To think this film's creator knew nothing about animation prior to making this short is absolutely astonishing. Of course, as we discuss, many crossed this path as a consequence of the pandemic, but there are few gems we've found like this. The film, Rally, draws heavily on Santiago Menghini's experience as a live action director and producer. What's fascinating, in our analysis, is our evaluation of ambiguity and how its clever use makes up for the animation and limitations. Watch the movie, check out our comments and add your own.

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Phil Rice and SunoAI

"Courage is not the absence of fear, it is acting in spite of it." Yep, never a truer few words than said in jest. This week, we discuss a cutscene extravanza of Arthur's life story in the game, apparently endorsed by Roger Clark himself. Its a story told in three acts, supported by some great musical choices, even if we don't completely agree on that. What we do agree on is that Charles Liu has done a superb job of selecting just the right shots to portray the character. Check out our review, watch the film and do add your own thoughts.

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Phil Rice & SunoAI

This brings back so many memories for us, the 1980s and 90s, Frank Drebin's utter incompetence and Leslie Neilsen's brilliance. Hat Loving Gamer has excelled himself with this interpretation, taking in a bunch of retro games - everything from PacMan to Mario and then adding in a bit of Halo and GTA for good measure. Our selection of this film also has absolutely nothing to do with the launch of NS2 or the announcement of a new NG movie... Enjoy the discussion.

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Ricky Grove
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Phil Rice & SunoAI

Projects, mods, demos, Mickey Mouse, not machinima and genAIs... all in the mix this week. We also talk about new tools, game news and Predator: Killer of Killers, the first full length BIG budget machinima. Check out the discussion, links on our show notes, and add comments as usual.

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Phil Rice & SunoAI

Our latest deep dive into machinima history, and this month we focus on Baron Soosdon, a Finnish creator whose work is legendary among us. The film pick, I'm So Sick, is an excellent example of the type of work he produced during his machinima career (circa 2006-2011) which, shockingly, never actually won an award - it was however runner up at Bitfilm Festival. The film is a WoW fan fiction and a cultural mashup of its era, including subtle references to some of the key happenings in niche entertainment at the time: release of Edge of Remorse by Jason Choi (machinima), Ergo Proxy's classic anime series, appearances by the WoW legendary band L70ETC, the BlackWingLair level play-throughs and Lacey Sturm's incredible primal scream and the Flyleaf music video, song of the same title. Enjoy the discussion.

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Ricky Grove
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Phil Rice

Yup, there's nothing to do in Starfield, except this kind of thing! Seriously, we love how this teases a potential mod by the creator, ⁨@StarfieldCinematics⁩, and we reflect on the portrayal of the characters, the juxtaposition of the narrator voices and the pacing in what is essentially just a teaser. One thing we all agree on is just how stunning this game world is.

1:57 Analysis of Starfield machinima
8:12 Comments on the trailer's content and style
12:29 Technical and narrative observations
25:31 Audience engagement and future prospects

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

Ever wondered what it might be like to experience GTA as an NPC - or an animal? Well check out our pick this week! An hilarious let's play by @PuttherUncut "I Pretended to be a RAT NPV in GTA RP and Trolled the ENTIRE SERVER | DonDada RP", released 5 June 2022. Shades of Robin Hood in the approach -

2:37 Putther Uncut's Rat NPC trolling...
5:10 Details of the rat's actions
8:24 Damien's reaction and analysis
11:53 Phil's perspective and technical insights

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

In this episode, we discuss an account of an historic battle, which is commemorated annually on the 17th of Ramadan across all Muslim countries: the Battle of Badr 624AD. The film has been created by the Bellum et Historia channel, released on 16 November 2024, and made in Total War Atilla and other games, using various mods. These are, however, a little hazy because the creator has chosen not to reveal the creative process, making full attribution of assets used quite a challenge to fully appreciate, not least how the game technology was used in the creative process. Nonetheless, we talk about the film's methods of creative expression, the role of the tools and the ways in which these game environments can be especially useful for this kind of storytelling.

0:40 Introduction by Phil
8:22 Damien's evaluation of the tools
16:33 Tracy's observations on the tools used and creative processes, the role of games in understanding historic events

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats