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'Make Love, Not Warcraft' Episode Wins An Emmy
WoW Insider has the word that the South Park Episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft" has won the Creative Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. The episode, which heavily features machinima shot inside a Blizzard-run World of Warcraft server, has proven extremely popular with fans of both the game and the show. So much so that the DVD set including that episode includes a 14-day trial for WoW, and extensive commentary on the episode from the show's creators. From the WoW Insider post: "This isn't the first Emmy that South Park has won, but perhaps this kind of attention will get WoW more positive (or at least humorous) attention in other television shows. Though, when it comes to TV ratings, 9 million people worldwide does not a target audience make. For example, American Idol was considered slipping when it only had 30 million US viewers for an episode. Would you like to see WoW references appear more often on TV? Or are you too busy playing to care?"
Its the best show in the World!... (of Warcraft)
at least, not if it is mention like in Star Gate: Atlantis. Wost game reference in a TV show ever. I groaned and hit my head against a wall until the pain was worse than hearing the comment. It took a few hours.
My husband and I just had the opportunity to watch the episode again on DVD. We listened to the commentary by the South Park creators and found it interesting how the episode came to be.
Best part about what I learned is that Blizzard was gun-ho to help out with the episode.
Life takes interesting turns, but the most interest is when you're off the beaten path.
a trial subscription with the DVD? That's like handing out free needles with the DARE program.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
I know a lot of other MMO players who got a kick out of watching it and laughing at WoW players or ourselves seeing a bit of ourselves in the WoW universe
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country did to you
Looks like all the other nominees just got pwned.
Maybe the Emmy commitee was a bit boared?!
I'm just glad I never gave up on the world...
of warcraft.
Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
I was impressed with the Emmy, until I saw this morning that Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake's "Dick in a Box" won an Emmy last night, too. Makes you wonder just how low the standards for winning an Emmy are, after all. Or how sorry the competition was...
Certainly the size and money involved allows Blizzard to try things nobody else could afford. On the other hand, in markets in general and creative markets specifically, too much concentration on one offer (no matter how good it is) reduces the progress of everyone else.
I'd rather have more choice.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
> 9 million people worldwide does not a target audience make.
Yoda is in the house!
> Would you like to see WoW references appear more often on TV?
"Are you insecure about your choice of hobbies? Do you require the validation others?"
...and television is 200 channels of suck. I would hate to be the person who has to dig through all that and find the bits that suck the very least.
Let's take a quick look at the episodes that won an emmy or something smiliar. Bottom line: Be creative and move a hint away from the vanilla roll-down-22-minutes-to-fill-between-ads trash that clogs our TVs today, and you got one.
And that episode simply and plainly did that. It's one of the first to feature and parody a popular video game. I mean, a video game it doesn't try to sell.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Jimmy's Story.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Mom! Bathroom! Bathroom!
featured WoW in an episode, but it really fell flat.
Countdown to the death of The Simpsons...
3...
2...
1...
Except that it's special just because of the size of its user base. It's a huge force in the PC gaming industry, and it affects future development because everyone else wants to try to replicate that kind of success. (and it seems to be unfortunately keeping Blizzard pretty occupied with a genre I'm not particularly interested in).
Walmart doesn't do much of anything unique either, they just do it better/faster/cheaper, and because of that they're very relevant.
A repetitive and easy game. Sort of get the group/chat thing. But, by the tenth paint-by-numbers mission I couldn't gag the damn game down anymore.
I've long suspected that WoW is more of a culture of "Wow! We did this and this and that and got this and this and that, and jeepers, aren't we great."
Blizzard obviously figured out what gamers want.
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
Not just the size of the user base, mind you, but the demographic.
.. that particular group of friends gave me no end of grief about playing a damn game (and an MMO at that) instead of being sociable (read: Getting drunk and smoking pot).
