Ruins of Lordaeron

(Update May 1, 2010 - putting this at the top of the Blog since it's the video I created.)

One of my favorite tourist destinations in WoW are the Ruins of Lordaeron just outside the Undercity. If you walk through it with the music off and the environmental sounds on, you can experience the ruins and echoes of a former capital city.

Well, I finally documented those sights and sounds in a video clip. You might want to turn up the sound to hear the ghostly whispers.



When I brought the Ruins up to a friend of mine, he suggested I would enjoy the ambience ten-fold if I had played the human campaign of WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos. So I did.

Wow, was he right. If you don't know what Arthas went through to "save" his people, I would recommend either playing the campaign or reading about it (Arthas Menethil in WoWWiki or Wikipedia).

In short, Arthas was the prince of Lordaeron who would do anything to save his kingdom, even slay his own people - eventually setting his sights on revenge against his father, the king, for trying to stop him from doing what he felt had to be done. But of course, his chosen path corrupted him.

This video is the ending cinematic of the Human campaign. Arthas returns home to Lordaeron to see his father:

Warcraft 3: Human Ending Cinematic


Voila, context.
Those are Arthas's words that whisper in the royal chamber. Cross the same bridge in the courtyard. The hall is littered with the rose petals that welcomed home the tragic hero. The bells still toll for his return.

Perhaps the citizens wouldn't have welcomed him so heartily if they had known what he had done. Or that their graves and ghosts would litter the courtyard today.

Much appreciation to Blizzard for the tie in to the Lore. Thanks also go to Emp for suggesting I play the campaign. And kudos to this video creator who remixed the cinematics and added a great piece of music to really give Arthas's story the epic feel it deserves:

Arthas destiny - Loreena McKennitt by Ohkami

Christmas WoW Videos

One last Christmas video, short and sweet.

Crafting Worlds: 1:01


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Christmas Videos: Musicals

Baby It's Cold Outside by Windspire 2:30:


Hark! Hear the Wails by Oxhorn: 2:20


It Looks like Christmas: 3:58

Christmas Videos: 12 Days

12 Days of Winterveil by Oxhorn: 5:12


Bob & Doug's 12 Days of Christmas: 3:22


12 Pains of Christmas: 3:40

Christmas Videos: Ode to TV

Heat Miser: 2:53 (1:55 plus 1 minute of Credits)


Snow Miser: 1:31


Grinch: 3:43 (Murlocs killed at 2:40 - cause that's what's really important)


Kidnap Sandy Claws: 3:55

Christmas Videos: Ode to the Chipmunks

Podsafe Christmas Songs by Spiffworld:


Cute & Simple version of the Chipmunk's Christmas Song: 2:42

Christmas Videos: Chiron Beta Prime

In celebration of the Christmas Season, I'd like to kick off a series of posts of World of Warcraft videos with Christmas, Winterveil or Holiday themes.

I'm glad I waited until December 1st to do it because Spiffworld was kind enough to post a new video today with music from Jonathan Coulton.

Chiron Beta Prime
By Spiffworld: 3:33


By zeedoos: 4:00


And if you're in the mood for one more - here's a Chiron Beta Prime video that's unrelated to WoW.

WoW Commercial Videos v2

Bravo to Blizzplanet. They found the William Shatner World of Warcraft Commercial I was looking for as well as a Mr. T Commercial I hadn't seen.

Here's the link: Blizzplanet...

... and here are the commercials:

William Shatner: 0:33


Mr. T: 0:33


Updated 11/27/07 with new youtube links.

WoW Commercial Videos v1

I just had the craziest dream ... there was a new World of Warcraft commercial. And, get this, William Shatner was in it. Heheh, ... how crazy is that?

Anyway, why don't we take a look at a few of the WoW commercials and commercial parodies out there. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure:

Office Space: 0:32


WoW Coke #1: 0:43


WoW Coke #2: 0:47 (because apparently the Coke in the first commercial wasn't Soulbound):

More about the iCoke Event in China

Valentine's Day Commercial: 0:52

iWoW Chicky: 0:39


It's Good enough for Spidey: 0:39


X-Play's World of Warcraft Libido Commercial: 1:20


Ironforge Bank Identity Theft: 0:52 (30 seconds then credits)
#1:


#2:


Toyota Tacoma: 0:29


Converse: 2:07

World of Warcraft Television Appearances

I've been seeing World of Warcraft popping up as a "guest star" in several television series lately. (Perhaps it needs an "episode list" on imdb.)

WoW Insider recently posted about a reference on Judge Judy. And we all remember the "Make Love not Warcraft" episode of South Park.

Now this Fall's television season has added two more shows to the growing cache of WoW television exposure. Perhaps a long writer's strike won't just send viewers to their PCs to play WoW, but the writers as well. When they come back we may see this list grow.

