I can't believe how long it took for this song to turn into a WoW machinima. It seems so obvious now! So, my hat's off to Letomi and Khayllys for finally answering this unspoken need: create a warlock version of I Want Candy.

Lock Candy is well-performed, solidly written, and excellently animated. The video is long enough to be fulfilling without running so long that you get bored of the schtick. Letomi's vocals are tone perfect to the playful spirit, and Khayllys shows off some snazzy graphic skills. All in all, Lock Candy is one of the best music videos I've seen in a while.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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A little known fact about your intrepid WoW Insider staff: we plan our weeks way early. As a matter of fact, we get started planning our weekends in the middle of the week. So when I asked the team about what they're playing this weekend -- and the bonus question to go along with it -- the news about Flexible Raids hadn't made the full rounds yet.

So we asked about Diablo III going to the Xbox, and whether WoW should be next. As you might have guessed, though, our team actually reached a near-consensus on the issue. I'd paraphrase that consensus, but it's more fun to read everyone's individual opinions.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

A Day on the Farm by Tony McSherry is a mixed bag. Technically, a lot about the video is fantastic. The dialogue, story frame, and use of graphics are all fairly solid. The audio is crisp and clear; you'll have no trouble following what the narrator is saying. The video is sharp and you can make out the action clearly.

The down side is that it's slow. The video takes a little over a minute before any audio is introduced and all the pacing moves at a glacial pace. I like the farm diary feel but it really needs a sharper sense of humor or a stronger point to pay off the time you listen.

All in all, I think Tony could go somewhere and make further videos, but the plot and pace could use some work. Remember that a machinima audience can get bored within 10 seconds. It's hard to watch a long, slower video for nearly 7 minutes, even if the technicals are good.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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Filed under: WoW Moviewatch

The dashing duo of destruction and daring-do sat calmly around a basic campfire. They were certainly not arguing about whether the campfire would be suitable replacement for Garrosh and they definitely weren't discussing the basic campfire's ignominious transformation into a simple cooking fire. But both Throgg and Lolegolas pulled up short when the clearing suddenly filled with a viscous, gray smoke.

"I am the Horror that flaps in the night," a mysterious voice paraphrased. "I am the campfire that cooks your goose."

Throgg stood, wrapping his sinewed hand around his polearm handle. "Show yourself."

A vast druid-hawk appeared in the circle. In another moment, it disappeared in a puff of smoke, replaced by a huge, smiling worgen.

"I am not Spot!" The worgen grinned again. "Sorry, when I saw you wielding Bo-Ris, I couldn't help myself."

Throgg dropped the weapon on the ground as he embraced the druid in a mammoth hug. "It's mostly for mogging," Throgg expositioned. "Strength polearms are so rare."

"How did you find us?" Lolegolas asked incredulously. "We thought we'd lost you months ago."

"That, my friends," the druid said, "is a much, much longer story. Before we begin... do you have any ale? I'm parched."

Item Note: In fact, not only is the polearm one of the very few Strength polearms ever to see Azeroth, it looks pretty cool. Of course, you can do better for weapons now, but make sure to grab one for your undergeared alts.

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Phat Loot Phriday brings you the scoop on some of the most ... interesting ... loot in the World of Warcraft, often viewed through the eyes of the stalwart Throgg and indelible Lolegolas. Suggest items you think we should feature by emailing mikeg@wowinsider.com.

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Filed under: WoW Moviewatch

Many threads of influence lead to the style of Misty the Troll's video. Obviously, we start with Wowcrendor, who's the grandfather of dialogue-driven WoW comedy like this. I feel like Wowcrendor's style influenced SlightlyImpressive, though obviously Griff has grown into his own ensemble-featuring thing. And now we end up with Misty the Troll's.

The video feels like a Wowcrendor-style video, which isn't really a bad thing. The comedy's basically effective and the in-game graphics get the job done. But I'd encourage Misty to keep going and grow his own voice, which is where you'll really find success. For now, though, What are Warlock's Demons Thinking? is a fun video with which to kill a few minutes.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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Filed under: WoW Moviewatch

NinthBatter has released the second episode in the Nobody's Quest series. While the plot doesn't leap forward in this video, NinthBatter takes the time grow the characters and expand on his universe. It's an important part of the overall journey, I think, so we can hope it's time well spent.

