DigitalPh33r Productions

IMPORTANT NOTICE: BLOG HAS MOVED TO A NEW PAGE

2009-04-18T01:20:00.000-07:00

PLEASE VISIT JONCJG.BLOGSPOT.COM FROM NOW ON IF YOU ARE A REGULAR VISITOR.

LOL CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR AWESOME MIRITE?

THANKS,
JON

news: upcoming episode change

2009-04-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

Hey.

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been busy and also working on a side project in my spare time, something pretty cool, non-machinima related that I'll probably share on here later on.

I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that part two of "Company" will not be coming this Saturday. The good news is that what WILL be coming this Saturday is ANOTHER episode of Arby 'n' the Chief called "Party".

This episode is gonna be a special one, and will most likely please the fans of the old episodes who enjoyed the classic "running-about-the-house-causing-mischief" humor.

What happened was, Machinima.com wanted me for this week to create an episode that used YouTube's annotations feature. It was bad timing considering I had just done the first part of a multiple part episode, "Company", but I figured it wouldn't be a HUGE deal. Part two of "Company" will come later on in the next two weeks.

So, regarding this week's episode, "Party": The Arbiter wakes up hung over the morning after the release of the Mythic Map Pack, with a non-existent memory of the events of last night and Master Chief nowhere to be found, and must piece together the events of last night through flashbacks, which is where YouTube's annotations come in.

The episode will have a main "spine" video, and will branch off into four other videos, each one a flashback of the previous night.

So hopefully you guys will get a kick out of it. Stay tuned!

Thanks,
Jon

video: hard justice s2: episode 2

2009-04-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

Yo,

You can view the second episode of Hard Justice's second season here. Sorry for the lack of updates.

Thanks,
Jon

video: arby 'n' the chief s3e09: "company (part one)"

2009-04-04T02:45:00.001-07:00

Hey,

The new Arby is up, you can view it here.

Thanks,
Jon

video: hard justice s2: episode 1

2009-04-04T00:56:00.000-07:00

Yo,

Forgot to mention the season two premiere of Hard Justice on here. You can view it here.

Thanks,
Jon

news: april fools

2009-04-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

lol.

For those who don't already know, the post below this was my April Fools prank.

Though I didn't take it down or notify that it was a joke until later today AFTER April Fools Day, which by the law of the day makes me an April Fool for everyone that was tricked by it today. FFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

By the way, I DIDN'T perform a self-circumcision, God damn some of you are gullible. And thanks for your lame e-mails defending circumcision with stupid excuses like "it reduces the chance of contracting HIV". Know what else lowers the risk of contracting HIV? NOT SLEEPING WITH SOMEONE WHO HAS HIV, idiots. How's this for an idea, get yourself and your partner tested! Aside from this lame-ass reason, circumcision has no benefits and is only currently performed now because "everyone else has it done", like it's a ritual.

It also hurts like fuck, can be traumatic for an infant, and strips both a man and a woman of an increase in sexual pleasure.

Down with circumcision.

Anyway yeah, April Fools. The new Arby's on its way this Saturday.

Thanks,
Jon

UPDATE: Stop getting offended by stuff I say on my own blog and sending me e-mails telling me "not to do that again". If there's anything in the world that gets on my nerves, it's hypersensitivity and being told to censor myself on my own website. If you have a problem with my issues with circumcision and how I think it's unnecessary penile mutilation, stop reading my posts, and for God's sake don't send me an e-mail.

I'd understand if I was spewing hateful and biased racist/sexist bullshit on here that I pulled out of my ass, but I don't do that anyway.

video: deus ex machina: episode 9 - "doomsday (part two of two)" [act 5]

2009-03-31T23:45:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I know I told you all I basically had no interest in Deus Ex Machina anymore and lost faith in the series due to the numerous episode pulls do to music copyright infringement, but I decided to suck it up for those eagerly anticipating the final act and just get it done and out of the way.

I actually managed to land myself in the hospital for a few days after attempting a self-circumcision with a kitchen knife to see what it would feel like to be lacking any foreskin, and it was during my recovery time that I decided to type up the script for act 5 of Deus Ex Machina's series finale. As soon as I got home I began production and managed to get it finished while still leaving plenty of time to resume my regularly scheduled programming.

Word of advice, circumcision is bad, especially self-circumcision. If you're gonna have it done, have a professional mutilate your penis (for no logical or even medical reason).

Without further adieu, I present act 5 of Deus Ex Machina's series finale. You can view it here. Remember to set it to High Quality (the HQ button on the lower bar).

Thanks,
Jon

news: "terrorman" trailer by lemurgimmick

2009-03-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

Yo,

My friend D Laz just released a trailer for a new series idea called "terrorman", a vigilante who fights terror with terror, but is he right in what he does, or do his ways make him just as bad as the evil terrorists?! Check it out here. And it's supposed to be funny and stupid, by the way.

Thanks,
Jon

news: not dead

2009-03-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

Man, you chill for a few weeks and people make up the stupidest shit, like you die in a car accident, and then the rumors spread like a gay game of telephone.

I'm not dead, I've just been taking it easy. Sorry I haven't been keeping too up to date. But anyways, I updated all the Hard Justice commentary links and also updated the upcoming video queue. I'm right now finishing up the first episode of Hard Justice's second season for submission tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

Thanks,
Jon

video: arby 'n' the chief s3e08 - "cheater"

2009-03-07T01:12:00.001-08:00

Yo,

You can view the new Arby here.

Be sure to click the "view in high quality" option (the button next to YouTube's volume button labeled "HQ") when it's available as there's some small text that'll probably be illegible on the lower quality setting.

Thanks,
Jon

news: lots of kewl updates and stuff

2009-03-05T03:43:00.000-08:00

Yo,

I'm currently capturing some stuff for the latest Arby and waiting for it to finish so I'll use this time to let you know what's going down within the next few weeks.

First of all, "Cheater" will be completed and uploaded within the next few hours and will probably be available, as always, on Saturday morning.

However, for the following three weeks or so, there will not be any brand new episodes of anything, but rather a string of commentaries on the entire first season of Hard Justice, about three or four commentaries will be shown per week until all thirteen are shown.

This is going to buy me time to do nothing but get a shitload of writing out of the way, specifically the last half of Arby 'n' the Chief's third season along with planning out the entire second season of Hard Justice and getting a major head start. All this starting-from-scratch-on-a-new-episode-as-soon-as-I've-finished-one stuff is getting tedious and lame.

So yeah, after "Cheater" on Saturday, get ready for a whole bunch of Hard Justice commentaries, then episodes of Arby 'n' the Chief and the second season of Hard Justice will resume sometime afterwards.

Thanks,
Jon

UPDATE: Forgot to mention, I bought a new capture device so you can expect this upcoming episode of Arby 'n' the Chief, as well as all future videos, to have a quality upgrade. My old Dazzle DVC 80 captured .AVIs at 320x240 and this new device, still by Pinnacle, transfers video to an external hard drive via USB 2.0 at 720x480 in .MP4 format. It's not perfect, while the video is higher resolution it's still a little bit shitty, but an improvement nonetheless.

It's the "Pinnacle Video Transfer" device if you're interested, I got it at Future Shop for $150 including taxes. I highly recommend it for those new to machinima or just capturing video in general as the device does not require a PC to use. You simply connect your TV's A/V OUT jacks to it with the provided RCA cables, simultaneously connect the device also to an external hard drive or iPod or whatever, and press the Record button on the device, simple as hell.

Only downside is you HAVE to have some sort of medium from which you can transfer the captured .MP4 video files to your PC, you can't simply connect the device straight to your PC due to the device's I/O ports. "Medium" devices in order to use this capture device properly include an external USB 2.0 hard drive (I know that works for sure), or MAYBE an iPod or a PSP, or something like that.

video: hard justice: episode 13 - "resignation" act three

2009-02-28T03:19:00.001-08:00

Hey,

Act three of Hard Justice season finale is available, you can view it here.

Thanks,
Jon

news: act three of hard justice finale completed

2009-02-26T23:25:00.000-08:00

Yo,

Just finished act three of Resignation and it's currently uploading. Should be available on Saturday.

I'm still trying to get the hang of writing in three-act episodic form, which is why this upcoming third act is about 13 minutes long (no credits included), I had a bunch of story to rap up at the end.

Originally about half-way through I saw that this was pretty long and I was gonna ask for another week to finish it up and just submit a commentary or something for this week, but rather than deal with all the hate mail and everyone suggesting that this IS Deus Ex Machina all over again I just decided to bust ass and pull a couple all-nighters to get it all done for this Saturday. I cut it pretty fine deadline-wise, but yeah, it's done and hopefully it'll be up on Saturday.

