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this week in the blizzard office
headphones
Member Posts: 611
"we're going to need a video trailer. everyone does video trailers these days."
"i agree, video trailers are cool. i love checking them out on youtube."
"you what?"
"youtube. it's a website where you can watch videos on. i love the hitler ones."
"really? get dave onto that. see if we can have one, too. let's call it blizztube. it'll be remarkable and fresh. people can put up their videos up and watch them on it."
"righto."
"but don't get any hitler ones. we're a family friendly site."
"i'll get bob to write a disclaimer everyone can sign and get barry and his lawyers set to pounce. should we let cheryl at customer service know?"
"who?"
"cheryl. customer service?"
"we have a customer service?"
"i think so. let me check. hang on. oh, wow. no, we haven't hired anyone since she left after diablo 1! maybe we should hire someone else?"
"we know any telemarketing companies in india?"
"we own three."
"then let's get one of them onto it."
"one of the companies? any preference?"
"no no. not a company. just get some guy from their complaints department to check the emails every month or so. right. this video? who've we got who can make it?"
"well, doug's pretty good with a camcorder."
"no, we're gonna need better than camcorder for this one. this isn't the staff christmas party. let's see if we can't do something fancy. something which will just knock the socks off all those kids playing our games."
"so, you want to do it properly?"
"yes. for once. we might as well. get max and eric onto it. they always do things right."
"uh, they're not with us anymore."
"really? well, hire them again."
"we can't. they're, uh, competing with us, actually."
"competing? with what? mobile phone apps?"
"well, probably. but they've made a game. torchlight. some people think it's better than diablo."
"pfft. torchlight? sounds like a doctor who spinoff to me."
"doctor who?"
"it's a british thing, smithers. you wouldn't understand. you're not evil. yet."
"my name's not smithers, either."
"well, go get it changed, then. look. if we can't get max and eric, then get someone competent. who's that guy who brings us coffee in the morning?"
"that's lee. he's the exchange kid from china."
"sounds great. put him in charge. he knows a lot about coffee, so i bet he'd make a damn good movie."
"we, uh, think he might also be stealing secrets for a chinese game company."
"chinese what?"
"game company. they make games."
"really? what are they like?"
"not bad. bit grindy."
"sounds awesome. get someone to follow him round, see if we can't get something from him to use in our next world of warcraft expansion. we need more grindy."
"are you sure? bev in marketing says gamers these days are looking forward to guild wars 2 because it's nothing at all like world of warcraft. apparenlty they're saying grinding is so 2000s and that this is a whole new decade. they want something new."
"hmm. pandas weren't enough, eh?"
"it'll help target the audience you wanted."
"my nephew, yes. well. he's only seven. and he loves pandas. we took him to the zoo the other day. he also loves penguins. can we get some more penguins into the game? maybe pop one in with the lich king?"
"if you want."
"oh, i do, smithers. i really do. now. this kid, lee. get him onto the video. have you sorted out what's going to be in it, yet?"
"uh, well, you only just brought it up..."
"i pay you to do my thinking for me, smithers, not to wait for me to tell you."
"well, i guess we should make it kind of dark. diablo was dark. the fans loved that element to it."
"and fiery! shove a fireball in it for me."
"from the sky?"
"neat! see, you're good at this, smithers. write it down. quickly! now, this game you mentioned. this guild wars thing. sounds awful. but you say people like that?"
"bev said so. she checked out the forums."
"not this star wars thing?"
"well, that's popular too, but that's a different game. i don't think it's competing with us. i think it's more trying to be like us. so, no challenge there. it's the guild wars thing which isn't looking very nice to our shareholders."
"hmm. maybe we can do something to knock it down a peg or two. remind it who's boss of this mmo factory. what's it got? elves? dwarves? the usual bullshit?"
"mostly. though, i have to say the graphics look quite sweet. uh, i mean, they're stylish."
"stylish, you say? well, we could always use some style. i tell you what, smithers. you drop yourself down here into my chair and look up this blizztube thing and see what guild wars movies are out. then, we copy them a bit. only, we'll do it more stylish, because we're blizzard. right?"
"uh, i don't know that it fits with diablo. i mean, guild wars is kind of painterly..."
"painterly, eh? i like that. painterly. nice word. i'm going to have to use that more often."
"yes, see, it's a whole different kind of artwork."
"you're saying it won't go with what we do here at blizzard?"
"no. not really."
"hmm. that's not good, is it? how are we going to take them down a peg or two if they're going to go on and be all original?"
"well. you know, maybe we could do it as a dream sequence?"
"dream what?"
"it's a film technique. we can start the movie with a guild wars 2 style cinematic and then abruptly change to our own style as though it was all just a dream."
"just a dream? like guild wars 2 is just dreaming if they think they can make a game half as good as warcraft 2?"
