Technica reports. It seems that Machinima was offering more money (an extra $3 per thousand views) to its partners for videos that trumped up Microsoft's new system. There was a deleted tweet by Machinma UK's Community Manager, a NeoGAF leaked image, and then the entire full legal agreement was leaked.

The rules set down are clear: "You may not say anything negative or disparaging about Machinima, Xbox One or any of its Games in your Campaign Video." Qualifying videos have to b??e tagged with, "XB1M13," include 30 seconds of Xbox One gameplay footage, mention that the footage comes from the Xbox One, and so on.

Those who made videos for the campaign were legally required not to disclose this partnership. The contract reads, "You agree to keep confidential at all times all m??a??tters relating to this Agreement, including, without limitation, the Promotional Requirements, and the CPM Compensation, listed above."

According to Ars Technica, the non-disclosure clause that hides this paid public endorsement could be against FTC guidelines. "When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience), s?uch connection must be fully disclosed"

While the contract goes between January 13 and February 9 of this year, there are videos tagged "XB1M13" from around the time of the console's launch. Machinima's PopTent feed links to a similar "xbox one + release ti??tles assignment" in November.

Stealth marketing: Microsoft paying YouTube??rs for Xbox One mentions [Ars Technica]

The post Micr??osoft secretly?? pays YouTubers to advertise Xbox One appeared first on Destructoid.

Burch not involved with the project

Machinima is set to launch a video series about Handsome Jack, the villain of Borderlands 2. It's not looking like a huge budget production, but that doesn't mean it wont be a good watch. I managed to get Borderlands 2 writer and former Dtoid features editor Anthony Burch to appear in my dumb Machinima show for free, which made me wonder if Anthony was lending a hand with this new series. Burch states, "[As] far as I know it's all totally fan made. I'm psyched somebody l?iked Jack enough to make a fan fil??m about him, though." 

Gearbox didn't have a ton of money to work with when putting together the Borderlands games, but they've still found a huge following. I attribute that to the inspired risks that the developers were willing to take, not the least of which was hiring a a young, relatively inexperienced games write??r like Anth??ony. Here's to hoping that this fan series takes similar chances, and that those chances pay off just as well. 

The post Borderlands 2 writer comments on Handsome Jack fan v?ideo appeared first on Destructoid.

Oustsanding Main Title Design

I don't care if you like Halo 4, or any game in the series for that matter. Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is far and? away the best example of how to adapt a videogame franchise to a live-a?ction setting. I watched it expecting little more than an hour and a half of marketing hype, and was treated to a well produced live-action videogame adaptation instead.

The Academy of Television Art & Sciences seems to recognize this in some capacity, nominating Forward Unto Dawn for an Emmy in Outstanding Main Title Design. Cynics may point out the relatively low esteem of the category, but it's a freakin' Emmy for a one-off web series, and is going up against HBO's Newsroom, FX's American Horror Story: Asylum, Starz' Da Vinci Demons, CBS' Elementary, and History Channel's Vikings.

Congrats to the folks at Machinima and 343.

The post Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn gets an Emmy nomination appeared first on Destructoid.

He's a totally OP pimp-ass beast dog

From the minds behind Two Best Friends, comes a Machinima short honoring the courage, bravery, and America of Call of Duty dog. Saving children by day, blowing up terrorist strongholds by night, Call of Duty dog only stops to rest when he'?s stacking medals and getting bitches, literally?.

The short isn't half bad at all, with soft tinges of homage to shows and films like Lassie and Old Yeller. Plus there's a fair few jabs at Microsoft a??nd the Xbox?? One, so that's cool.

The post The Call of Duty dog gets his own animated s??hort film appeared first on Destructoid.

Part one of an ongoing series

Bioshock Infinite has been out for a little while now. The spoiler police are starting to doze off at their posts. The game's harshest critics and most passionate fans have seemingly declared a temporary cease fire (at least until the first DLC comes out). It is? a time of peace, which makes it a perfect time for a loving mockery from Machinima.

The dynamic, emotionally evocative relationship the player forms with Elizabeth is one of Bioshock Infinite's biggest selling points. That said, Elizabeth's reactions to the player's action often only make sense within the confines of Infinite's particular brand of videogame logic. This video shows us what the game might be like if she reacted more?? "realistically" to witnessing her partner in the most i?mportant event of her entire life run headlong into a biological weapon hurling fireballs at his head.