See? I finished it, jerks.

Thanks,
Jon

video: hard justice: episode 12 - "resignation" act two

2009-02-21T14:41:00.000-08:00

Yo,

New act of Hard Justice is up, you can view it here.

Thanks,
Jon

news: fail poll results are fail

2009-02-19T22:13:00.000-08:00

Yo,

Thought some of you might like to know what the purpose of the "preferred comedy movie" poll was.

I was curious about just how much of my audience shared my sense of humor, so for the poll choices, I threw in what I consider to be one sweet comedy movie in with five totally suck-ass comedy movies. That one sweet movie was Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which only 16% of people preferred, and since all those other movies suck (Meet The Spartans? Seriously, GTFO), that means only roughly 16% of my audience shares my sense of humor, which makes me want to jump off of the nearest bridge.

Thanks, I think,
Jon

video: hard justice: episode 11 - "resignation" act 1

2009-02-14T03:54:00.000-08:00

Yo,

The first act of the Hard Justice season finale is now available and can be viewed here.

Those who keep spamming comments regarding how this is another "act-based" episode and thus how I might not finish it like with Deus Ex Machina constantly, do me a special Valentine's Day favor and blow me, will you?

Thanks,
Jon

news: act one of new hard justice coming soon

2009-02-13T02:06:00.000-08:00

Hey,

So this Saturday, Act 1 of the season finale of Hard Justice should be available. This is a bit of a special one - not only is it a little longer than average but contains probably the most epic intro/episode teaser I've ever done. This submission also marks where Hard Justice turns into a series made of episodes consisting of three acts similar to a television series (technicially TV series' have two acts, but you get what I mean). Here's a synopsis of the first act:

"As Bernard Brown writes his letter of resignation with plans to leave the department for good for fear of his own safety, a merciless serial cop-killer annihilates three separate on-duty police officers simultaneously, each in a different location downtown via carefully hand-crafted explosive devices."

So yeah, stay tuned.

Thanks,
Jon

video: arby 'n' the chief s3e07: "panic"

2009-02-12T14:03:00.001-08:00

Yo,

You can view the new Arby here.

Thanks,
Jon

news: new arby completed

2009-02-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

Yo,

Just finished up the new Arby so it should be available this Saturday sometime. Here's the synopsis to tide you over:

"With Master Chief at his side on the sofa, the Arbiter is taking refuge within Snowbound's underground cave to avoid the masses of raging rioters everywhere across Xbox Live in response to the in-game glitches causing their katana body pieces and Security shoulders to disappear. However, he is not alone; three other players are taking refuge with him, one of them obviously on the brink of insanity, but can any of them be trusted?"

I hope you enjoy this one.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Some stuff

2009-02-02T03:42:00.000-08:00

Yo,

If you're curious where I'm currently at, I have the script for episode 19 of Arby 'n' the Chief completed, I just haven't done any recording or editing yet.

You may have seen that episode 11 of Hard Justice has been split into three acts, that's because I'm going to start writing for that series as if it was a half hour drama series for television. Well, 22 minutes technically, minus commercials.

So one act one consists of the teaser part of the episode (such as the patient collapsing in House M.D. or whatever), the title credits then the first part, act two consists of the second part, then act three consists of the third part and the credits. Each act will be about eight minutes, give or take a minute or two, resulting in an episode length of approximately 22 minutes.

This format will result in being able to write a more coherent story as I'll have a wider canvas to work with, and will hopefully turn the series into what I originally intended. 'Cause the way it's going now the plot is all higgledy-piggledy, I just kinda write to keep up with deadlines with no sense of direction.

I was thinking of doing Arby 'n' the Chief this way but then figured it was a bad idea; everyone regards my two-part episodes and cliffhangers to be a total buzzkill. With "Glitch" and "Panic" I couldn't really help it, I wrote it intending for it to only be one episode but eventually I got to a point where my script was too large, I had to cut it in half.

So yeah, I'll probably keep Arby 'n' the Chief to single act episodes, but Hard Justice episodes will now be split into threes.

I noticed "Glitch" got pretty mixed reviews which kind of caught me off-guard, it disappoointed me because I was rather proud of it, but whatever. Those who did enjoy it, I'm glad, those who didn't, I think you'll get a kick out of the next one.

Guess that's all for now.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Hard Justice: Episode 10

2009-02-02T03:41:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Hard Justice: Episode 10 can be viewed here.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Hard Justice: Episode 9

2009-01-24T11:36:00.001-08:00

Hey,

Hard Justice: Episode 9 is now available, check it out here.

Thanks,
Jon

news: episode 9 of hard justice completed

2009-01-22T07:39:00.001-08:00

Yo,

Episode 9 of Hard Justice has been completed and uploaded and should be available on Saturday. Just a heads-up.

Thanks,
Jon

video: arby 'n' the chief s3e06: "glitch"

2009-01-17T03:33:00.000-08:00

Hey,

The new Arby's up, you can view it here.

Thanks,
Jon

news: "glitch" completed and uploaded

2009-01-15T11:12:00.001-08:00

Hey,

The newest episode of Arby 'n' the Chief, entitled "Glitch" and the sixth episode of season 3, has just been completed and uploaded and should be available on Saturday or something.

I'm actually really proud of this one, I'm ranking it up there with "Wedding" and "Showdown". Bitch to make though. Had to pull an all-nighter, 11:13 AM here and I haven't slept yet.

Here's the explosive episode synopsis:

"Xbox Live has fallen into a chasm of utter chaos; an intermittent game glitch is causing players' Katana body pieces and Security shoulders to vanish, as well as denying players the ability to unlock certain achievements, and Master Chief has now fallen victim to it. Master Chief throws the Arbiter, who couldn't care less about the situation, into the middle of the chaos in the hopes that he'll realize just how big of a deal it is, and somehow put a stop to the madness."

Stay tuned.

Thanks,
Jon

News: You just got Luke McKay'd

2009-01-11T23:53:00.001-08:00

Greetings,

So I had Laird (creator of Halo: Unyielding), his friend Randy and Luke McKay (the amazing artist behind the mega popular Rooster Teeth comics) over at my place the other night for a few drinks and to collaberate on a little shout-out video for everyone that posted in the popular Rooster Teeth forum thread, "Who's Been Luke McKay'd". 'Twas a fun night. You can view the video here.

It was done in my spare time and is not affiliated with Machinima.com, and doesn't have anything to do with any of my series', it's just kind of a one-off thing I thought I'd share on here, most of you probably won't get it though. You'd have had to participate in the thread at Rooster Teeth to understand it fully.

I got my picture taken with Luke McKay! Wew!

So yeah, that's all. I figured a ton of people would be wondering what this latest submission was all about if I didn't say anything.

UPDATE: By the way, this short video marks pretty much the first video (aside from Lemur) that uses voice actors OTHER than myself! OH SHI-

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Hard Justice: Episode 8

2009-01-10T15:16:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Episode 8 of Hard Justice is now available and can be viewed here.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Eighth episode of Hard Justice completed

2009-01-09T03:50:00.000-08:00

Yo,

Hard Justice 8 has just been completed and uploaded, should be available in a couple days.

Thanks,
Jon

News: "Showdown" available again

2009-01-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

Hey,

"Showdown" is back up, not exactly sure what did it but anyway, g-yeah.

Thanks,
Jon

News: "Showdown" still down, Holiday Special part 2 links

2009-01-05T21:58:00.000-08:00

Yo,

Regarding the situation involving the latest Arby 'n' the Chief being pulled due to a mysterious copyright claim by one "Mohammed Pabel Miah", I'm still not sure whether or not this is one guy or an alias for some kind of organization, and I'm still unsure what the reason behind the episode being pulled is, the only info I've been able to find is just speculation among confused users.

Most of the speculation however seems to lean toward the possibility of Mohammed Pabel Miah being one guy who somehow got the episode pulled because it "depicted a young man masturbating" which goes against his religion.

I don't really understand this because for one, the character Craig's age was never officially stated; for all the viewers know he could be in his twenties and simply living with his parents. The Arbiter did refer to Craig as a "kid" at one point in "Showdown" but that could simply be interpreted as referring to someone in their early twenties for lack of a better word.

However if it's simply the act of masturbation that's the issue, it shouldn't even matter anyway since there's a million other things on the internet that refer to masturbation, not to mention that Mohammed Pabel Miah was never at any point forced to watch my works.

Anyway, whatever the case, please stop e-mailing me about it. I'm fed up with people sending me links to what they believe to be his YouTube user page or MySpace page or whatever the hell that don't even take me three seconds to figure out that they're fake.

I'm also fed up with people e-mailing me they're inane and hateful rants about Mohammed Pabel Miah and, if he is indeed one guy, his religion and beliefs. It doesn't impress me one bit, so go get bent you racist, intolerant fuckheads. Same goes for you guys spouting the same hateful garbage on various discussion forums, you guys are an embarrassment.

I do think the pulling of my video was unfair for various reasons but leave the guy alone. He did what he thought was right, and neither of us need people making racist remarks towards him. I'll work with Machinima.com and try to get the situation resolved.

Anyway, here's the link to part 2 of my holiday special, slipped my mind.

Also a Hard Justice is on its way this week.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Arby 'n' the Chief: "The Wrath of Mohammad Pabel Miah"

2008-12-29T14:40:00.001-08:00

Yo,

I'm aware of the recent pull of "Showdown" due to a mysterious copyright claim by one "Mohammad Pabel Miah", which doesn't make quite a lot of sense considering every piece of music in the episode was purchased by me alone at near $30 a pop.

I've asked Machinima.com what's up, so don't e-mail me anymore about it please. I'm looking into it.

A Google search of the guy's name revealed that he's been involved in the pulling of some other videos on YouTube such as a "How to be" series, like "How to be emo" and "How to be gangster".

My God, it appears the evil of Mohammad Pabel Miah knows no bounds!

Thanks,
Jon

Video: DigitalPh33r's Holiday Special: Part 1

2008-12-25T15:23:00.000-08:00

Hey all.

Hope you're all having a phat Christmas and you don't spend too much time on the computer today.

Sooner than expected, Machinima.com has made the first part of my holiday special available. You can view it here.

Also, Machinima has finished and made their "What do the holidays mean to you" collaberation video available, which can be viewed here. My Arby 'n' the Chief segment is the last one if you're curious.

Hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas. What did I get, you ask? A replica of Dr. Gregory House M.D.'s cane with the flame decals. Fuck yeah.

Happy holidays,
Jon

News: Holiday special over next two weeks

2008-12-23T01:18:00.000-08:00

Hello,

So I've just completed a short holiday special along with a tiny Arby 'n' the Chief segment for a collaberation video Machinima.com is creating.

The holiday special is like five minutes and split into two parts, each about two minutes or so. I warned you that my videos over the holiday period would be short.

Part one should be available this upcoming weekend and part two should be available the weekend after Christmas.

As for Machinima.com's holiday collab video, I'm not sure when that's being released so keep an eye out for that.

I'm now taking a rest, a well-earned one in my opinion. Happy holidays guys, I'll see you after New Years.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Arby 'n' the Chief S3E05: "Showdown"

2008-12-20T13:26:00.000-08:00

Yo.

The new Arby's up, you can view it here. Hope you enjoy.

By the way, the thing after the end of the credits, no I'm NOT trying to start some annoying new fad. That's retarded and lame. I threw it in for a friend of mine who's done a lot of cool things for me, and now he can brag that he had influence. So there.

Sorry that it's not High Quality, but at least it's widescreen this time. Wouldn't have really improved the video quality anyway so it's not a huge deal, it's just the text that's a tad too grainy. But whatever you can still read it.

Anyway, regarding the next couple weeks. You may have heard that Christmas is approaching, and soon after, New Years. Machinima.com is going to alter it's programming to short clips for the next couple weeks, as am I. So no full episodes of anything during the holiday, at least not from me; what I'll probably be doing is making something original and stand-alone kind of like the random sketches in my tutorials, they won't be very long though so don't bitch. I'm talking like one or two minutes short. At least I'm doing something.

Anyway, g-yeah. Merry Christmas.

Thanks,
Jon

UPDATE: NOW it's in High Quality. I forgot it takes a little while.

News: New Arby on its way; great episode, or the GREATEST episode?

2008-12-18T05:51:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I've just completed a special production this week, a longer-than-average episode of Arby 'n' the Chief clocking in at just under ten minutes.

This episode is, of course, "Showdown", and if I may say so, is quite fuckin' epic. I might even go as far as to say that it's as good as Wedding was. Or maybe just second best. I actually enjoyed making it which makes a change from the usual, and I hope you enjoy watching it when it's out in a few days.

It's not like "Conflict (Part 2 of 2)" was, which sucked a handful of dicks. This one's actually cool. IMO.

It's one of those episodes like "Girls" and "Wedding" where everything just fell into place really well during production and has good structure, with a solid ending.

Hopefully this episode will make up for the suckage I've reeked of lately. Yes, I AM aware of my suckage; more than you know. But hey. That's life. You don't always get good ideas. You burn out. Shit happens.

This episode will also be the first of any of my productions (besides the Arby 'n' the Chief Movie re-upload that didn't quite work out...) to take full advantage of YouTube's new widescreen player and the "Watch in High Quality" option, so be sure to do that for a cleaner picture.

My new capture device is on the way so my stuff won't actually be high-res yet for a while... but stay tuned.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Hard Justice: Episode 7

2008-12-18T05:49:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Sorry, slipped my mind. Episode 7 of Hard Justice has been up for a while, you can view it here.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Lemur's Halo Live: Episode 2 re-uploaded at higher quality

2008-12-16T21:47:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Just thought I'd let people know that Lemur uploaded his second episode of Halo Live which now has the "Watch in High Quality" option, you should check it out if you haven't already.

Check it out here.

Thanks,
Jon

News: New Hard Justice coming this week

2008-12-11T05:46:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Episode seven of Hard Justice has been completed and uploaded, running at just under eight minutes. Expect some shit to go down on this episode and catch a first-time glimpse of one of the series' main villains.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Thanks for e-mails

2008-12-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

Hey,

I realize me actually thanking people for sending me e-mails is like spotting a shooting comet or solar eclipse but I've been getting a lot of e-mails lately from cool people that want to help with my music situation, whether they be giving me links to sites with free music or actually offering to buy music for me.

Truth is, I'm a picky bastard, and most of the music people have been recommending to me is too "rock 'n' roll-y". What I'm looking for is music performed with a professional orchestra, think of Gears of War 2's musical score and you might get what I'm after. Of course I'll probably never find music as good as Steve Jablonsky's on royalty-free music websites but I've found some pretty good ones so far; however nothing that can compete with the standard that all the Deus Ex Machina episodes have built so far.

And this isn't a request to start sending me your recommendations for orchestral music instead, I'm telling you to stop trying period, but in the nicest way possible. Truth of the matter is there's a 99.99% chance I'll reject whatever you suggest, not because I'm biased against what others find and not necessarily because I don't like it, but it probably just won't work with what I'm doing.

Also out of like the fifty e-mails I've received on the subject, 49 of them have been recommending the same site, the free-soundtrack website machinima thing. I'm aware of it! I've checked it out, and not only does it not really work for me but the foundation of it and how it's being operated, not to say it's illegal, but it's not officially a legal operation either. What I mean is, no one involved is really bound by any sort of contract or agreement other than unwritten rules and an honor system. This may have worked for me in the past but given my job now, I have to start playing things by the books. I can't afford to use music off of there by a particular artist and then, since he's not under any sort of contract, have him file some sort of lawsuit or God-knows-what.

I'm also not accepting any donations. I appreciate your offers but you guys got better shit to spend your money on. Go buy some Hot Wheels or a new game or that new Batman action figure or something.

I've never in my life asked for a penny from anyone (other than Machinima.com of course) to help me keep doing what I do, nor have I ever personally asked to have my stuff forcefully advertised, or anything for that matter, and I don't plan to.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Reasons for no new Deus Ex Machina

2008-12-09T02:35:00.001-08:00

Hey all,

I've been looking over my reviews and comments recently and while they're postive for the most part, more often than not the remainder of people seem to treat my weekly submissions as "another week with no Deus Ex Machina finale".

I haven't been working on the finale of Deus Ex Machina for a number of reasons; one of them being that I'm just not interested in it anymore. However, that's not the reason that clinched the deal.

As most of you are aware, one of the Deus Ex Machina series' redeeming qualities (if not THE redeeming quality) is the use of popular orchestral music, and if you've been kind enough to keep up to date with me, you'll probably know that I've had to ease up on the use of copyrighted music; and by "ease up", I mean flat-out stop doing it.

It hasn't been easy for me. I've had to slowly purchase and build a library of royalty-free music for further video production. I've spent nearly a grand out of my own savings on music alone so I can give my productions a decent score without fear of having them pulled from the web by a third party over a copyright violation.

Now, back to my point. I have the last act of the last episode of Deus Ex Machina fully planned out in my head, and have so for like the past four months, and by "fully planned out", I mean right down to exactly how I want each scene to be cut, and exactly what pieces of music to play and how/when to mix them at each moment. Unfortunately, I don't own this music that I planned to use all this time, so if I went through with this now that I have people watching me for further violations, it would probably just be removed right away.

This means having to COMPLETELY re-think the last act in its entirety from a musical standpoint, and since music is such a massive factor, that means also cutting and playing out each scene completely differently, and instead using my own personal library of royalty-free music - and if I did that, that means I would be falling under the bar of high musical standard already set in place by every episode in the series prior, resulting in a very un-climactic ending that I wouldn't be satisfied with at all.

When WILL I be satisfied, you ask? Perhaps when I build a strong enough personal music library that can take on the music of professional world famous composers in a fight, but given how incredibly expensive it has been getting what I have now, not to mention the unlikeliness of the aforementioned thought, that day may never come. And even if it did, it might be too late - maybe I would be 100% tired of the series by then, or maybe even you won't care anymore.

TL;DR, if the finale is coming, it's not coming anytime soon. Don't hold your breath. Apologies for any inconvience, but that's life. It's a bitch, shit happens.

Thanks,
Jon

UPDATE: I just remembered that EVEN after I resubmitted Act 4 with replacement music because of the Metallica copyright infringement, it was still removed, meaning I'd have to upload it again and change whatever music was the problem this time. Surely some of you can understand how annoying this is from my point of view and how it would affect my motivation.

...Or you could just not put any thought into that and just e-mail me with senseless bitching, whatever works.

UPDATE: DON'T ACTUALLY E-MAIL ME.

Video: Hard Justice: Episode 6

2008-12-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Episode 6 of Hard Justice is now available, you can check it out here.

You may notice you can start viewing my stuff in High Quality now (the link "Watch in High Quality" now appears under the video), but unfortunately all it's really gonna do is make the text and/or subtitles a bit cleaner and crisper, the actual video isn't really improved as my capture device that I currently use only captures at a maximum resolution of 320x240. I'm in the process of upgrading so my stuff will be in 720/640x480 soon.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Hard Justice: Episode 6 uploaded

2008-12-04T04:40:00.001-08:00

Hey,

Episode 6 of Hard Justice has just been completed and uploaded, should be available for viewing within the next few days.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie with Director's Commentary

2008-11-28T01:26:00.000-08:00

Yo,

Here's the Arby 'n' the Chief movie with the commentary.

Sorry that it didn't turn out to be full widescreen and high quality as I'd hoped, I sent Machinima the full widescreen high quality version that was near 700 MB but I guess during their re-rendering process when the watermark is placed that they re-rendered in fullscreen, I'll look into it.

Hopefully you'll enjoy this version for now regardless.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie high quality and commentary version on the way

2008-11-25T04:22:00.000-08:00

Hey,

So due to a short deadline this week which isn't enough time to produce an episode of anything, instead this week expect two new, different versions of Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie; both high quality, but one with a super duper director's commentary and one without, in its original high quality form.

These new versions are also in true widescreen, so they take full advantage of YouTube's brand new widescreen player. When you view them, just click "Click here to view in high quality" under the video to view it at roughly twice the resolution, the same resolution as it appeared on the theatre screen live at CanWest '08.

Hopefully they'll tide you over until next week.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Arby 'n' the Chief S3E04: "Face-Off"

2008-11-22T15:20:00.001-08:00

Hey,

The newest Arby 'n' the Chief is now available, you can view it here.

This one seems to be getting a bit of bad feedback, mainly due to the length. As I've said before, the script for it was just as long as anything else I've written in the past few months, and all the voice-overlapping, amount of pauses and editing make the running time vary from six to nine minutes for each episode.

I of course have more of the story planned out already for the next episode "Showdown", but the end of the bathroom scene was the best possible place to end the episode, if I had gone on any further it either would've been over-lengthy (for me I mean, It's hard work), or I would've had to end the episode in a really weird place that would've just seemed too abrupt.

People also tend to raise their expectations super high because there hasn't been a new Arby 'n' the Chief episode for like, a month. It's not like I've been taking month-long breaks with my thumb up my ass, I've been producing other shows in between on a weekly basis like Hard Justice. It's always the same amount of work. When I started "Face-Off", it was after I finished the latest episode of Hard Justice, I didn't have a script ready or any footage captured or anything, the episode was built from scratch. Every week's the same.

Sorry for the length, I guess. Thanks for tuning in anyway. Enjoy.

Jon

News: New Arby completed and uploaded

2008-11-21T05:05:00.000-08:00

Hey.

So I just finished the sequel to "Professional", entitled "Face-Off", but this is a three-part story, the third episode of this story arc being "Showdown" which I'll do later, in a few weeks or something.

Here's the synopsis of "Face-Off" to tide you over:

"The Arbiter confronts the notorious cocky major league gamer Craig in an open party after he previously brought Master Chief to tears by hurting his feelings. Alongside a couple of fellow MLG players, Craig says he'll apologize to Master Chief if he wins against Craig in a one-on-one match."

Stay tuned.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Episode 5 of Hard Justice on the way

2008-11-14T06:43:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Stay tuned for the fifth episode of Hard Justice, which will probably be posted by Machinima within the next few days.

I'll probably work on the "Face-off" episode of Arby 'n' the Chief next if I have the stomach for it this upcoming week.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Hard Justice: Episode 4

2008-11-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Episode 4 of Hard Justice is now available, you can view it here.

Hope you enjoy!

Thanks,
Jon

News: Hard Justice: Episode 4 uploaded

2008-11-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Episode 4 of Hard Justice is completed and has been uploaded, should be up on Machinima.com within the next few days.

This episode will seem shorter than the others, but the script for it is actually equal length to the scripts for each other episode. It's just because this one focuses on dialogue and it's more fast-paced than the others to an extent that it kinda gets squished down.

So yeah, stay tuned.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Forums gone.

2008-11-06T23:03:00.000-08:00

Ka-boom.

BAWWWWWWWWW

- Jon

News: Part six of tutorial uploaded

2008-10-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

Hi,

So the next vid coming up is part six of my guide to making Halo 3 machinima. Due to a busy-ass week, it's lacking a bit in the comedy department like the last part, but luckily it has a lot of good information.

Hope you enjoy, stay tuned.

Thanks,
Jon

News: DigitalPh33r Productions Forum shutting down

2008-10-30T02:19:00.000-07:00

Hi.

I won't beat around the bush. Yeah, I'm gonna be shutting the forums down.

I'm doing it for numerous reasons, most of them personal, but long story short, they piss me off.

I've been wanting to shut them down for quite a while now as a matter of fact, and it was only a matter of time until this was gonna happen anyway as school's starting for me within the next several months and I want to move on to other things, shake off my reputation.

It was a mistake creating the forums to begin with, but I did so because I imagined it to be a small collection of people, nothing huge. It started as a small flame and has become a roaring bondfire that's burning things around it, including me. I hate looking at them, they depress me, yet if I simply de-registered and let the forums be, I'd still visit out of curiosity and probably get depressed again, rinse and repeat. I want them to not exist. I want them gone.

Nearly all the forum categories are composed of topics centered around discussing my private life and personal information. It bugs the shit out of me because I'm not the type of guy who can handle this kind of exposure.

Besides the handful of topics that are actually relevant to whatever the forum category is, the remaining topics are spam.

I'm currently dealing with far too much in my life right now, and the forums are a thorn in my ass. I've washed my hands of them, and recently I've been riddled with guilt for leaving my moderators to maintain my forums for me. If I won't even moderate them anymore, why should they? Especially if they aren't even getting paid or anything.

That said, I'd like to take the opportunity to deeply thank Dan, Dawn, Kate, Sp00nerism, St3phy, Backlash, Tomdoodle, PhantomBMAN, C and Carrface for their time that they dedicated to making the forums a pleasant place, and being all around great people to talk to and deal with. Though making the forums a pleasant place was ultimately unsuccessful, it wasn't their fault, it was an impossible task, and I can't thank my mods and administrators enough for trying their best.

Especially Dan, for making the forums look great, getting my domain and keeping it up and running, responding promptly to any issues. Thanks dude. It kills me to basically undo the work you've done but I'm VERY appreciative, know that.

What made me hesitate with this decision was the fact that some good has come out of this forum. People have met, some friendships have formed, and I know probably a lot of you are gonna be pissed off. To those people, not to be an asshole, but seriously, get over it. Contact the friends you've made through the forums with MSN, e-mail, Skype, whatever the hell. I NEED this to happen. Sorry.

And please don't e-mail me complaining, asking me to change my decision. I won't.

And to those people that think, "I'll e-mail him anyway because unlike the others, I REALLY have something to say that will definitely change Jon's mind", or "I'll e-mail him anyway because he likes people that are persistant though he might not admit it"... don't. Please.

And please don't e-mail me saying you're supporting my decision either. I appreciate the fact that you support my decision, but you can keep it to yourself, it just fills up my inbox and gives me a headache.

You can continue to e-mail me with genuine questions if you want and I'll answer them if I think the question is decent, one where the answer can't be found with a five second Google search or in one of my tutorials, or my FAQ.

And don't e-mail me asking for technical support on some capture device you bought, or software. You've got instruction manuals, product support teams and Google for that.

And please don't e-mail me apologizing because you realized you might have sent me an e-mail in the past that was exactly as I described above, you don't need to e-mail me saying sorry, I understand and I'm over it.

Following this post, I plan to leave the forums up for maybe a week or so, and then nuke them officially, to give you guys a chance to say some goodbyes or something, exchange contact details with friends that you've made, talk amongst yourselves about me being selfish/a jerk, whatever you gotta do.

To the mods and the cool people of the forums, you know who you are, thanks for contributing positively to the forums while they lasted, and I hope you haven't taken offense to this decision at all or something. This is something I feel I have to do, and was inevitable. Better now than later, for me anyway.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Hard Justice: Episode 3

2008-10-30T02:16:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Episode 3 of Hard Justice is now available, here.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Hard Justice episode 3 on the way

2008-10-23T04:19:00.000-07:00

Hello,

So I've just completed and submitted episode 3 of Hard Justice, hope you get a few chuckles from this one.

I don't even wanna bother predicting when Machinima will make it available since I usually seem to be a couple days off, so just stay tuned, it'll be available soon.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Arby 'n' the Chief S3E03: "Professional"

2008-10-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Episode 3 of Arby 'n' the Chief's third season titled "Professional" is now available. You can view it here.

I hope you get a few chuckles out of it. Not as good as "Wedding" was I suppose since the idea was so great, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Act 4 removed due to copyright violation

2008-10-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,

Deus Ex Machina: Episode 9 - "Doomsday (Part 2 of 2)" [Act 4] has recently been pulled due to a copyright violation, specifically the use of "Ride the Lightning" by Metallica. Guess I gotta start being more careful. No one's really cared about my music usage up until now.

So currently I'm re-rendering the act with different music at the beginning, music that I own the license for.

It definitely takes the edge off the beginning fight sequence a bit as well which disappoints me, but there's nothing I can do. Life's a bitch.

Act 4 will be back up eventually.

Thanks,
Jon

News: New Arby comin' up.

2008-10-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

Yo.

So I've made a new Arby 'n' the Chief and it should be available on Saturday like Act 4 was if my assumptions are correct.

It's part one of a two part episode, kind of. They both share the same plot but they will have different names. This first part is called "Professional", and revolves around Master Chief introducing the Arbiter to a new friend on Xbox Live who happens to be affiliated with MLG, although to what extent is not definite.

Hope you get a few giggles out of it.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Deus Ex Machina: Episode 9 - "Doomsday (Part 2 of 2)" [Act 4]

2008-10-11T03:38:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Act 4 is now available. You can view it here.

Enjoy.

Thanks,
Jon

News: New video info and stuff

2008-10-09T03:50:00.000-07:00

Hi.

Before I go any further, episode 2 of Hard Justice has been available for a little while now. You can view it here.

Now, I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that Deus Ex Machina: Episode 9 - "Doomsday (Part 2 of 2)" [Act 4] is completed, uploaded and will be the next one to be available. I'm not exactly sure when as I'm not sure what Machinima.com's programming pipeline for this week looks like. But it's coming.

The bad news? It's not the last act.

Actually there's a bit more, it's just over six minutes, instead of eight.

Now before you go ranting on about how much of a jerk-off I am, I left act three off at an intense point, and thus filming, voicing and editing the aftermath of the events of act three was a HUGE pain in the ass, and part of the reason I put it off so long. Any scene with a decapitator takes a PAINFUL amount of time to edit, and for this act, there's fucking two of them, PLUS meanwhile, there's a war occurring between the Covenant and the humans at the perimeter of Salvation City, all of which I had to act out myself.

Yes, I'm acting out an all out war with just myself and four controllers. It blows. Hard. I don't have a roommate to help and my friends live a distance from me and don't take an interest at all in what I do contrary to what you might think.

I can't use Xbox Live either because of the lag that would ensue, plus the whole weapon lowering thing.

So there you have it, act 4 is on it's way clocking in at just over six minutes, and there's one more act to come. Hopefully just one. I MAY have to split it up once more, but there'll be no more than that.

I realize long ago, I used to fire out twenty minute episodes of Deus Ex Machina on a weekly basis, some with decapitator scenes, but those were the days that I was new to the job and super dedicated, and was working literally sixteen-hour work days. At least up until I realized that I actually wouldn't mind having a LIFE.

Fighting off depression for the past couple months certainly makes things a lot harder too.

There you have it, stay tuned for act 4 coming soon.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Some more fan artwork

2008-10-07T01:09:00.001-07:00

Hey,

Thought I'd bring to light a couple more pieces of fan artwork that I've received via e-mail.

The first one is some Arby 'n' the Chief themed playing cards created by Teeb, and the second piece of work is by Kenneth which looks really cool.

Big thanks to Teeb and Kenneth!

- Jon

Review: Silent Hill: Homecoming

2008-10-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

Silent Hill: Homecoming is the fifth game in the Silent Hill series, and is also the first one not developed by the folks at Team Silent, but instead an American third-party developer known as Double Helix Games. I've recently purchased the game and am so far pretty damn impressed by what Double Helix has done, but I think their hard work is going unappreciated by IGN's lame 6.7/10 score, and shit like that breaks my heart; a developer is left with the daunting task of producing a sequel in a popular video game series, they do a good job, but it's all soured by the score of a well-known review site who bases their score on the nostalgia of the previous games.

I realize after doing the math that 6.7 isn't an AWFUL score since it's close to 70%, but unfortunately 6.7 isn't a very visually appealing number, and at first glance seems like it's close to 5/10, or 50%.

So that's why I'm writing this review, to get this game and Double Helix a bit of attention that it deserves. I can't write a full awesome review as I haven't beaten the game yet, but I just wanna see this game get a bit more attention and will give you a review based on what I've played so far (probably about 35%).

I'll start with a brief pros/cons list:

PROS:
+ Sweet voice acting (85% of the time).
+ Cool character animation/facial expressions.
+ Awesome musical score.
+ Good, accessible control scheme (semi-customizeable).
+ Combat system that doesn't suck dick.
+ Good weapon aiming/shooting system.
+ Good sound (some repetitive sound effects).
+ Decent story that's easy to follow.

CONS:
- Lack of save locations.
- Lack of checkpoints.
- Fear factor admittedly a bit less this time compared to say, Silent Hill 2.

---

PRESENTATION: 9.3/10

Title screen menus and pause menus are a tad unimaginative and plain, but who gives a fuck, right? I'm just explaining the absence of .7 points. Right from the title screen you get a good vibe, and when you launch a new game, the beginning cinematic just sucks you right in, and once it's over, you have to play through an unnerving nightmare sequence that eases you into the combat and exploration mechanics, and it all feels very well polished - very seldom are there visual glitches or anything. It all looks great and feels solid.

STORY:

I can't fairly rate how good the story is as I'm only about 35 - 40% through the game so far, but from what I've seen, what I will tell you is that it's enjoyable and easy to follow. Some of it's a bit cliche, like the whole "chasing a little kid" thing, plus the pictures that he draws and you collect look rubbish, not graphics-wise, but in the sense that a four year old holding a crayon in his ass instead of his hand could draw better, which doesn't make much sense since you'd expect a ten year old would have higher developed motor skills. Aside from that the story's been pretty interesting so far, and from what I hear it only gets better.

GRAPHICS: 8.2/10

Overall, the game looks great, but it does have its ups and downs. The environments are fantastic, the problems mainly reside with the characters. Their textures can appear very flat, I remember this one dude's slicked back hair looked so flat and unappealing it looked like he was actually bald and just smeared an inch layer of peanut butter on his head. Also, there's a bit of an issue with lip-synching, occasionally the guys' mouthes just plain won't match the dialogue, and overall there's just not much animation going on in the mouth area (think "Woll Smoth". Google image it). HOWEVER; some of the character animation and facial expressions are stunning. Subtle eye movements, head bobs and gestures will really impress you.

