Latest edition of Blizzard Insider released

[Whiggles]

One thing I hope to see in my lifetime: Blizzard doing a full-length movie. With the goddamn talent they have with full-motion video, they could make a killing, AND keep true to their roots: branching out into new territory, and setting the standard.

Personally, that is something I don't want to see just yet. I think the Blizzard Film Department people have a lot of talent, but I don't think they're yet at the stage where they could handle a feature-length project. Their biggest strength, the epic set-pieces, are not enough to carry a movie for around two hours. Looking at their cut-scenes, the fight scenes always look great, but as soon as the characters enter into any significant dialogue, everything falls apart. I think their writing needs to improve for a start (look at the way Medivh continually launches into clichéd expositional speeches), but they also need to develop their skills at making character speak in a convincing way. Every time I watch their cut-scenes, it feels like I'm watching something that had been dubbed from another language. The lip-sync seems correct, but for some reason it never seems to add up. This is at its worst in the Orc cinematic in Warcraft III, where Archimonde (I think it was Archimonde :huh: ) starts laughing. Watching his face it looks like he's meant to be talking, and someone slapped a laugh sound over it.

Don't get me wrong, I think that with a bigger budget and a larger team, they would be able to clean up many of their problems. However, I don't think it's something they can rush into. Look at how quickly the standard of their cinematics has advanced. Back in the Starcraft days, people were crying for them to make a feature film. Imagine if a film with animation and cinematography of that standard was released in cinemas. It would probably end with the audience rolling around laughing.