Would Bioshock Infinite have seemed more believable if it employed this brand of d??ialog? 

The post Elizabeth stops being?? polite, and starts being real appeared first on Destructoid.

Happy Easter

G4 and Attack of the Show are no more. What's G4 superstar Kevin Pereria been up to in the meantime? Among other things, he's taken to Machinima with Player Vs Pain, a show about hurting people while they play videogames. Kevin?? created and produced the thing, and all the ingredients for potential internet hit are there. ??;

It will be interesting to see how the show does from here. There is a fine line between giving people?? exactly what they want in "dumb fun entertainment" and making them feel pandered to and exploited. Which side of the line do you think the show falls on? What would you like to see them do more or less of in future episodes? Personally, I'd like it if that lady did the robot for five minutes and that was that, but I'm not sure I'm in the show's target demographic.

The post Player Vs Pain tortures people while they pla?y Mario Kart appeared first on Destructoid.

New Teenage Pokemon every Sunday morning

_{[Teenage Pokemon is a cartoon show about Pokemon in their middle stage of evolution -- not a girl, not yet a women. New episodes every week.]}

When I was growing up, social classism wasn't really an issue in "gamer culture". Sure, if all you could afford was a Genesis, then you might be quick to say that games on the SNES or IBM computers weren??'t as good. However, if you had any friends with a SNES or an IBM computer, you can bet your butt you'd be over their houses multiple times a week to play all the exotic games found on those foreign consoles. Outside of a little irrational need to defend our commitment to the one console we owned, we didn't let classism get in the way sticking together, and more importantly, in the way of playing great games.

These days, it's a different story. Self identified "Hardcore Gamers" look down on "Casual Gamers", "Art Gamers" look down on "Mainstream Gamers", "PC Gamers" look down on "Console Gamers", "Videogame Cool Guys" look down on "Videogame Hipsters",  and so forth. Not only is this ridiculous, but it leads to people playing fewer games. People who supposedly love videogames are now prone to defining themselves by what games they don't play in order to differentiate themselves from whatever gaming social class they've deemed to be "below them". We live in a world where people go to brag about what videogames they don't like on websites for videogame enthusiasts? That's pretty darn stran??ge!

That's the stuff that inspired this episode of Teenage Pokemon. It's a phenomena that's worth discussing in great detail, but first, let's watch Tara Long as Misty get mildly upset f??or a few seconds. That should be a hoot. 

After you're done, let me know what you think of this episode. We tried to take all your constructive criticism from the pilot into account to make something better. I hope ?y?ou like it.

*Credits*

Lead Animator- Dave Ernst

Misty intro animation- Nick Shoen

Character design- Lindsay Collins

CGI Effects- Anthony Gonzalez

Misty- Tara Long

Mr. Mime redesign- Sarah Thomas

The post Teenage Pokemon: Console Class Battle Royale appeared first on Destructoid.

Pining for a Halo Movie? Watch this for now

You've heard of Forward Unto Dawn, right? Machinima's live-action video series that's setting up Halo 4? Well, it just ended, and you can catch the finale today, as well as the re??st of the whole shebang which clocks in at 84 minutes.

For those of you who are pre-ordering Halo 4 or are excited in any way, I urge you to check it out. It's a pretty cool series that doesn't spoil anything, and will probably get you hyped for next Tuesday. Plus, with the Halo movie project constantly getting killed off, this will have to do for the time being.

If you haven't caught them yet, here's Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

The post Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn launches its finale appeared first on Destructoid.

The late 1990s were a very different time for entertainment. It was a time when MTV played music videos most of the time, and when they didn't, it was usually so they could show you something that you couldn't find anywhere else. It was a time before Family Guy, Adult Swim, or YouTube. It was a time when shows like Sifl and Olly could really stand out. S??adly, standing out isn't always good for your ratings.

