Everyone can have slow days, even machinima authors. It seems X-Cross had one of those days, and he was feeling less-than-entertained. Out of those idle hands, he authored Herpi Derpi I was bored. I'm featuring it today because X-Cross has created quite of bit of good work, so something by him is relatively newsworthy. And, even though I'm not proud to admit it, it somehow made me laugh.

As you might expect from the title, Herpi Derpi I was bored isn't exactly a groundbreaking feat of storytelling and fine-tuned graphics. It's a quick, short sight gag, followed by some relatively standard anti-elf ranting. This probably isn't the most high-brow comedy we've ever feature, but I enjoyed it.

So, while this video was funny, I hope X-Cross has relieved his boredom, and will be back around with a more fully developed piece soon. I'm particularly anxious to see Fi5ve.

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Hot on the heels of Steak Sandwiches, Oxhorn also released Gnome Overboard. This new installment in the series of Oxhorn's Short Shorts actually reminds me of the older, pre-Inventing Swear Words work done by the Tauren Maestro.

The story is not complicated. Three men decide to go hunting whales. (A perfectly reasonable thing to do in Northrend, mind you, as the whales there aggro from about a hundred miles away.) Despite their better judgement, the three men are convinced to let a gnome go with them. This proves to be a complete and total disaster, as gnomes are, apparently, filled with curses and spite. They all die.

Gnome Overboard is the resurgence of another favorite aspect of Oxhorn Brand Machinima. His music is creative, fun, and interesting. While I admit the voice in this song seemed to struggle a bit, his lyrics were amusing and cleverly written. On that subject, Oxhorn has also made his music available for purchase on Amazon.com, so if you like his work, you can pick it up fairly easily.

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Over the weekend, America celebrated its Independence Day on July 4th. And while Azeroth may not have exactly the same holiday, certainly most folks are aware of the fireworks that happen to take place on the same day.

Maestro of Comedy Oxhorn released the new video over the weekend, celebrating America's Independence Day. The video, called Steak Sandwiches, only features two of Oxhorn's regular characters. Oxhorn and Mortuus take a break to enjoy a favorite past-time of Oxhorn's Horde. That past-time, specifically, is strapping gnomes to rockets and firing them into the air.

This video is pretty short, and has the same, endearing sense of comedy that Oxhorn displays in all his movies. The combination of his scripting, music, and voice acting always seems to nail the subject just right. While I find gnome punting jokes tiresome usually, something about the way Oxhorn delivers his comedy even gets me laughing out loud.

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TaintedLore is back with a new video titled Take My Quest. This video was created by ViKarious Productions. (That's not a typo -- the "K" is capital in their name.) Of course, the singing itself is by Sharm. I think I may need to brush up on my pop music, because I couldn't be sure whether the song is a parody, or a completely original work.

At any rate, the video work in this piece is pretty good. It's got a good variety of action and models, all which come together in proper harmony with the song. I've not seen anything by ViKarious before, so this was a pretty good break onto the scene for them.

My only complaint, of course, is the return of Auto-Tune. I've always enjoy Sharm's singing, and think she could be fairly talented. Like I said when Why I Raid? was released, I guess auto-tune could be being used for artistic reasons, but it's just not necessary. The voice work is great without it.

Edit: There's a rumor this may be a parody of the Destiny's Child song, Say My Name.

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It's become almost a cilche that when you see a machinima trailer, you must take it with a healthy grain of skepticism. Very commonly, the exciting movie that's been promised by the trailer will never actually come to fruition. Dtbn has bucked that trend, however, with the release of The Avenger.

The visuals in the movie are outstanding. I think Dtbn has really done an amazing job in instilling the in-game models with life and activity. The fight scenes are surprisingly complex, and the mis en scene is compelling. There's a few places where there's a bit more repetition than I'd like, for example when the Vrykul keep getting cut in half. However, I chalked that up to the main character's favorite move being "Blazing Vrykul Bifurcation Attack!" Really, Dtbn has created popcorn-munching, fun-to-watch action here.

Some of the storytelling in the movie felt like it could use some refinement. The main character is meant to be empathetic, but I'm not sure we ever really got to root for her in a clear, unmuddled way. She seems to miraculously come by "better" equipment, without much explnation of why or how. The gnome necromancer's role is never really explained. Dtbn says that his storytelling skills aren't the best, but I can definitely see how he's growing as an author. I think the next movie will be a lot tighter with its characters.

Click here to see it for yourself.

