WeGame Winners announced!

After a nerve-wracking wait of 6 days the winners of WeGame's August machinima contest have been announced on the Weekly Video Review # 32. Here are the winners, top to bottom, with the honorable mentions in random order (I think).

First Place: The Robber Baron of Warsong Gulch by Pinkhair. No surprise here, Pinkhair really pushed the bar with his latest work. An silent movie style machinima with voice cards, corny piano music and a nice amount of sepia and scratches. I especially loved the train scenes, the train being completely custom made!

Second Place: Joust Venture by Sedrin. This one is a bit of the odd duck in the pond, not only is it one of only two entries not using World of Warcraft, it's also a 2d 8-bit game from the Stone Age! Well, not exactly stone age, but... This entry is an excellent example of how voice acting can save and ruin projects. What the characters lack in expressive looks they make up for with excellent voice acting. Especially the player with the "ye-olde-english" accent (To the deathhhhh*spittle*!)

Third Place: Divided Soul by Martin Falch. Another great machinima from Falch, mastermind behind the 'legendary' ToTP series. It's a relatively deep story which took me a couple of views to really get. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a psychological machinima containing Martin Falch's trademark battlescenes (no Naruto style this time!): Divided Soul is the vid for you.

Fourth Place: The Way of life by Johan Vågstedt. Another visually stunning machinima. I tells the story of an old commander who's tired of fighting. When he meets a young, dieing soldier, the boy opens his eyes and the commander makes a life changing decision. Custom animations, excellent voice acting and a beautiful visuals makes this one to watch!

Next are the honorable mentions.

The Murloc Tale
By calixworld2. A story about a dead murloc, brought with great visuals. The video is very pixely however and I swear some of the scenes have been blatantly copied from Dopefish's Among Fables and Men (namely the "castle in the distance, swimming, crawling on the shore" sequence).


The Forgotten Legend
By Funk. A undead female attempts to save her father from the plague, but in order to reach the cure she must fight off some strong foes indeed. Great visuals and nice fight sequences, certainly one to watch!

The Islanders - Happy Birthday
by X-Cross. Light-hearted, colorful comedy thanks to the backgrounds taken from the Wind Waker Zelda games. Voice acting is very nice considering he's doing most of it himself.

Von'Zul
by Erunno. Another great example of how images can portray a story fine without the need of voice acting. This movie tells the story of a troll and his blood elf foster mother.

Live
by Spiffworld. A typical Spiff music-vid set to a typical Jonathan Coulton style song. Trademark down-to-earth looks and funny editing brings us the story of Frankenstein in World of Warcraft.


Asteroid Truckers
by JimRage. Another example at how dialogue makes the movie. Using a game I don't know JimRage made an interesting vid revolving around a mining facility in space. Can't really say more of it :S

Outlaws of Azeroth
by RedEyeLobine. Two unlucky goldbeggers from Undercity try to make their fortune in Stormwind. The unusual Italian mafia style voice of the tauren adds a very funny plus to the movie.


Le Terroriste
by Olibith. Gnomes in space! Watch as an unlucky human gets to start his piloting career and is pushed into pushing the self-destruct button. Splendid editing combined with strange dialogue and a bit of absurd humor. Olibith delivers a nice piece of work once again... Though this one lacks b00bs.



By now you might be wondering where my name is on this list. Well, it's not on it at all. I can't say I'm not disappointed after not even getting a honorable mention. Especially after all the kind words and comments and even the WoWInsider moviewatch mention. I was convinced I stood a chance of winning something. Then again, bitching and moaning won't do any good either. I suppose the only way is to keep going forward and try again the next contest. Thanks again for all the constructive criticism, nice comments and general help!

I'm currently brainstorming on the plot of WuaG 2 and something... jolly themed :)