Characters' teeth look a little off too, they look rather unnatural. But whatever.

As I mentioned, the environments look great, and the only problem I can think of is with the water, the surface of it looks a tad repetitive and tiled and if you walk through it, there's sound, but there's no ripple effects or waves.

The textures on walls and objects are great, and the dynamic shadows are super cool.

IGN overexaggerated when they said the flashlight didn't reach far enough, but the problem is that there isn't much peripheral light, you gotta keep turning left and right to get full views of stuff that's in the dark. But that's how a real flashlight works anyway, so suck it up wuss.

You know the thing in the Silent Hill movie where the walls and floor would peel everywhere and stuff when morphing into the "other" world? That's in the game, and not in a cutscene, it happens in-game while you're moving your guy around, and it looks phat. The visual filters look great too, like the "old film" look and stuff.

Your guy's (Alex Shepherd) character animation during gameplay is great. From walking very slowly to running, running at an angle and sidestepping all transitions very smoothly. Only problem I have with Alex's animation is that when you draw your knife and you turn from left to right, his legs do the "walking forward" animation, even though he's just turning on the spot and not actually going anywhere.

CONTROLS: 9.4/10

I always love a game that lets you customize your controls. This one does let you do it, but only to an extent. You can switch the functions of all the face buttons, but the functions of the trigger/bumper buttons are in a category of their own and you can't switch them to a face button, and you can't exactly freely assign the trigger functions to any of the trigger buttons either. You can only go like, "switch functions of LT and RT", or "switch functions of LB and RB".

Not that you'd really want to assign any of the trigger functions to a face button or vice versa anyway.

The controls are great but might be a little confusing at first. But you do get used to them pretty fast.

The quick heal controls are great, health drinks and health kits, the two main health items in the game, have been assigned their own quick button when you bring up the inventory menu for quick healing.

Sometimes I get thrown off a bit and when I want to heal myself and bring up the inventory menu, I'll accidentally bring up the weapons menu, but that isn't even a problem because switching between the two doesn't unpause gameplay, so an enemy won't do a cheap game-ending move on you when you're in crucial need of a health drink and you make a mistake.

When you equip a firearm, you can draw it with the left trigger and the camera goes to an over-the shoulder view with an aiming reticule, and right trigger fires the weapon. It's nice and simple, and the aiming is rock solid, which is good and bad I guess. Bad in the sense that it can be too easy to take down enemies at times. Solution? Play hard mode you pussy. THEN try crying about overpowered weapons. You'll be masturbating in joy when you find some bullets.

The combat system with melee weapons is surprisingly good, compared to the ones of the previous games. There's fast attacks, and there's heavy attacks, and you can charge up the heavy attacks by holding down the corresponding button. Best of all, there's a dodge button that you can use to dodge attacks (no shit) and perform a counter attack. It's all pretty well thought out and makes the combat a lot more interesting than in the other games.

One complaint I do have though is that sometimes you can find a combo chain that might eliminate the need for the dodge button against some enemies, the nurses for example. The fast, fast, fast and heavy combo can be performed uninterrupted and when it's finished, will automatically put enough distance between you and the nurse that her quick attack right after can't reach you. And if she does her heavy attack, it doesn't matter because simply performing the combo again will interrupt her attack. Rinse, repeat until dead. No damage taken. And I'm playing on hard mode.

Other enemies will land a blow on you occasionally, and you'll frequently get discouraged when you encounter a new dude and he kills you, but you DO eventually learn his moves and how to dodge them.

Yes folks, IGN and whoever else complains that you'll be subjected to many cheap shots, which is occasionally true in hard mode (but that's expected), but the solution to getting through the game is that you actually have to not suck ballsack at fighting. It sounds stupid, but I'm serious. If you spend a few minutes studying an enemy's moves and figure out when to dodge and NOT rush in and swing away and not suck throbbing dong, you'll get through it.

The controls feel solid overall, controlling Alex is a very smooth and enjoyable experience. You can also press the right stick in and look at stuff in first person mode which is a nice touch.

GAMEPLAY: 8.4/10

See "Controls" for a bulk of gameplay details, combat mainly.

The game feels well-paced, very infrequently will you be going through an area and you find some enemy and go, "Fuck, not another one", and neither will you be going, "Where the hell are all the bad guys?" (Although it might happen a forgivable number of times throughout the game).

The game doesn't go overboard with item searching either, it's not so complex that it feels like a chore, and the game's map definitely helps with that, marking locked doors, holes, secret passageways and inaccesible areas with realistic red marker symbols like arrows, checkmarks and scribbles.

Sometimes it can be a bit TOO simple, like you're given one half of a circle object, and there's a locked gate with a space for an entire circle object, as if anyone wouldn't be able to say to themselves ("Okay I gotta find the other half of this fuckin' thing"), and it's usually easy to find whatever you're looking for, not necessarily because it's in plain sight but because the map is extremely useful, which I think is really cool.

I think one of the biggest complaints is that overall, the game just isn't that scary compared to the rest in the series. While I agree that's true to a certain extent, the game is still quite enjoyable, and there's even a way to remedy the situation. Play alone. Lights off. Headphones off. Curtains shut. Volume up. Wait until night. Explore. Take your time. It's great.

AUDIO: 9.4/10

The soundtrack to this game kicks ass. The music ranges from eerie ambient music to piano melodies to mad phat beetz, not like rock or rap or anything, but just an awesome sounding beat behind an eerie tune. It's really good.

The voice acting, for the most part, is top notch. Alex is very convincing, as are most of the main characters. There's the occasional line that sounds off, but it's all great overall. This acting combined with the character animation and subtle gestures and movements outlined in the "Graphics" category make the cutscenes very entertaining.

Enemies sound great, as does the environment, but occasionally you'll hear a repetitive sound effect, like if you knock over a trash can and hit it repeatedly or make it roll, it only uses one metal bashing sound effect all the time. But it's forgiveable.

REPLAYABILITY: 6.3/10

The game has five alternate endings apparently, and a few hidden weapons after you beat the game once along with some alternate costumes. But really, you could probably just load up a save near the end of the game over and over and see all the endings (I'm assuming), and the weapons are neat and might encourage you to play once more, but that's probably about it. You might pick it up again to play it in several months.

But on the other hand, when you go to a movie at the theatre you pay ten bucks to be entertained for a mere couple of hours, not including any goodies you buy to feed your fat ass. Considering you'll probably get at least twenty hours out of this game, I'd say fifty-sixty bucks is still quite a bit of money, but not so bad relatively speaking. Twenty hours unless you're a fucking moron who buys an atmospheric survival horror game and rushes through it in five hours ignoring any fine details that contribute to the story just so you can go brag to your jock friends at school the next day with your dick in your hand about how fast you beat Silent Hill the other night.

Funny thing is, those snacks at the movie theatre I mentioned? They'd actually go DOWN in price if everybody just stopped taking it in the ass from the staff, showed a little self control, put their feet down and didn't buy anything.

But anyway.

OVERALL: 8.6/10

Double Helix did a great job, really, they did. They deserve better scores than they're getting for this game right now. They've got a thing or two to learn about what made some of the previous Silent Hill games truly scary, but for a first attempt I think they did great. If you're a fan of the genre, at least go rent it.

- Jon

TL;DR

Video: Hard Justice: Episode 1

2008-10-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Episode 1 of Hard Justice is now available. Episode 2 has been completed and uploaded, so that'll be next, probably next week. Depends where it is in Machinima's programming pipeline. Shouldn't be more than a week though.

View Now:
YouTube

Hope you enjoy, thanks for waiting.
- Jon

News: Some new crap about delay, and some other crap about crap

2008-10-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

Hey.

I learned a bit more about the delay of episode 1 of Hard Justice, not only is it due to Machinima's new programming schedule but there have been some technical difficulties getting it up on YouTube, I guess the .WMV I sent them was corrupt. I've sent them a new one since I learned this and am awaiting a reply about what's going on.

So yeah, it was actually supposed to be up like yesterday or the night before, so it should be up soon if the new file I sent them isn't a piece of shit.

Also, I've just finished episode 2 and it's already been uploaded to Machinima.com as well, so as soon as Machinima.com makes episode 1 available, I'd imagine they'll make episode 2 available a week after, tops. Could be earlier. I'm not sure.

Shut up.

Thanks,
Jon

News: About new vid delay

2008-09-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hey all.