.. I swore off MMOs)
WoW was the first video game medium to tap in to the "non-gamers" on such a large scale. I remember when I was addicted to FFXI and even had it installed on my then-girlfriends laptop so I could grind levels while we were just hanging out at friend's houses socially (yes, addicted)
Cut to less than two years later, and EVERY one of them (and their girlfriends) are playing WoW and trying to talk me into getting into the game. To this day I can call them looking for something to do on a Friday night and the response I usually get is "Sorry, this is the only night that we can get together to make a run on X." (I think it's Molten Core
Both Blizzard and Nintendo have figured out that the "hardcore gamer" segment is just that, and they have expanded and tapped into the mainstream market. Meanwhile, Sony and (to a lesser extent Microsoft) are busy playing catch-up. Since when (before South Park) has a specific video-game been considered a pop-culture reference? (Maybe Pac-Man, but not in a LONG while).
Just a matter of time: http://www.whorelore.com/ (Not work safe)
.. forget mainstream TV .. I can't recall the last time a video game inspired a porn series. (And it seems that Blizzard got pissed and had them change the name from "World of Whorecraft")
Seriously
Well, IMHO, it's all about forming a Care Bear guild, doing your Druid quest, and then having a few hundred Alliance level 70s p0wn you six ways to Sunday ...
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when TV shows were all about bowling and drinking, two more important things than playing WoW ...
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actually, blizzard is also replicating the success of one of the older online game: ragnarok online. Well they still couldn't reach the peak ro has reached(25million) but they are doing fine
South Park already did that joke. ;^)
--
Toro
Cartman : Butters, you said you're always on your computer.
:-) Whilst they may not have taken too kindly to it when it was first aired, they now have a great new addition to their advertising ...
Butters : Well yeah, but I'm playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure.
Cartman : Butters, go buy world of warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you.
It's one of the best episodes I've ever seen (I have all the first 10 series here on various media), and well deserving of the Emmy. It encapsulates everything that MMORPGs stand for, from Stan's dad ("I'm not an R-Tard"), to the bloated spotty characters they become after killing 65 million boars for 2xp each, just so they can gain 30 levels. (How many of us don't see a little of ourselves in those characters).
Nice bit of promo for Blizzard too
"World of Warcraft, as seen on the Emmy Award winning show, Southpark".
TIMMY !!!!!!
No, I think they've figured out that "hardcore" doesn't represent the same group of people across the full spectrum of gaming. I would argue that staying in on Friday night because its the best time to play is "hardcore" behavior (not because they should be out clubbing or whatever instead, but because it shows they've changed behavior for the game).
You don't have to be a stereotypical neck-bearded lives-in-their-parents-basement loser to like gaming. I've seen people who never pick up a game controller (or haven't since they were kids) rush out to buy a PS2 with Guitar Hero or a Wii after playing at their friends house. They now play religously all the time. "Hardcore" just means you spend a lot of time on a particular thing. I can be hardcore about the NFL, golf, boating, chess, knitting, etc. Everyone has something, and I think there's probably a game out there for everyone to be hardcore about. What Blizzard found was how to give people who weren't otherwise hardcore about MMO's a seemingly simple and easy access to a "hardcore" experience they can spend a lot of time doing. Whether they grew the market themselves or took from other gaming segments is debatable, but what's not, I think, is that there's a whole new section of "hardcore" MMO players that weren't there before.
Am I the only one who thought this episode didn't live up to its hype? I'm no hater; I played WoW from beta to BC and I've seen every SP episode more than once. I just thought it was a pretty average episode in the laughs and insight departments. It was creative enough to win an Emmy for that aspect, but it doesn't rank anywhere near the top of SP episodes overall.
LEEROY JEEENKIINS!!!!
...
Seriously, that is what WoW is really like.
Personally, I love to join a group and tank like an aggro monster truck, as my party dies behind me
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Please do NOT put more WoW references on TV. Thanks.
Let his mother assign him a whole bunch of needless and rather stupid chores like clearing out a beehive.
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
The only reason for this Emmy is that it feeds into the 'Video games are BAD' stereo type.
Bah.
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