November 2nd 2011 was a very important day. It was the first palindromic date in recent history (11-02-2011), the next one won’t be until February 2nd, 2020 (02-02-2020). It was this humble writer’s birthday, shared with fellow iconic celebrities such as Steve Ditko, Jim Cummings, and Pat Buchanan. And it was the debut of the Grand Theft Auto V trailer.
And it looks like Rockstar has done it again.
Admittedly, the trailer doesn’t give us much aside from the location, but that alone is enough to get me salivating. Los Santos, the City of Saints. A brand new expansive city to run around and cause mayhem in. And I’m confident that the other mainstays of the Grand Theft Auto series will be present, stories and characters and hedonistic criminal fun. I’m tingly with anticipation. Or that might be the hangover from my birthday celebration I’m feeling. Hard to say.
Thus far, Rockstar’s next current gen games have been infallible. Since the debut of the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine in Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis, it seems the infamous game studio has churned out several big hits using this versatile graphics and physics engine. The visual style is detailed, yet simple. Movements are natural and realistic, not over dramatic or cartoonish, and the physics are believable. This all combines into an geniune environment that is naturally emersive. I feel drawn into the world because nothing seems artificial or out of place.
The versatility of the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine also lends itself well machinima, which is the creation of animated films using the real time 3D engines found in games. The most famous example is Rooster Teeth’s series Red vs. Blue, based off the Halo games. If you haven’t seen Red vs. Blue, you’re doing everything wrong.
Thanks to their fantastic built in video editor, Grand Theft Auto IV is a great game for making machinima, and I’ve rounded up a few of my favorites below for you to binge on. Cheers!
My two favorite things are video games and cliché action movie one-liners.
The Brothers Mario proves that those two great tastes taste great together.
And the sequel is just as good. But better!
Don’t forget to check out the music video for the song playing in the trailer. Do the Mario!
Hard Charger: Wide Open is a fun and fast-paced action-packed adrenaline-drenched white knuckle thrill ride.
Basically, a long car chase scene.
Trashmaster is a feature length pseudo-noir about a trash man who cleans up the streets of Liberty City by killing scumbags. With French subtitles!
The trashmaster (nouvelle version nouvelle… by murakawa
There are plenty more GTA Machinima videos to be found, but because they are so easy to create and put online be aware that Sturgeon’s Law is in full effect. Proceed with caution.
As for me, I’m going to sleep off the lingering effects of my birthday and continue eagerly awaiting another taste of Rockstar’s next blockbuster. Perhaps they’ll reveal something about characters? Or story? Maybe gameplay? Ah, who cares. As long as no one’s calling me to go bowling.
Rock on, Knurds,
JD
P.S. Do you want to go bowling?