I'm well aware that episode 1 of Hard Justice didn't come out this weekend as I said it would. When I say I know when a video of mine is going to come out, I just assume so because I usually have an idea of what Machinima.com's show schedule is like. However, their implementing some kind of new schedule and they're trying to get things better organized.

If they get a bunch of new anticipated videos on the weekend, they're not necessarily gonna put mine up first anymore. Saturday it was the Spore thing, Sunday was the most recent episode of Pregame Lobby, and I haven't seen a new episode for today, it could be mine later this afternoon, I'm not sure.

It's not up to me when videos get released. I create them, I send them to Machinima and it is up to them when they decide to make it available. They want to boost the amount of views for other directors I guess since the weekend is a big view generator, and there are other directors besides me; I'm not the only one.

I've submitted it to them and it's in their release line-up somewhere, it should be out soon. Just chill.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Bustin' rumors before they spread

2008-09-20T01:39:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

It has come to my attention that the cool dudes at Smooth Few Films are beginning a new Halo 3 machinima series titled G.R.I.E.F., revolving around a team of four Spartans fighting various forms of douchebaggery on Xbox Live. They've released a cool trailer, and I recommend you check it out. You can view it here. Looks phat.

There are concerns that people are going to think I copied them, or that they copied me, and so on and so forth, and I'd like to state firmly before these rumors spread that neither is true. I did not hear of G.R.I.E.F. until these concerns were brought to my attention yesterday and thus did not "steal" anything from them (I've been planning Hard Justice in my head for the past several months), nor did Smooth Few Films "steal" any ideas from me (the tl;dr post I wrote describing Hard Justice was the first public display of the series' details). Plus, their trailer for G.R.I.E.F. was posted back on August 24th, so that's impossible anyway; which makes it more likely that I "stole" from them.

But I didn't.

We're both just doin' our own thang.

That said, check out the Hard Justice series promo here, and check out Smooth Few Films' G.R.I.E.F. when it comes out!

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Hard Justice series promo

2008-09-20T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

The promo for my new series Hard Justice is now available.

View Now:
Machinima
YouTube

Thanks,
Jon

News: Vid this week promo, not full episode

2008-09-19T21:25:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Forgot to mention that the full episode isn't going to be released this week, but rather a promo, or in other words, half an episode, so I have more time to work on it. The full episode will be released next week.

On the bright side, it's the cooler half.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Premiere of new series this week

2008-09-18T02:25:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

Rather than release yet another installment of my tutorial, another Arby 'n' the Chief or Act 4 of Deus Ex Machina, what I'd like to do is premiere my new series at the end of this week, one that I've been kicking around for quite some time.

I know I know, "Don't start a new series when you haven't finished Deus yet", or "You haven't made a new Arby in like forever", but in order to stay motivated for my job I gotta go with what my brain feels like doing and not what everyone else wants me to, otherwise the work ends up suffering. I tried writing for Deus this week, then I tried writing for a tutorial part this week, but it didn't work, my heart's just not in it this week for either of those.

Also, after releasing a hit Arby episode like "Wedding", surely you understand that I'd like to save my attempt at TOPPING that episode for when I have another brilliant idea rather than disappoint everybody and piss everyone off with a lame ass rushed idea just because people want me to do an Arby episode regardless of any lack of ideas I have.

That said, allow me to give you a brief run-down of my new series.

It's called "Hard Justice". It's an over-the-top cop drama, a kind of hybrid of Deus Ex Machina and something like It's a Wonderful Live. It's primarily a drama like DEM, but one that doesn't take itself too seriously, yet at times makes indirect references to current political issues.

Bernard Brown is the starring character, an ex-cop who resigns from the police department of Regen City after deciding he doesn't want to be a part of or contribute to the fact that Regen City is slowly becoming a fascist police state. He moves to a new city, the name for which I haven't decided yet, where in a wave of post-invasion paranoia, the inhabitants have been issued "anti-terrorism" suits by the governor of the city, should another Covenant attack ever occur, even though the Covenant now live in harmony with the humans following the events of Halo 3. Despite this, the Covenant are often subject to discrimination and are greatly feared by the city's populus due to propaganda circulated by the city media.

These "anti-terrorism" suits' main function are to monitor all kinds of activity of the wearer, although this is not public knowledge. Each individual suit is I.D. tagged and monitored 24 hours a day and 7 days a week and since most interaction in current everyday life in the city is electronic, all electronic communications through each suit are logged. The police department in co-operation with the city government use this to their advantage.

Bernard makes a living in this new city by doing low-wage dead end jobs to keep himself fed and housed.

After some sort of event involving Bernard taking down a petty criminal using his past police training, he meets with Max Dangerfield and Edward Stryker, two members of an elite unit named E.R.E.C.T. (Eradication of Repulsive Evil and Corruption Team) that works in co-operation with the city's police department. Bernard eventually meets with the head of E.R.E.C.T., Howard Marshall, and over-the-top, gullible and over-dramatic man who offers Bernard a position on the team.

Bernard refuses at first, but eventually realizes that despite the fact that this new city he's in may well be slowly becoming a police state like Regen City is, joining the team would put Bernard in a position where he can still help people to an extent, and also put food on his own table.

He accepts and becomes the third member of E.R.E.C.T., and with the help of Max, an over-confident ex-marine and Edward, a shockingly dim man with a heart of gold and a strange underlying latent genius, together they combat various forms of crime ranging from the ridiculously petty to the horrific, though E.R.E.C.T.'s unpredictable and dramatic chief tends to prioritize them poorly much to Bernard's annoyance, and thus Bernard becomes a bit of a loose cannon.

The majority of the city's horrific crimes originate from a number of crime syndicates, the most infamous of them being a syndicate named Twisted Coercion, composed of a small army and led by a cold calculating criminal mastermind with the help of his right-hand man, a ruthless mercenary and ex-interrogator/torturer.

E.R.E.C.T. answers directly to the governor of the city (who has yet to be named also). Howard, the chief of E.R.E.C.T. is at his beck and call, and Bernard feels that the governor is untrustworthy and that there's something sinister going on behind closed doors on a government level.

"E.R.E.C.T. at your service!"

I really hope you guys get a kick out of this new series and that it becomes successful, I think people will appreciate the more mature nature of the material and the originality, but the series will still contain my signature humor so don't fret.

I've made a new forum for this series for you to discuss it.

By the way, this is all subject to change, nothing's set in stone.

Thanks,
Jon

News: New kewl artwork

2008-09-13T21:01:00.000-07:00

A dear fan who goes by the name of James drew this for me as a gift. Pretty impressive, and I love the little touches like Master Chief with the Mark VI helmet, but with Recon shoulders and holding his prized Recon helmet.

A round of applause for James! His gamertag is Gamenoob117, and that is also his DeviantArt screen name. If you wanna check out his DeviantArt page, click here.

Thanks again!
Jon

Video: DigitalPh33r's Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima: Part Five

2008-09-12T12:45:00.001-07:00

Hello,

The fifth installment of my machinima making tutorial has been uploaded to Machinima.com and will be available to view between now and possibly sometime tomorrow.

View Now:
Machinima
YouTube

There's a lack of comedic sketches in this one, but fortunately, for those few people out there who watch my tutorials for actual INFORMATION, you're gonna gain some invaluable knowledge from this part.

For those who watch them purely for the comedy, stick with it 'till the very end and you might get a kick out of it.

There'll probably be one more part after this and that's it.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Final Moments

2008-09-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

See the blog post below for details on this new video. Hope you enjoy!

View Now:

Machinima

YouTube

*NOTE: May take time for links to appear

ALSO, the forums are back online.

Thanks,

Jon

UPDATE: Many people are saying I copied a machinima called Blackstone, either that or they're saying they did it better than me, I did it better than them... who cares. To be truthful, I hadn't even heard of Blackstone until people compared it to Final Moments. If you must know, I got the idea from watching REC, then it reminded me of the helmet-camera sequence from Halo: CE, and I decided to combine the two with a sort of "cave-exploration" theme from the movie The Descent. So there ya go.

I checked out a bit of Blackstone and it's pretty cool, but let's stop pitting his work against mine. I did my thing, he did his thing, they're both good in their own ways.

kthx.

News: New type of video coming this week

2008-09-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hey all. Sorry for the lack of updates.

This week, don't expect to find another installment of my tutorial, act 4 of Deus, or an Arby 'n' the Chief. This week, I've attempted something very different than what I've usually done. Expect a different take on machinima, something I don't think anyone's pulled off before. Not successfully, anyway.