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Adroit machinima fans are probably already aware that Myndflame has been diligently working on the third installment Illegal Danish. The premise of this new Illegal Danish is that Van Kraken has created his ultimate brew, the Flask of Ten Thousand Souls. The flask is so powerful that only by combining it with the power of the Illegal Danish can it be consumed without fear of death. The bad news for Van Kraken, though, is that it can only be used by a gnome. So, obviously, Van Kraken needs to find and corrupt a gnome to do this deed. The new movie looks to be the same riotous fun as the previous Illegal Danish films, so it was pretty exciting when we learned Myndflame released the Illegal Danish 3 Prelude.

The prelude focuses on the star character, an ambitious gnome named Dirti. In this series of events, he undergoes a dark transformation into "Dirti G", making him incredibly powerful under the supervision of the sinister Van Kraken. If you didn't realize it right away, this prelude is a parody of Blizzard's own preview for StarCraft 2. I'm obviously a pretty big fan of the video, and it actually made me (briefly) considering a new Rogue.

Check out the preview yourself by clicking here. It's definitely worth your time.

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Today's WoW Moviewatch is a little bit of a repeat, but in an odd way. Shadowline1990's A Death Knight's Tale - The Battle for Light's Hope Chapel Cinematic Movie is another revisit version of the Death Knight closing cinematics. You might recognize Shadowline1990 as the guy who made The Culling of Stratholme - a WoW Cinematic Movie. This movie is, admittedly, more of the same idea.

Shadowline1990 took pieces of the in-game animations and voiceovers, and tried to make it into a more compelling cinematic experience. Shadowline1990 isn't the first person to do this with the Death Knight storyline, though, and he's very upfront to say he gives credit to Invisusira for having given the story this treatment first.

I'm not sure if Shadowline1990 knocked A Death Knight's tale out of the park the same way he did The Culling of Stratholme. While I think he did a (generally) good job with it, it didn't scream to me the same way Culling did. The video is attractive and well pieced together. The final product feels a little too-full. It seemed to drag on a little bit, but some of that is caused by the slower cadence of the voice acting.

In other great news, Shadowline1990 reports that his follow-up to Culling of Stratholme piece is nearly done. So, ultimately, there's a lot of good news to be had from him right now.

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Today's WoW Moviewatch is the first music video created by MozQ. It's a music video called Esc4pe and features both original characters, and a guest appearance by L80ETC. Mozq is the author who previously created Keep Browsing and Keep Browsing 2. Both of those movies were pretty well received, so it was exciting to seem something new from MozQ. I think Esc4pe lived up to those expectations, even if I'm not quite sure how I should be pronouncing the movie's name.

According to MozQ, Esc4pe was created as an attempt to master the tools in After Effects. He also said he regretted his music choice about halfway through production, but I actually feel like it suits the imagery pretty well. The armor and character choice seems to support the hard-rock feel of the song. Ultimately, though, I think MozQ demonstrated some strong growth, and I definitely think he's got the hang of the software.

MozQ warns that the ending might feel abrupt, since the goal of the video was exploring After Effects. I guess he felt he'd explored enough. Still, if I hadn't read his explanation of the movie, I'm not sure I would have noticed. I had just chalked it up to an editorial decision. In the end, it was a fun video, and I hope MozQ puts out another one quickly.

Click here to check out Esc4pe.

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Dynash of Doomhammer (EU) tipped us off to the Ulduar: Defiance trailer. This movie trailer is created by Atraira, who you might remember from the hilarious music video for Boombox and the epic cinematic version of Ashbringer: The Return of Tirion Fordring. Atraira has a flair for creating art from pre-existing game files, and he's used that talent toward highlighting the Ulduar raid instance.

Of course, this is a trailer, and not a movie in its own right. That means it's heir to all the usual trouble a trailer can have. It can be a little vague, and you're never quite sure if the subject of its preview is ever going to materialize. All that being said, though, I really loved Atraira's work here. The use of voice-overs from the game's files is well executed and appropriately dramatic. The sweeping score he used in the background is inspiring. The way he pieced together each scene is motivating. It really came together very well.

Atraira's made me want to grab my sword and go fight them critters in Ulduar. If Ulduar: Defiance is as good as the trailer, it'll be something we look forward to with each installment.

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We featured the previous installment of Baron Soosdon's PvE movie series back in December 2008. Now, seven months later, the good Baron has released Raid Together, Die Alone 3. The video is a series of clips, raid fights, and other moments blended together against the backdrop of Soosdon's usual good taste in music. The good Baron warns that an absolute ton of murlocs were harmed in the process of making the video, though I'll be darned if I could find them.

Ultimately, this new Raid Together, Die Alone is another fun memoir video. It brings back memories of slamming our faces into Illidan Stormrage and the epic awesome that is the Eye of Eternity's unique setting. As WoW progresses forward with new content and new bosses, it's easy to forget to look back and fondly remember some of the things we've already done together. I think Raid Together, Die Alone is a fun scrapbook of WoW-to-date, and I'm thankful for the reminder.

