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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)
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
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
> 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!
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.
"Where have you been? The Simpsons died more than 10 years ago."
NB that the South Park film grossed something like $50MM at the US box office. The Simpsons Movie earned more than that in its opening weekend, even after adjustment for inflation.
Sitting in my day care, the art is decopainted.
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).
I'm guessing The Simpsons Movie (like the show itself) was much more family-friendly than the South Park film. I doubt many kids walked out of The Simpsons Movie asking, "Mommy, what's a clitoris?" ;-) Mass market appeal has its financial rewards.
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