It’s hard to talk about video games and not mention the Halo franchise. Constantly breaking records and taking names, Halo is a system selling behemoth of a property for the XBox 360. It was one of the games so popular, that it would go on to spawn multiple Machinima series, animated shorts created using assets from the respective games. These included everything from Phil to Arby ‘n’ The Chief to what may be the most famous Machinima ever, Red vs. Blue.

Smartly coinciding the release of the 8th season of Red vs. Blue entitled Revalation and the Recollection three disc set with the release of Halo: Reach, Rooster Teeth helps provide Halo fanboys with more Halo than they can handle in the biggest week of their gaming year.

The Recollection contains the second full story arc of the Red vs. Blue universe. Not a part of any official Halo canon, Red vs. Blue takes aspects of the game world never explained like the constant fighting in multiplayer of the different Spartans and tries to explain it. Taken with a grain of salt, the story even gets a little meta and makes a viewer step back and wonder how much applies to them. But for the most part, there is just lots of great comedic moments and swearing over a finely animated and even dramatic story.

Continue Reading →

One of the best things about Machinima is the almost limitless possibilities. In addition to seeing your favorite characters given new personalities, Machinima gives the possibility of seeing them in different surroundings as well. Skilled programmers are able to rip sprites from old school games and animate them in new and exciting ways.

Mortal Kombat vs. Oregon Trail is exactly what its title says. Taking the Apple computer lab classic Oregon Trail and its best minigame of hunting and adds Mortal Kombat’s two top ninjas Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Let the fatalities on the poor defenseless animals ensure.

Make sure to also check out other mashup Machinimas like R-Type vs. Space Invaders and Grand Theft Auto vs. Frogger too if you enjoy this one. As always, keep it here for new Machinima every Monday.

Continue Reading →

As we have seen over the past few weeks, Machinima comes in many forms. Some is created using video game footage while others are inspired by content in games. Geometry: Everything You Need to Know is one of the latter examples as it takes a look at the modern classic Geometry Wars in South Park-esque paper stop motion animation.

Early in the XBox 360 life cycle, there wasn’t much of a launch lineup to keep players busy for the early months of the system. This provided a great opportunity for XBox Live Arcade games to step up. The one that did it the best was Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2. With a simple two stick control scheme and intense music and beautiful visuals, GWRE2 racked up thousands of players in its online leader boards competing for its top spot.

Geometry: Everything You Need to Know replicates this brilliantly simple formula in stop motion fashion. Exquisitely animated and synched to actual game sound effects, this Machinima does a great job of recreating a low-res game of Geometry Wars for the viewers enjoyment. Take a peek below and let us know what you think.

Continue Reading →

Without a doubt, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the most important gaming franchise on shelves right now. It claims the highest opening day gross in the entertainment industry. Not just video games, but ALL entertainment.

That’s nothing to sneeze at. And of course, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 came out to its share of controversy. Most notable is the level entitled “No Russian”.

Be warned, there are spoilers ahead if you are one of the four people left in the universe who haven’t played this game.

“No Russian” has the player in the role of an undercover agent attempting to infiltrate a Russian war criminal’s inner circle. He is forced to do the unthinkable as you will see in the video below in an effort to take this man down.

Machinima talent Michael Barnes takes this scene to an entirely level. Using interspliced footage from his own created camera angles of another level of the game as well as dramatic timing and footage from the actual “No Russian” level, he has retold this story in amazing cinematic fashion. The actions feel more brutal than the player pulling the trigger themselves could have even imagined.

If you don’t believe us, take a look at the video after the jump.

Continue Reading →

Ever wonder what your toys do when you aren’t around? (And no, the proper response isn’t “They aren’t toys, they are collectible action figures.”) Well one Machinimist did and combined it with his love of Halo 3 to make Arby ‘n’ the Chief.

Instead of having someone from the real world voice a video game character, DigitalPh33r took a different approach when he showed the Master Chief is actually an action figure who hops on to Halo every now and then when his owner isn’t around and is terrible at it, as well as completely immature. In addition to flaming of opponents and denial of his own lack of skill, Chief tries to overcompensate with constant failed attempts of LEET speak.

And did we mention that Chief is voiced by Microsoft Sam, the in-Windows text to speech program, instead of having an actual voice actor? Surprisingly entertaining for this fact alone, it doesn’t end there for the Chief as he gets a roommate in the first episode of the series, rekindling the infamous video game odd couple when his owner receives a package containing, you guessed it, an Arbiter action figure.

Continue Reading →

Sometimes we watch Machinima because it tells a compelling story with some of our favorite characters. Most of the time we end up watching it because we appreciate a quick, cheap laugh. Ultrahouse 13: Mega Kitchen comes from an entirely different perspective: amazine visuals. You are probably asking how a Machinima could bring amazing visuals if it is just taking footage captured from a game.

Ultrahouse 13 uses the assets from the Half-Life 2 engine and places them in a real life house. Combine soldiers, no taller than a few inches, storm their way through a home and deal with resistance fighters along the way. The Combine don’t come alone as they are quickly joined by a Strider walker and drop-ship. But the rebels don’t go down easy as they defend their home with a gigantic DOG robot.

The short presentation seems very reminiscent of the style of “Ataque de Panico” which led to director Fede Alvarez being signed to Sam Raimi’s studio. Not to say that a “simple” Half-Life 2 Machinima will bring massive success to an aspiring effects artist, but after seeing what was accomplished here, it wouldn’t a huge surprise to see creator Eddie Smithson’s name in the credits of the silver screen someday soon.

Continue Reading →

Back in 2003, a risque Sesame Street inspired musical by the name of Avenue Q featuring puppet leads came out with a shocking statement: “The internet is for porn.” How could this be that a network that enabled global communication and business opportunities could come down to such a lowbrow concept as porn? But as the audience began listening to the lyrics, it was hard to argue that the internet really my revolve around men cozying up to watch various acts of depravity they weren’t experiencing at home.

The truth is, everyone knows that the internet is for porn. The only ones who don’t are just living in denial like Kate Monster does in Avenue Q. And, interestingly enough some of the most frequent patrons of this less than social activity may end up coming from the world’s most social game: World of Warcraft. It was only a matter of time before a mash up of the two came to be.

Using their beloved MMO, a group of players came together and put together an animated version of the song using their on screen avatars. Still in the early days of machinima creation in 2006, “The Internet is for Porn” does a fantastic job of taking the canned animations of World of Warcraft and lip synching the song to the on screen characters. The result turned in to another internet hit as the Machinima closes in on almost six and a half million views up to this point.

Sit back, relax and let yourself open up to some high culture by viewing the following clip. Yes, culture. If it has been on Broadway, it’s considered culture. That’s our story and we are sticking to it.

Continue Reading →