As an former cast member of Road Rules (one of MTV's first reality shows), I'll always feel partially responsible for the cancellation of Sifl and Olly. Without meaning to, I helped transform M??TV from a home for new music and surreal comedy, to a haven for horrid soap operas and reality television. That feeling of responsibil?ity has only been amplified by the fact that I really like Liam Lynch, the creator of the show. I met him at the MTV VMAs back in 1998, and he was totally humble and shy. He spent most of the time talking about how lucky he was to be there, how his show was born from missing his best friend (who had moved to England), and how Björk and Winona Ryder are the two greatest people on the planet.

After Sifl and Olly came to an end, Liam would go on to get famous for The United States of Whatever, and strike out with the commercially unsuccessful film Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny. Now he's come full circle, bringing Sifl and Olly back to the world of the living... as videogame reviewe?rs. Is it just me, or does it feel like they could hit it big this time? Either way, I'm just glad I have the opportunity to try to help the show succeed. Consider it a penance, Liam. Fourteen years late is better than never, right?

Mother F*cking Pie.

The post Sifl and Ol??ly are sock puppets that review videogames appeared first on Destructoid.

In case you missed it, Destructoid challenged the folks at Machinima to a friendly round of Tribes: Ascend yesterday and we absolutely demolished them! Playing like the well-oiled robot overlord we are, we won the first four rounds in a row in this best-of-seven match-up, seali?ng our victory in under an hour of play. Go Team Dtoid!

The match-up itself was marred in controversy. We were accused of hiring "ringers" to play on our behalf (we like to call them "Dtoiders", thank you very much!), our team members had their names sullied and body parts described in frightening (yet accurate) ways, and there was an overall air of foreboding surrounding this so-called "friendly" meeting of gamers. And yet, after the dust settled and friendships began their process of healing, talk of a rematch immediately filled ou?r Twitter feeds, so stay tuned for that!

In the meantime, check out the stream above for Hi-Rez's professional-caliber play-by-play, and hit the jump to see the Dtoid stream, complete w?ith our own (vulgar) commentary!

Watc?h live video from jbsgame.com Live Shows! on TwitchTV

As I said, Team Dtoid nailed Machinima to the wall four times in a row, with the only real challenge being the match played on the brand new map "Tartarus", which r?an straight down to the wire and ended in a nail-biting 4-3 victory.

Throughout the night, dndmatthew and Holopoint maintained a steady stream of flag captures while Ryan Perez and Jahok held off attackers at our base, King Foom and Arttemis kept a nails-on-the-chalkboard-like hold on Machinima's generator, and UncleAlty filled every role in between, all the while barking out orders and keeping everyone focused. Our team -- who only managed to practice together for a few short hours prior to the?? event -- showed professional-quality communication and tactical skills, constantly adapting to every situation and making sure that every ?team member was filling a vital role at all moments.

The first two matches ended in under eight minutes each, with our flag cappers running in and out of Machinima's base so fast it made their heads spin. The aforementioned third match on?? Tartarus, on the other hand, was like a brutal game of sci-fi tug-of-war, with each team scrambling for the full 25 minutes to find a successful ski route through the uncharted forest of this sexy new map. By match four, however, Team Dtoid was back on its game, achieving victory in yet another eight minute match.

I couldn't be more proud of our community for working together so successfully under such intense pressure and maintaining their composure throughout. You all owe yourselves a pat on the back! Thanks again to King Foom, Ryan Perez, Arttemis, dndmatthew, Holopoint, Jahok, and UncleAlty for kicking ass, and to everyone who c??ame out to cheer us on!

Until next time!

The post Destructoid versus Machinima post-game recap! appeared first on Destructoid.

Blue Goggles Films had one of their newest videos featured on the Machinima channel recently, and it's absolutely brilliant. David Jaffe himself enjoyed the video, exclaiming "DAMN NICE!" on Twitter. It features Sweet Tooth of Twisted Metal fame, celebrating Valentine's Day in the only sick, demented way he knows?? how with a captured victim.

Twisted Metal: Be Mine is incred?ibly disturbing, but yet, it has moments of being sweet and even a little cute. You guys out there planning an evening that special someone will never forget could learn a thing or two from Sweet Tooth. He sure knows how to leave a lasting impression?.

The post Twisted Metal: Be Mine is disturbingly funny appeared first on Destructoid.