Ninth has said that this series is growing his respect for the machinimators who perform complex animation. Fight scenes, especially, are a pain in the neck to get right. While that may be true, Nobody's Quest sees a lot of benefit from the exemplary voice acting. You can't undervalue how important skillful and convincing voices are to a machinima.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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Filed under: WoW Moviewatch

Welcome to another edition of WoW Moviewatch Staff Picks. Today, Anne Stickney has chosen Darrowshire by Cranius, for some very poignant reasons. This is what Anne had to say:

Still one of my favorite pieces of machinima ever. Partially because I really loved the original iteration of the Pamela storyline in Eastern Plaguelands (the Cataclysm version is okay, but holds nowhere near the same emotion and depth as the original), mostly because the song he wrote for the piece is such a lovely, haunting tune. It's a perfect accompaniment to one of the creepiest, saddest, yet oddly touching quest chains in WoW. The video may be a bit outdated by today's standards of machinima creation, but honestly, this piece, to me, is the one where Cranius pretty much proved hands down that anything he puts his voice to immediately turns to gold.

I think Anne did an excellent job describing the video, though I think I disagree about it being outdated. All of the game's graphics show their age, even the ones run through advanced filters. I think, ultimately, a machinima is about the story and content, not the graphics. Darrowshire is stronger for the in-game graphics.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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Filed under: WoW Moviewatch

The Name Change service is old news but I continue to be thankful for it every time I log into my hunter. He has a noble name that sounds very elf-like without being something silly like Lolegolas or McBlasty. But that wasn't always the case. I didn't think I'd enjoy playing a hunter and I had no expectation that he'd make it long.

I rolled a night elf (I thought 'Dark Elf' at the time), realized he could use two weapons, and named him... Drizzsst. You know. Like Do'Urden. He may have had a Tauren lover that I also rolled named Cattlebree. We had a guild named Underdim. Don't judge me, man, I was only going to play them a little while.

But it turned out that I really liked my hunter (including a bat named Bruce) and I played him bunches. And he quickly became my favorite character, even gaining the Lieutenant rank in the old battlegrounds. And I played on a RP server. So you can see the problem. Awesome character, horrible name.

The Name Change service fixed all that for me. What about you? What horrible character decisions did you come to regret later in life? Was it a bad name? Or, perhaps, a beard that seemed noble on the dwarf, until you realize it stuck oddly through every helmet and chestpiece you would ever own. Share your painful, irony stories in the comments!

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

On this beautiful Sunday afternoon, we'll continue our Staff Picks series by sharing Robin Torres's favorite machinima. It's not functional or elegant but maybe manager wants to write machinima himself. Here's what Robin said about Code Monkey:

Code Monkey was first machinima I ever watched. It was also my first introduction to Jonathon Coulton's music. It's a fun song set to a fun video and still one of my favorites.

Experienced machnima viewers know that Spiffworld provides all the JoCo love you could ever want in machinima form. Plenty of WoW fans learned about the performer through Spiff's ambassadorial work.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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While getting ready to feature Welcome to the Deadmines, Alex Ziebart and I had a brief conversation about the lore of that classic dungeon. We felt it a shame that Vanessa VanCleef was unceremoniously murderized by the players as they completed the storyline. At first, I thought my regrets at Vanessa's death centered on losing a cool NPC. But the conversation's been on my mind and I kept mulling it over. And then the real reason Vanessa's death bothered me finally became clear.

Vanessa VanCleef was the story the Alliance needed, and it was the one we deserved. Vanessa VanCleef's story was amazing. We need the VanCleefs back.

I'll summarize the story for folks who maybe don't read quests or play Alliance. But keep in mind: all of this played out in World of Warcraft. You didn't need to play any game besides WoW or read anything except quests to see this entire story.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion