Posts with tag baseball

15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.

For all the flak gaming gets over its notoriously time-sucking qualities, World of Warcraft seems to make a surprisingly good lifestyle fit for professional athletes. Olympic swimmer Megan Jendrick takes refuge in a nice, anonymous PUG raid after a hard day in the pool. MMA fighter Jens Pulver pounds a whole roster of characters after a day in the octagon. And squeezing in Icecrown Citadel in lonely hotel rooms on the road is the perfect downtime release for Kansas City Royals pitcher Kyle Davies.

Opening the 2009 season as the No. 3 starter, Davies is well known for his work ethic. Despite a contract guaranteeing him some $1.3 million this year, he chooses to spend the off-season toiling away on his dad's construction crew. And despite a hectic road schedule that limits raiding opportunities to PUGs, Davies has managed to clear ICC with both his mains and is chipping his way through hard modes. We caught him in between game dates for a quick run-down of how he and his teammates let off steam in the World of Warcraft.

In a world where the battle between the Horde and the Alliance is fought out in grueling games of Capture the Flag and King of the Hill, the AFKPlayers are back with a believable and entertaining new battleground. Check out their new machinima, Major League Azeroth.

This new video by the Taiwanese AFKPlayers manages to tie in both tongue-in-cheek comedy and some fun shots of the mysterious new raid instance, Ulduar. Brann Bronzebeard makes a guest appearance during the film, and ultimately is responsible for the game's outcome.

Part of what I love so much about MLA is the firm understanding AFKPlayers show about the WoW community zeitgeist. Cracks and references about King Wrynn mirror things I've said in my own Guild chat. When a Death Knight steps up to bat, the authors issue subtle nods to things we all think about the new class.

Even without subtitles, though, "Major League Azeroth" is fun to watch. It's got a clean, crisp animation style which makes the action easy to understand. The scenery is very well composed, and the character models are built without distracting elements. The AFKPlayers have stuck to their basic storytelling roots here, and let us enjoy their dialogue, plot, and raw comedy.

Be sure to check out Major League Azeroth on the Myndflame site.