http://youtube.com/watch?v=oT9MTP_Tie0

I cannot wait!! The mage sheep part was awesome!

Better quality version: http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=2247

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/downloads/movies.html

HD Version.

ahhhh super cool! I love seeing the hipoly translations of some of the famous gear too, like the draenei in the pally tier 4 set or the undead in the pvp stuff. also I usually think taglines are pretty weak, but Illidan saying "you are not prepared" is definitely sweet [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

woot.

I love the warlock vs. murloc bit. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Though if it were me, I'd have DoTted them all and limped gleefully away, cackling as the bodies gradually fell behind me.

really cool, too bad they dont make games that look like this..

the cinematic "world" looks nothing like the cartoony exaggerated game i just dont think the two mix very well at all. they are both very nice looking but couldn't be further from each other... i would much rather see gritty realistic in game graphics, OR bright whimsical cinematics.. its pretty silly to mix the two.
if i didn't know any better, and saw the cinematic, then went and bought the game i would be soo pissed off when it looked absolutely nothing like what they were using to promote it.

just my 2 cents.

I agree whole heartedly with ya Arsh, I don't get why they did that with Wacraft 3 and WoW, they clash really hard.

I love the Blizzard cinematics department.
That cut with the orc cutting off heads is just such an awesome piece of virtual camera work.

[ QUOTE ]
really cool, too bad they dont make games that look like this..

the cinematic "world" looks nothing like the cartoony exaggerated game i just dont think the two mix very well at all. they are both very nice looking but couldn't be further from each other... i would much rather see gritty realistic in game graphics, OR bright whimsical cinematics.. its pretty silly to mix the two.
if i didn't know any better, and saw the cinematic, then went and bought the game i would be soo pissed off when it looked absolutely nothing like what they were using to promote it.

just my 2 cents.

[/ QUOTE ]

I dont agree with this, though I suspect there are a lot of people who share the viewpoint. to me, seeing cinematic or hipoly versions of the realtime artwork has always been exciting in that it's been a different lens through which to view my favorite characters and places. the more lenses you see these elements through, the more your imagination works to fill in the gaps between them. and I think getting the viewer's imagination to work along WITH the artwork is what makes for the best experience.

[ QUOTE ]
really cool, too bad they dont make games that look like this..

the cinematic "world" looks nothing like the cartoony exaggerated game i just dont think the two mix very well at all. they are both very nice looking but couldn't be further from each other... i would much rather see gritty realistic in game graphics, OR bright whimsical cinematics.. its pretty silly to mix the two.
if i didn't know any better, and saw the cinematic, then went and bought the game i would be soo pissed off when it looked absolutely nothing like what they were using to promote it.

just my 2 cents.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, my thoughts exactly. I certainly enjoy the look of both, but they have nothing to do with one another, especially as promotional material. If the cinematics were just meant to be enjoyed on their own, like Final Fantasy Advent children, that'd be one thing, but they are advertising a product that isn't even close in terms of look, feel, and visual polish.

I hear the cinematic dept is really separate from the game devs internally at Blizzard. It really shows through in the fact they both seem to do their own thing with no regard to the others product.

[ QUOTE ]

to me, seeing cinematic or hipoly versions of the realtime artwork has always been exciting in that it's been a different lens through which to view my favorite characters and places.

[/ QUOTE ]

I might be wrong here, but I think you missed Arsh's point a little. I dont think he was so much saying that he had an issue with the concept of depicting both hi and low resolution characters, but moreover that in this instance, in the case of the Blizzard WoW stuff, there is such a huge jarring difference between the two, stylistically speaking. Again, I could be wrong, but that's how I interpreted it.

If presented with a task of taking the in game WoW characters and depicting them exactly as they are but in high resolution, they would not look like the cinematic stuff currently does. There's a distinct change in visual style.

It's a fantastic piece btw. The only aspect I dont much care for is the animation of the girl.

IMHO it'd be pretty tough to interpret the low-poly, painted style into animation without losing some of the "serious" edge to the Warcraft series. The cinematics always made the characters seem more real to me, even if the visual style was completely different to the in-game experience.

sure Daz I may be defending this issue from the wrong angle. I understand what you and Arsh are saying about the sylistic difference. But, I've never found the difference in styles in WC3 and WOW to be THAT jarring in the first place - they always seemed like just two interpretations of the same reality. So I'd stick by what I said about different lenses making for a better experience - in that even if one version of the reality is more realistic and gritty, and one is more stylized, the extra work my imagination goes to to reconcile those differences while viewing the art makes for a richer experience.

So while I dont dispute the fact that the realtime and the cinematics ARE different in style, I DO dispute that that's a bad thing. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

make sense?

/edit: I agree with MoP as well.

Superb! Blizzard cinematics have always been something special; I can still remember being terrified of the CG hydralisks. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Kinda off topic but its still blizzard related. I was in EBgames yesterday and the employee said that WoW maybe coming to xblive. I looked at him with a "do you get your information from little kids that come to visit you" expression.

It would have to be dumbified heavily to be playable on a console. Imaging PvP'ing someone on a console with a mouse and keyboard. there'd be no chance.

I don't expect non players to get the irony of "you are not prepared". But those who had their easy epic plans usurped by the recent 30% less honor nerf, I think you'll find that tag line fitting.

some really cool moments in that cinematic. The raptor mount scene is amazing. they really need to do a feature-length thing!

They should put their cinematic team on some next-gen tech and see what they could do... seriously. i think we'd all crap our pants.

Hmm, they should make a movie [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

like it a lot, specially the undead burning the murlocs away without giving them any attention [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

What bothers me a little are the human/girl elf faces... that has always been Blizzis weakness imo, they never manage to nail them down and there's always something slightly akward about them (mainly mouth area)

Superb as ever. The lovely rendered artwork hasn't done anything to shake off my feeling that the Dranei design doesn't quite work though.

[ QUOTE ]
I was in EBgames yesterday and the employee said that WoW maybe coming to xblive.

[/ QUOTE ]I'm pretty sure that was a rumour that was discredited a long while back. The rumours of a Warcraft movie in the works have yet to be quashed though.

http://www.blizzard.com/press/060509.shtml <- maybe very old but aint heard of any cancellation, so surely it's not a rumour, sounds like complete suckage though... "live-action"??... why not a pure cg film by blur :[

Although I dislike WoW and it's style, I always enjoy watching the cinematics that come out for it, mostly indeed, due to the complete miss-match of style.

[ QUOTE ]
why not a pure cg film by blur :[

[/ QUOTE ]

Why the hell would you want Blur to do Warcraft cinematics?

right. also, do we really think blur or blizzard cinematic output is up to the standards of the big screen? i'd say their stuff definitely works for what they are doing but it seems still a far cry in visual quality, especially in terms of believable animation, from the big fx houses.

blur are working on a feature length movie based on their rockfish short

i definitely think that Blizzard is more than capable in translating their cinematics to the big screen, I think they have real super camerawork and their work always looks very epic. Oh and of course they have some of the best composed scores.

I think believeable animation is a case of style and not capability, their cinematics kind of blur the line between superrealistic and fantasy.

As a response to their cinematic art style, i think it's consistent throughout all of their franchises. Warcraft is definitely the most stylized and painterly of the 3, while diablo is a bit more realistic with starcraft falling somewhere in between. So It's definitely a case of keeping things consistant, besides they are only there to tell an epic story and supposed to be refreshing intermissions when you play the game.