It's quite rare for a completely surreal ?videogame-based sketch comedy series to become a success. It's even more rare that the people who produce that brand of comedy show their faces out in the wild, where they may be potentially punch by a stranger. 

That's part of what make Lyle and Dexter, the creators of Sanity Not Included, such special young men. They want to get close to you... right now! Read on as the bear all in a hot topic discussion of how to make a machinima, how much better Uncharted could have been if the creative guy on staff was in charge, how the internet is more influential to them than television, and much, much more (maybe too much). 

Dtoid: You make videos where videogame characters move around the way you want them to. How do you make it d??o that? Computers?

Lyle: Well they’re videogame characters, by design they’re supposed to move the way you want them to. The camera’s usually the bigger issue. It’s different for everything. Some games have a theater mode which allows you to rewatch matches and move the camera around (Halo, CoD: Black Ops, Etc.) Some games have a way to go into a free camera after you die in multiplayer, or somehow move your gun out of your face in first person so you can have other people act out the scene while you cameraman it (Gears of War, Modern Warfare 2). Sometimes you just gotta zoom ?way the fuck in until the HUD is out of the way and then pivot the? camera around the player so it looks like different shots (Pretty much anything single player.) It varies, but yeah, there are skits like “Chode Police” and “Prostate God” that use resources like Unreal Development Kit and Gmod to create custom animation with game characters.

??Wow, that was a lot of n?erd talk. I can get pussy, I swear!

Dexter: Yes, the computers! We just use the actual game most of the time, crop out the HUD etc.
And if a game has a theatre mode e.g. Halo then that's pretty useful, although sometimes
I'll have special animations done by my friend in Unreal Engine so I can make Dom and Marcus dance, make love, etc

Dtoid: In the season finale of your show, Nathan Drake turns into a bunch of spiders. That's an awesome idea. Why are you more interesting game developers than Naughty Dog, and why isn't Uncharted as funny or interesting as your videos?

Lyle: Ummm, be?lieve it or not that’s actually IN the game. There is at least one developer in Naughty Dog that is clearly an underappreciated source of amazing ideas. Unfortunately the higher-ups seem to be doing everything in their power to stifle his creative genius and hide it from the world, because it was only available as a preorder bonus from a specific chain of retailers, while it should have been one of the core gameplay mechanics.

Dexter: This sketch is actually based on a true story. Lyle and I were playing Uncharted 3's multiplayer,
He tells me to watch his character. He turns into spiders. I scream "what" loudly in disbelief
As to what the fuck just? happened, my body starts to sweat and shiver, my "what's" gradually became louder and more confused until I accepted the simple truth -- Nathan Drake can indeed turn into spiders. What the fuck.

Dtoid: We live in a stra?nge time where Television, Film, and Youtube all have separate but equally influential places in the entertainment industry. Would you say you were more heavily influenced by internet videos, films, or television? Feel free to name drop some of your favorite ??things!

Lyle: I’m going to guess these answers will turn out really fucking different. For me, Internet definitely. I remember when I was like, fuck I dunno, 14? my friend showed me this (now long dead) series of internet cartoons called Tomorrow’s Nobodies as well as a bunch of other crude and violent cartoons on sites like Newgro??unds. There’s a certain level of comedy that only comes from unadulterated crudeness. I thought it was hilarious that they were able to say “fuck” as much as they wanted without getting bleeped or make jokes about shoving crippled autistic kids into swimming pools.

For the most part I try to stay away from retreading the same ground other people do though, especially when it comes to videogame shit. There’s obviously a certain limitation that comes from using game characters, and fuck, Mario is always going to be Mario no matter how you spin it, but if it can be avoided I go out of my way not to directly parody the specific game I’m using for the skit and rather try to create a comedic scenario that works for the characters based on the way they’re designed. Dr. Kleiner from Half Life look??s like he’s a doctor, so in the skit where he’s having the epic battle with the shitting guy you’re not supposed to really interpret him as “Dr Kleiner” but rather as “a doctor&rd?quo;, so it’s more believable when he tries to finger people’s asses. Because that's what doctors do. Finger asses.

People draw the obvious comparison to Robot Chicken because of the formatting and genre, but sketch come?dy is something that’s been around longer than color TV. The only real similarity to that show specifically is the ??transition. It wasn’t a big influence as far as humor goes.