You can check it out on WeGame or YouTube.

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Ready Check is a twice-a-week column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Vault of Archavon or Ulduar, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. Today, we step back a little and look at endgame in the context of sports.

Ulduar. Land of legend. Realm of confused Titans. Raid of epics. Ulduar is home to some of the finest fights available in Azeroth, not to mention leagues of incredible lore. Over the next few weeks, your intrepid Ready Check columnists will be taking a look at what you should expect from Ulduar, in both 10 man and 25 man versions.

Last week, we did a quick run down of that tankiest of bosses, the Flame Leviathan. This week, we're going to do a quick run down of the three remaining bosses in the "Siege" section of Ulduar. These three bosses are:

• Razorscale the armor-plated dragon,
• Ignis the Furnace Master, he who scorches, and
• XT-002 Deconstructor, of the very, very freaky voice.

So take a moment, and join your intrepid WoW.com team on a pleasant stroll through Ulduar. Let's begin behind the cut, with Razorscale.

Innkeeper by Yumfries definitely wins the "made me laugh" award. It's an absolutely fantastic parody music video, based on the rap by PoshJark. The narrative of PoshJark's rap works very well. I found there to be something ironic about using the solemn male Draenei as a stand-in for the narrator, and Yumfries should be commended for a great choice.

Innkeeper really shows off some of Yumfries' skills. Some of the shots are clean and simple, while others make strong use of shadows to highlight all three dimensions. Yumfries has included a wide variety of styles in this video, and I think it makes the story a great deal more complex than it would have been with a more straightforward video concept. There's definitely a lot of growth here, and it truly makes me eager to see Yumfries' next pieces. I continue to enjoy his sense of humor, also, since Innkeeper tells a sort of everyman tale for many of us.

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All Souls Day by Pulverpadda represents one of the most frustrating scenarios a machinima author can experience. That is to say, while he's working on his movie in good faith, "real life" seems to keep getting in the way. Pulverpadda is joining his second year in the Army, and it's going to be at least a month before he's able to really get cranking.

In the mean time, however, we're able to enjoy this nominal trailer for his work. If I hadn't been aware that Pulverpadda wanted to turn this into a more full-length film, however, I would have enjoyed it on its own merits. The music is catchy and thriving, and the imagery in the video is compelling.

I wonder, sometimes, if "trailers" couldn't be formatted this way for machinima. We've all seen previews that never seem to result in full movies. But even if Pulverpadda doesn't complete a longer feature, All Souls Day can stand on its own as music-oriented video.

At any rate, best wishes to the author during his second year in the Army, and good luck finishing his final film.

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Project Lordaeron is a music video by Vinex. According to the author, this is his first video, and it doesn't have a "real" storyline. While that might be the literal truth, I think that Vinex's movie actually speaks to the tragedy and events that occured in Lordaeron. The movie features the well-known scene at the opening of the Culling of Stratholme, and goes on to show how the madness of Arthas radically changed what is now known as the Plaguelands. You're ultimately left with a haunting series of images that helps drive home the themes surrounding Arthas Menethil's story.

I found the music particularly interesting and very well suited to the pace of the video. Vinex and Xayo created the original score for Project Lordaeron, which instantly raised my opinion of the piece. I think it's exciting to see new authors creating their own music to go alongside their imagery, since it can often promise a more "whole" piece from the final product. I'm curious to see what music the pair might forge for other videos, as I'd be thrilled to see more and more complex soundtracks.

Overall, I like the work that Vinex has done, and I hope to see more from the auther in the future.

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Dead Memories - Ulduar was created by Endac to display Ulduar to those who have not seen it, or maybe to show off his guild's skills in dominating the raid instance. He created his video with a twist, however. Dead Memories - Ulduar is shot through the perspective of a single visitor, who's plagued by nightmares and dreams about the place.

Endac says he doesn't think his video is "super fancy," but I actually think that's fine. His movie is straddling a line between machinima techniques and raid video techniques. I like the sense of wonder and (sometimes) horror his main character emotes to the audience, even while navigating through the terrific battles inside Ulduar.

The music choices make sense to me, even if they aren't necessarily my favorite bands ever. Your mileage will vary, of course, but I think Ulduar deserves a metal soundtrack. If you're particularly opposed to metal, you might find the soundtrack distracting.

Ultimately, I think Endac's video is pretty neat. I'd encourage him to take his storytelling to the next level, though, as he and his guild explore new content.

Edit: The initial link was broken -- it has now been fixed.

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