Half Life 2
The game Half Life 2 is created primarily by Valve and produces some of the most well known pieces of Machinima especially from the actual website along with fan-based movies to go with it. Whats nice about Half Life 2 is that it has the ability to use Hammer, which is its editing software, so users can create their own game levels using the engine. This means that machinima can also be produced using the cameras and characters that are already in game. Machinima in this game is very popular as it is so flexible in what it can do, and there are some ordinary ones to some downright stupid ones created in the engine which are fantastic to watch as they provide a lot of comedy value to them as well.
There is now even a Wiki page and other Steam pages that are dedicated to the machinima of Half Life and the other games made by Valve that all have these kind of pages that people will visit daily just to get their machinima fix. The machinima is all done well as well. There is never a terrible one and they are generally very interesting to watch. Either using first person perspective to capture the camera or an external camera that captures events that happen in the scene. Some people now are even making behind the scenes of their machinima works which have the characters appearing to be on some kind of film set in a very well thought out machinima, explaining how to create the machinima.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wap08iVYL_c
I then wanted to look at the cut scenes that feature in the game. A lot of them are interactive and you are playing at the same time, or rather standing in a room listening, but you can walk around it at your own will. Its a nice idea for a game as it means that you can't skip the cut scenes as you are part of them, meaning that you get the opportunity to advance in the story better without missing parts. This can also be annoying at the same time but does have its advances especially because you can see the in-game engine at its best as the characters will look at you if you get close to them and also interact with objects around you as the cut scene progresses further.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOvb_7IIdq0
Grand Theft Auto V
The new Grand Theft Auto game is also a brilliant example of how cut scenes and machinima can be used in a great way. This new game is stunning and contains amazingly beautiful graphics and still has the power to have brilliant cut scenes. Along with the traditional game cinematics that are featured in most games this includes cinematics that are sometimes pre-rendered but most of them do run in real time, something that most games are aiming to do these days with the advancement of technology and other techniques in the industry. The game then also features cut scenes that are similar to that of Half Life 2 as when the character is walking around and interacting with other characters there will be dialog between you and another character but their will also be phone calls and other ways of communication but if you look at the camera they will always be animated; showing the incredible amount of work that went into creating this game.
Grand Theft Auto V then has the unique was of interacting with objects around you. Much like in the older games of the series, when interacting with say an exercise machine or a TV, especially in this newer game, you can experience it more than you could before. While watching a television there are different things you can do, different channels to watch and other interactions around you that you can participate in. Along with this there is also in game interaction with a mobile phone that you can access at any time, making the world seem much bigger as you can gain contacts on their as well and call them whenever. This was of introducing things like this make cut scenes appear more exciting and there is so much more to do as well. This game also includes a lot in the background that could be played with, making it much more appealing and this is something that we might like to take into our own game environment as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_ogkr3WLA0
Along with the extensive but fantastic use of cut scenes and other variations of it, Grand Theft Auto V and other surrounding games in the series also has a huge fan base for machinima productions. Due to the recent appearance of Grand Theft Auto Online it has become much easier for fans to be able to create their own machinima now. Although Rockstar do not offer you the ability to record and create AI that can be controlled and programed, like you can in Valve's Hammer World Editor, but there are a few additions to the online world that you can change. Along with playing with around 20 people in the same world as the campaign game is set, there is the ability to edit the world and play your way. This can introduce races and other exciting features that people can get involved with, and can offer ways of recording it and then putting it out on the internet and turning it into that piece of machinima using voice overs for characters and changing other aspects for other peoples humour.
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is certainly an interesting game to look at as it doesn't necessarily have cut scenes to look at but does create the most interesting and beautiful cinematic experiences. As the game is a MMORPG is doesn't ever feature cut scenes unless you are flying to places when all it gives you is a view around you that you can navigate around, whilst you sit on a creatures back unable to move. But Blizzard Entertainment are masters when it comes to advertising their new releases on games due to their talent in being able to take some of their characters and then creating an amazing game cinematic from them. Although we know that these kind of graphics will never feature in the game, as it has to run online and would never stick to 30fps at that level of detail with over a million people on it at the same time, but it is nice to see as you can really imagine them as people then and not just a two-dimensional character that it just another custom created pre-modeled character.
When looking at World of Warcraft as well, we can see the amount of machinima that is produced from it and it comes in it's plenty. There are many different types of machinima out their but done is as strange as the World of Warcraft ones. They are usually humourous, if you could call it that, and tend to contain jokes relating to the universe, so their not all that funny if you do not play the game. But despite that, they are good and very easy to film, especially if you have two people as once again you can just use screen capture to be able to do this, or in-computer recording software and that is able to record the necessary footage needed to them add voice overs on top.
Diablo III
The last game cinematic that I wanted to look at was Diablo III as again like World of Warcraft, it produces fantastic cut scenes. Again, this is a game that doesn't have the most exciting look to it as you play in a top down isometric view so there is never that much to see in terms of character as you barely ever see its face. But that's where these amazing cut scenes come into play. Each one is beautifully designed, but the one featured below is my favourite due to how gorgeous it is. The cut scenes begins with a 2D images that slowly comes to life and begins to show elements of 3D, but then it turns into this full 3D world with incredible characters in it and promotes the game so well due to the incredible look to it.
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