Dexter: The Room. I love the magical writing Tommy Wiseau has brought to the world, such lines like "oh Hi Danny" and "oh hi Mark" really r??ing true?? to me.

Dtoid: What do you make of your audience? Do you guess that they are just like you? Younger? Older?? Faster? Stronger?

Lyle: ??There’s a lot of variation in the audience. There are my fans, Dex’s fans, any overlap of the two, and people who don’t know who the fuck either one of us are and just watch the show on Machinima. There are a couple things they all have in common. First of all, I hate them, and second they have shitty taste in everything. So yeah, I guess they ARE just like me as far as those qualities go.

Dexter: They all look like this-

Some of the smarter ones like this-

It ain't easy pleasing hedgehogs.

Dtoid: Like a lot of machinima's, your videos seem to both mock and pay tribute to the way the voice acting and the behaviors of videogame characters sometimes appear totally discon?nected from each other, both in terms of emotional inflection, logic, and otherwise (Example: Jill Sandwich). What is it about that disconnection that causes it to resonate so deeply with gamer culture?

Lyle: I could answer this but since these are pretty much all Dex’s skits I’ll let him do it. Gives me time to rub on??e out.

Dexter: Most likely as it's pretty awesome to hear Marcus Fenix with a sonic voice sh?outing "die motherfuckers".

Dtoid: Are there any jokes that you feel would be taking things too far? Would you ever fear offen??ding/mocking your audience?

Lyle: Any jokes that I would feel are?? taking things too far? No. Were it up to me every episode would be an hour long puppet show wherein the main character is my penis with googly eyes glued to it featuring liberal use of the N word. Unfortunately for the world both Machinima and Youtube have content guidelines that preven?t me from doing this.

People getting offended by our show is honestly the best possible?? outcome. You are never more passionate about something than when it offends you. Think of it this way, if someone says “I like your shirt” you’ll probably just say thank you and that will be the end of it. If someone says “that shirt makes you look like a shit eating asshole” that can turn into a 3 hour argument, assuming that isn’t the look you’re going? for. Maybe you’ll even tell your friend how some asshole who looks like they shop at a thrift store called your tight fitted purple Abercrombie tanktop into question, you shit eating asshole.

Regrettably most of our fans now seem?? indoctrinated to offensive material, but fear not. Plans to kill and replace them go into effect very soon!

Dexter: Not really, the only thing that falls under that category is I sometimes feel I can't use a joke as it might be too mature for most of the audience and they wouldn't get it. I think anything can be funny if you don't take it seriously and you pull it off right, though using the word "faggot" is a big ?NONONONONO in the Machinima world. It makes the clearance guys shit bricks, so many in fact that they can build houses with them for the homeless, which begs the question.. surely using the word faggot is helping the community?

Dtoid:  Rumor has it this is the last episode of Sanity Not Included EVER. Then again, Ozzy said that 20 years ago, and I think he's still touring. Are you sure the serie?s is over? I?f so, what are you doing next?

Lyle: Whoever your source is, it’s likely they’re actively trying to feed you false information. Sanity will DEFINITELY have a third season. It’s got more than enough kick left in it for that, but at the same time, I wouldn’t want it to outstay its welcome and stagnate and I don’t want to just be known as “one of the guys who do Sanity.” I’m starting to get into music a bit more. Sanity’s opening theme and the e??nding credits song you heard in the finale were both by me. I’ve got a new series in the works which is music oriented, and I plan to at some point release a solo album, but it’s too early to go into specifics on either one of those things.

In the Ozzy analogy, I’m Zakk Wylde, and it’s like... 1995 or something like that. ??This seemed a lot more clever in my head.

Dexter: Far from it, we definitely will do a season 3 and we suspect ??it will be out around the first quarter of 2012 (if we aren't all dead by then) though I think if we were going to continue after season 3 it would probably just be based on the animations, but I dunno who knows what the future brings! Hopefully many Cinnabons.

Dtoid: Is there anything I missed that you really want the Destructoid readership to know about Sanity's Not Included?

Lyle: Sanity Not Included? No, but if anyone steals my idea for Manaconda’s N****rquest I swear to god I’ll?? c?ut their fucking jaw off.