How I Met Your Mother (Season 3, Episode 5):


Big Bang Theory:
#1 - (at 0:31)


#2 - 1:41

(Updated 11/20/07 to fix sound alignment.)


Older Appearances:

Stargate Atlantis:
#1 - 1:26


#2 - 0:48


Jeopardy: 0:14

Machinima Guides

I've been visiting the home websites of some of my favorite World of Warcraft movie makers and found a surprising number of hints, tips and guides. I've collected a few here:

By Oxhorn:

• The Basics of Making WoW Machinima
• Tips on Making a Good Movie
• Oxhorn's Blog - Chewing the Cud

From Spiffworld:

• How I Make My Videos and Tips For Video Makers
• Spiffworld's Brand New Blog

From Myndflame:

• Sound & Video Editing Forum
• Myndflame Interview on Machinima.com
• The Myndflame Homepage

Stone Falcon Productions:

• Tips and Tutorials Forum
• Stone Falcon Productions' Blog

More:

• IGN Beginner's Guide
• South Park Episode Making-of Interview (link via Crafting Worlds)

Some Epic Inspiration:


And for Ambiance:


Update 9/8/2007:

WoWInsider's Machinima 101: The basics

Blizzard's Letter to the Machinimators of the World of Warcraft
Source: machinimafordummies.com (the blog for the book of the same name) via wowinsider

Update 9/1/2008:

WoWInsider's WoW Machinima: The basics

Looking for Group

I've been going through the ol' blogroll recently, cleaning up a little, and looking for new blogs to add...

In doing so, I found a great video highlighted in a post at Mystic Chicanery.


Please note, that the video below is NSFKids who might be sensitive to playful decapitation, face melting and puppy kicking. I'm not really kidding.

Seriously, I don't have kids, but I see them on TV. Parents should preview this before they share with the wee ones.

Looking For Group: Slaughter Your World: 4:09


For more about Looking for Group, consider these links:

• LFGComic.com - the Home page
• Their Post about the Video
• The LFG Store where you can order the comics
• Browse the comics online here

I'd love to see a greater selection of t-shirts in their store. The Wallpapers and Avatars are great, and I would so buy something like that on a (women's) t-shirt.

p.s. If you can't remember where you've heard that song from the video before... it's a parody of this.

Video: New from Spiffworld and Coulton: Engineering

Brand new vid, with a hint of Engineering:
Future Soon: 4:17


And I don't think I posted this one before:
I Feel Fantastic: 3:28


Links::

• www.jonathancoulton.com/ (with more great music)
• www.spiffworld.com/ (with how-tos, tips and background info)
• All the Spiffworld videos via YouTube

Video: Betty and Me

Some of my favorite video artisans put out another video. Laughter and great WoW blending.

Betty and Me:

300 WoW Video

This is a WoW guild recruitment video that capitalizes on the 300 craze going on right now (my HSX stock in it doubled!).

World of Warcraft - "300" Doom Supremacy movie trailer

Video: Snacky's Journal Episode 1

Another video I found on YouTube; not bad:

Snacky's Journal - Episode 1


I particularly liked this one for the excellent production values. Great sound, focus, and that little bit of suspense (just a little).

Update 7/31/07:
Episode 2 3:57:


Episode 3 (PSA/Preview) 1:12:

Video: University of Stormwind

I just came across this on YouTube recently but I think it's been around for awhile:

The University of Stormwind

Speed Monkey

When this new video was posted on YouTube I was just going to append it to this previous post with two videos from the same creators, particularly since the song is just a remix of a previous song...
that is... until the monkey jumped on the back of the freaking owl. Oh yeah, you're getting your own post:

Speed Monkey:

WoW, Love and Videos

I had previously shared a video called re: Your Brains from creater "Spiffworld" who creates WoW videos from Jonathan Coulton songs. Interestingly, if you go to www.jonathancoulton.com/ you can see some posts about how the whole Viacom thing somehow caused the re: Your Brains video to be taken down until it was cleared as having nothing to do with Viacom.

Real world aside, today Love is in the Air begins, so I thought I'd throw in some topical videos by Spiffworld and Jonathan Coulton. Enjoy!

Code Monkey


Just as Long as Me

Wowio

I just came across this video at play-girlz.com. Wow, that music! I cannot tell you how many memories this dragged up for me. I spent many hours in college playing Mario when I should have been studying:

World of Warcraft Super Mario Theme


and while I'm at it, I don't think I've ever posted this video before: (be warned though, that it I'm having a really hard time getting this little ditty out of my head.)
World of Warcaft - Im An AssHole


Update 5/8/07 with a Dark-Legacy WoW/Mario Comic.