"exactly."
"you know, smithers, i like you."
Comments
the video in question, for those in the need:
http://video.mmosite.com/default.php?controller=resource&action=play&id=17425
Its the opening cinematic to the game not a "video trailer"
So you didn't like it I guess?
Wow thats a really long way to say that...
Didn't like the GW2 video either I'm guessing?
Everyones a critic.
actually, i liked them both.
that won't stop me giggling to see blizzard's opening sequence desperately trying to be like gw2. lighten up, guy. it's tongue-in-cheek.
Epic and true
Blizzard copy failers
:P ta. i was a little surprised by the vid actually. looks good, but it's not very blizzard.
I didn't know GW2 had some kind of patent on these style of cinematics? people are just grasping at straws to find similarities. From now any game company who wants to have cinematics in similar style would be 'trying too hard to copy GW2'.
How many servers SWTOR will launch with on release?
ShredderSE - Umm how many do they need? Maybe 6.
US, EU, Asian, France, German and Russian.
Subs will be so low there is no need for more
Snoocky-How many servers?
The first 3 months a lot...after that 2 i guess, one for PVE and 1 for PVP...
Thorbrand - SWTOR doesn't have longevity at all. Might be one of the shortest lived MMOs.
Aren't guys from Anet former Blizz devs? Heard that somewhere
Not the artists or cinematics guys.
you mean, like anyone making an mmo is trying too hard to copy wow? :P maybe that's one way to think of it. blizz is just getting revenge by copying some back?
Yeah because Blizz never copied anything with WOW..this is something new for them. Right!!
How many servers SWTOR will launch with on release?
ShredderSE - Umm how many do they need? Maybe 6.
US, EU, Asian, France, German and Russian.
Subs will be so low there is no need for more
Snoocky-How many servers?
The first 3 months a lot...after that 2 i guess, one for PVE and 1 for PVP...
Thorbrand - SWTOR doesn't have longevity at all. Might be one of the shortest lived MMOs.
Both actually. WOW copies stuff yes..is WOW trying to copy GW2's cinematics.. don't think so.
How many servers SWTOR will launch with on release?
ShredderSE - Umm how many do they need? Maybe 6.
US, EU, Asian, France, German and Russian.
Subs will be so low there is no need for more
Snoocky-How many servers?
The first 3 months a lot...after that 2 i guess, one for PVE and 1 for PVP...
Thorbrand - SWTOR doesn't have longevity at all. Might be one of the shortest lived MMOs.
I was looking for a piss-poor post this morning - Thanks OP i found it.
me too!
That's some funny stuff there headphones. Had me in stitches laughing.
Maybe you should stop talking before you make more of a fool of yah self. I dont care, but you should appriciate the tip.
Of course they are not copying. That'd just be ridiculous.
/sarcasm.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
WTF? No subscription fee?
every tip is just a small part of a bigger iceberg.
meaning, sometimes what you think you're looking at is something else entirely. and that, my good sir, is my tip to you.
and also my hat. i tip my hat.
if not this jug of milk.
thankyou, i try.
personally, i find marketing departments hilarious, and i'm sure this had more to do with some marketing monkey's neato idea than any deliberate blizzard hijinks. but you can't help but portray blizz in this light these days. you have to feel for them, really. the mmo field is always searching for the next idea, and while often the next idea has often disappointed the fans of the genre to return to wow, i think less and less return as more and more games slowly breach the wall.
rift must have caught them by surprise. enough that swtor must be a bit of a nailbiter for them. nothing they can do about tor. they couldn't put blasters and droids into their video. though, i'm sure they argued about "goblin tech" opportunities for wow along with swords which glowed a bit more like lightsabers.
whether it's beer ads, clothing ads, cola ads, it doesn't matter. everyone copies each other to capture the meme of the moment. nothing new there, and i know everyone's guilty of that. ("you're not in azeroth anymore...") it was amusing to see blizz has decided to show it's not as ignorant of the current market trends as you'd believe. they have often maintained an aloof attitude to other games as though they're not being threatened by them, and for the most part i'm sure it's been true.
but gw2 must be giving them nightmares.
I liked both trailers as well.
Diablo 3 because it blends the 2D and 3D element and creates a nice overall effect and feel.
Guild Wars 2 because their art team is probably the best in the world I have seen and all their creations look so jaw droppingly good, and you can point at one of their concepts and instantly recognize it as ArenaNet Art.
"The problem with quotes from the Internet is that it's almost impossible to validate their authenticity." - Abraham Lincoln
lol. good post OP. it takes a lot to make me read a post that long, but you sir have succeeded
If someone is talking in general chat in a language you dont understand, chances are they're not talking to you. So chill out and stop bitching about it!
good post. Why shouldn't they copy something that is good? And doesn't that evil gw 2 dragon looks like deathwing?