Dexter: Eat your fruits and vegetables

Oh and punch babies.

The post Get intimate with the cr????eators of Sanity Not Included appeared first on Destructoid.

It's been almost two years since we saw the first episode of Garrymon, the Pokémon spoof that used Garry's Mod with hilariously creepy results. During that time, creators HyperJerk and Dtoider Jetz had to restart the secon??d episode from scratch and also managed to partner up with Machinima. Now we can enjoy the fruits of their labors with this next uncomfortably delicious installment.

Like the last episode, the second episode is almost a scene-by-scene recreation of the Pokémon cartoon with a few choice dialog changes and, of course, creepy Garry's Mod puppetry. John Freeman (our story's Ash) has to get his electric headcrab Lamarr to a Garrymon Center, but he also must contend with the dreaded G?arrymon thieves Team Thruster. And his mom is porking Professor Kleiner.

Let's hope that just because Garrymon predominantly uses Half-Life 2 assets doesn't mean it won't make it to a thir?d episode.

Garrymon Episode 2 (Garry's Mod Machinima) [YouTube]

The post Gar??rymon Episode 2: The nightmarish Pokemo?n spoof returns appeared first on Destructoid.

All I want for Christmas is for this Machinima trailer to be for a real movie. Sadly it isn't, which I think is a shame. Don't worry though, there is an Angry Birds movie in the works. It just isn't an homage to Snatch (the movie, you perverts).

Seriously though, this is an amazing idea, and while I have less than no desire to see the real Angry Birds movie, I would go watch this movie. Twice.

The post Machinima teases (fake) Angry Birds movie trailer appeared first on Destructoid.

Machinima is back with a new live action web series, this time based on Resident Evil. The show is a prequel of sorts to RE2, following Leon Kenn??edy as he turns up to the wrong stati??on on his first day.

Episode 1 is extremely slow and lacks any action (or dialog, for that matter). I understand the need to "set the tone," but this is a great way to turn off viewers immediately. I hope it gets better. I know others weren't too hot on Mortal Kombat: Legacy, but I enjoyed it, and I would like to enjoy First Hour as well.

Resident Evil?: First Hour Episode 1 (Live Action Fan Film) [YouTube]

The post Res??ident Evil: First Hour is off to a lumbering start appeared first on Destructoid.

See that video up there? It's got over 150K views so far, and it's been out for a little over a week. For the internet, that's not too?? bad. How does one go about getting a video like this produced, distributed, and that many views in that short of a time?

Well, I'm still trying to figure that out myself. None of my series (Sundays with Sagat, Constructoid, Talking to Women about Videogames, or various event coverage videos) have ever done those kinds of numbers. If you're like me, and you'd like to know more about how to make a wildly popular internet video, read on for my Q&A with the creators of Mr. Kong. 

Are all the performers in your films SAG approved thespians? If not, how hard would it be to score a roll in your next feature?

We don't think any of our actors are in SAG. None of us are in any guilds of any kind, unless you count the blacksmiths...of which this video had eight dues paying members. And anyone can be in our internet videos. You just have to be extremely talented, willing to work for free pizza and live in New York City. (Also as a disclaimer - We aren't making a whole feature... just the trailer. Unless you know someone at 20th Century Fox.)

What gave you the idea to take a more sympathetic look at Donkey Kong; a sexually semi-assaultive Gorilla-villain who throws barrels at anyone who dares to come near him?

We wanted to put the DK character into the workplace comedy genre, so we decided to go with an Office Space style loser. Someone who toils away at an average job and then when he gets screwed over, snaps. I think everyone can identify with a shitty office job. We'd also like to give the question maker 10 point??s for using the word "semi-assaultive."

Are there any other games from the "guys running around on scaffolding getting killed by falling objects" genre that you might turn into a live-action comedies? Burger Time perhaps?

No games from the extremely specific genre you named BUT we would love to make more of these trailers based on classic video games. It's super fun and they seem to be well recieved.

How long are you planning for the full length Mr Kong feature to be?

Like I mentioned. We are not actually making the whole feature. Just the trailer. BUT if we did make it, it'd be close to 4 hours long and would have a lot of time travel involved.

What's the hardest thing about making these sorts of films?

The hardest thing about making these sorts of film projects is making sure we get all our information right. When parodying something like this, something that's loved by so many people for so long, we want to make sure we are doing it justice. There are so many little aspects and details to these games that everybody knows and loves, we got to make sure we include as much as we can, and correctly. We've got to be able to tear apart each detail down to the mustaches, and bring it to life.

What's the best advice you could give to someone who's hoping to make their own successful short films and/or internet series?

When making videos like this for an internet audience we always try to keep it short, keep it original, and keep it funny. Which can be hard if you want to make videos like this because of all the information you have to try and squeeze in there. But you want to make sure people aren't bored with your project. Try and surprise people with different things. Thats where you can find a lot of the humor as well.

Any chance for a Tommy Wiseau cameo in the final feature? Maybe as Funky Kong?

We would LOVE for a Tommy Wiseau cameo. In anything we do. Any chance we can work with Tommy Wiseau we would definitely take it. The fa?ct that we haven't yet is TEARING US APART LISA!

Anything you really want our readers to know about Mr Kong, or any of your other projects?

Mr. Kong was a blast to make. Everyone we work with on these kind of projects, from the actors to the people that help us out behind the scenes, are all super talented, top notch people. It takes a solid team and network of people to keep the process of making these videos so fun. And as long as we got that, you can expect a whole lot more from Captain Hippo. (Check us out at www.captainhippo.com)

The post Tips from the pros on how to make funny videogame film??s appeared first on Destructoid.

Machinima is at it again with another live-action movie trailer based on an old-school, semi-abstract videogame concept. They run with the dichotomy between Donkey Kong's beastly manner and his stately neck tie as far as anyone could hope for. In Mr. Kong, Donkey Kong is the physical manifestation of man vs nature; our animal instincts constantly at odds with our capacity for logic and judgement. It's obvious, right? He's got a tie on! He's got to know that kidnapping a woman, running away with her, and throwing barrels at anyone that dare try to stop him is totally irrational behavior. If you wear a tie, you must know better than that, and ??yet, there is our Mr. Kong, doing? just that very thing. 

I guess they just pushed him too far. 

I'm at a loss as to what Diddy represents here though. Blue collar immigrants coming in to save the emotionally unglued white collar American?? business world from its own insanity? The spirit of youthful innocence injecting a much needed dose of humanity into the power mad void of an anti-soul that is the overly ambitious office worker? 

You tell me, people. You tell me. 

The post Live action Donkey Kong makes metaphor reality appeared first on Destructoid.

I'm not sure if there's crazy stuff going on in PlayStation Home that most of the world is not privy to, but if there is we're sure to find out now that Sony has released a new video capture tool. The Loot Active ?Camera gives users control of a virtual camera with which they can record whatever bizarre antics go on in that virtual realm. The tool was developed with users who want to create machinima videos in mind. David Sterling, VP?? of business development, hopes it will foster more creativity.

With the ability to now record and upload directly to YouTube ?or the PS3 XMB, it will be easier and less expensive than ever for people to realize their creative visions on the pl??atform.

Sony Breathes New Life... [Gamasutra]

The post PlayStation Home welcomes movie makers appeared first on Destructoid.

Did you enjoy the series debut of The Tommy Wi-Show? Wou??ld you like some more? I bet you would like some more. Here's some more.

In thi??s extra footage, T.W. squares off against the nightmare king Freddy Krueger. By the way, check out the dude's fingers -- he is definitely hard to the core!

Tommy Wisea??u vs. Freddy Krueger: The Tommy Wi-?Show (Machinima) [YouTube]

The post O hai, bonus Tommy Wi-Show video! appeared first on Destructoid.

Notorious movie director Tommy Wiseau has rolled out his new videogame-based show, The Tommy Wi-Show and it is exactly what fans of his work were likely expecting. Tommy gar?bles his way through awkward scenes, and ??plays some videogames. 

This week, he tackles Mortal Kombat, and I won't spo??il how the match goes, but he displays some surprising gaming skills. If anybody could prove that E-Sports is a real thing, it's Tommy. 

So yeah, this video is ????now a thing that has officially happened. I feel good about that.

The post The Tommy Wi-Show debuts and it’s … yep! appeared first on Destructoid.