This week I will be releasing a short film called "Final Moments". It is basically a retelling of the story of the marines' first encounter with the Flood in Halo: CE's 343 Guilty Spark campaign level. Much like the story in the game was told from Private Jenkins' helmet-mounted camera, this retelling will be shown from the camera mounted on the Mark VI helmet of a Spartan named Eric Dennison, alongside a team of three that have been deployed to investigate a hidden weapons cache in the depths of Halo.

To achieve a sense of gritty realism, this time I have filmed the machinima sequences off the television screen with a digital video camera purposely, careful not to capture any of the television's border.

It's kinda like REC meets The Descent in style, but based on the story of the Flood from Combat Evolved. It's a horror machinima essentially.

Hopefully you'll get a kick out of it. If it's well received, I may continue this style in some way.

Synopsis:

"Based on the story of the UNSC marines' first encounter with the Flood from Halo: Combat Evolved, "Final Moments" depicts approximately the last three hours of footage from the Mark VI helmet-mounted camera of Eric Dennison alongside a team of three other Spartans that were deployed to search for a supposed weapons cache hidden in the depths of Halo. To their horror, instead they discovered and unleashed a terrifying and deadly parasitic lifeform."

This video will be placed under the category of "Other Works", and if you'd like to discuss it in the forums, should be discussed in the appropriate forum.

Thanks,

Jon

News: Latest tutorial installment uploaded

2008-08-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Part four of DigitalPh33r's Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima has been uploaded for posting so it should be able sometime on Saturday.

I'm heading off to PAX for the weekend so I might not be able to post any links, so keep an eye out for the vid yourself this weekend just in case.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Arby 'n' the Chief S3E02: "Wedding"

2008-08-23T15:09:00.001-07:00

Hey guys,

It's finally here.

View Now:
Machinima
YouTube

This one has been very well received. It's all about how funny the core idea is, and the idea of the duo crashing a Halo 3 wedding seemed like a crime to put off.

Enjoy,
Jon

News: Latest Arby 'n' the Chief episode uploaded

2008-08-22T01:23:00.000-07:00

Hey all.

You may have noticed that this next episode of Arby 'n' the Chief's title was changed from "Warped" in the right-hand menu to "Wedding". Well, I was drunk one night and brainstorming and this idea I came up with was just too fantastic to put off.

It has just been uploaded, but don't expect to see it until sometime Saturday afternoon, keep an eye on Machinima and YouTube.

The basic synopsis of the episode is that during a Grifball match, Master Chief and the Arbiter are invited to a private Halo 3 wedding. This episode is based off of the actual weddings people have in-game, for real.

So yeah, I'll post again when it's available whenever I get around to it on Saturday.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: DigitalPh33r's Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima: Part Three NOW available

2008-08-16T16:37:00.001-07:00

Hey guys,

It's here now. Sorry it took so long.

View Now:
Machinima
YouTube

Thanks,
Jon

Request: Assistance with new Arby 'n' the Chief episode

2008-08-15T11:37:00.001-07:00

Hi guys,

This is my first request in quite a while. I need help with the new episode of Arby 'n' the Chief.

What I need is nine of you guys to play a game of Grifball with me so I can use it for footage. This will start at 1PM PST (1 hour and 15 minutes from the time this post has gone up). Here's how to participate.

1. Register on the forums if you haven't already.
2. On the menu on the right-hand side of the blog, go to the DigitalPh33r's Requests forum.
3. Post in the topic, "Request: Assistance Staging Grifball Match" with the following information:
- Your Age
- Your Gamertag
4. At 1PM PST, if you have been accepted, I will send you a friend request, and I will create a party and send you an invite.
5. When the match starts, just play Grifball as you normally would until I have enough footage and I end the game.

This won't last too long as I don't need a lot of footage. Please don't dick around, attempt to break the map, jump and crouch everywhere, etc. or you will be booted, no questions. Play for real. I'll be doing the same.

Thanks,
Jon

UPDATE: Many thanks to the guys that helped me out.

News: Apologies, Delay of Machinima Tutorial Explained

2008-08-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hey.

Sorry about the delay of part three of my tutorial, I figured out what's going on. Machinima has a new uploading/posting schedule in which material is posted a week after it's uploaded, they want videos submitted well in advance now so they can plan better.

"Didn't I get the memo?"

No. But whatever, no harm done.

My Arby 'n' the Chief: Episode 11 - "Conflict (Part 1 of 2)" commentary, complete with my annoying voice will have to entertain you for now until part three of my tutorial is released on this upcoming Saturday instead.

So yeah, hope it's all cleared up now.

Oh, and I updated the link for the commentary for episode 11 for Arby 'n' the Chief on the right hand menu.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: DigitalPh33r's Guide to Halo 3 Machinima: Part Three

2008-08-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Part three of my machinima-making tutorial has just been uploaded, stay tuned for the links to be updated, or keep an eye on Machinima's YouTube page or Machinima's website yourself.

View Now:
Machinima
YouTube

Enjoy.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Some stuff

2008-08-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

I updated a bunch of links and stuff, like in the latest Arby 'n' the Chief video post and all the links on the right-hand menu, and updated my YouTube page a bit with some shit. Shut up. YEAH.

- Jon

News: New series by D Laz

2008-08-02T15:28:00.001-07:00

My friend D Laz has started a new Halo 3 machinima series called Halo: Live, which features regular online matches in cinematic form with impressive camerawork and a musical score. According to him it's gonna be a frequent series that will last at least a month.

His first episode is kind of a test run. Check it out.

View Now:
YouTube

Thanks,
Jon

News: New vid re-uploaded

2008-08-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

There was a problem with the first upload of the new vid.

It's just been re-uploaded, so yeah, it'll be a little while longer.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Arby 'n' the Chief S3E01: "Cold"

2008-08-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

Hello,

The season three premiere of Arby 'n' the Chief has been uploaded to Machinima.com. Please allow some time for the links to become active. The video may be available on Machinima.com and YouTube before these links are updated, so keep an eye out.

View Now:
Machinima
YouTube

I've had a chance to brainstorm over my holiday and have come up with some cool ideas, so hopefully you get a kick out of this third season of episodes.

I know the music isn't nearly as cool as it used to be, but I gotta play it legal. Bear with me.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Back.

2008-07-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

'Sup.

So yeah, I'm back.

While I was gone, one of my moderators got a beautiful new forum up and running for me, tehviruss I believe, so big thanks to him for that and anyone else that might have helped him with it, I'm not exactly sure who. Unfortunately the forum hasn't been linked to on here because I haven't had an internet connection for two weeks to address the issue, but it's fixed now. All the forum links on the right hand side of the blog page lead to the brand new forum.

The new forum is located at www.digitalph33r.net, and the old one is still digitalph33r.forum2u.org, should you still need to visit it for whatever reason. But please post in the new one.

Also, beside each link of each Arby 'n' the Chief episode, I added a "Com." link (commentary) for the commentary of each of those episodes.

I realise I'm not the best guy at doing commentaries, I pause a lot and my voice goes quite low sometimes. I realize I suck. I'm sorry. But hopefully you'll gain some cool insight into the production of the episodes nonetheless.

So yeah.

- Jon

News: Vacation time

2008-07-09T20:37:00.000-07:00

Hello,

So yeah, I'm leaving.

For a couple weeks or something. I forget when I'll be back.

I would very much appreciate it if you all didn't try to contact me during this time, e-mails, Xbox Live messages, or PMs of any sort so I don't have a mountain of mail to return home to.

The director's commentaries have all been completed and uploaded and Machinima will release them at their discretion, I'm not sure what they're exact plan is but just keep an eye on their website I guess. They might release one a week or something, or one every couple of days, or I dunno. Something like that.

Hope you enjoy, and I'll see you in a while.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Change of plans; no Arby this week

2008-07-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

Hey,

There's been a change of plans. Originally I said I was gonna release the first episode of the third season of Arby 'n' the Chief this week before I left on vacation, but I'm not anymore. I'll leave that, Deus Ex Machina's finale and plans for a new series all for when I return. I leave on Thursday morning, so it's only like a three day work week for me which doesn't leave me a lot of time to get anything done.

Instead, this Thursday/Friday (whenever they decide), after having a talk with the folks at Machinima, I'll be releasing director's commentaries for all the current twelve Arby 'n' the Chief episodes, plus Master Chief Sucks at Halo 3, which will give you some interesting insight into the production of the episodes.

This delay will give me more time to work out a story arc for the third season of Arby 'n' the Chief and plan it better, instead of releasing one episode before I leave, having a large gap, and then releasing the next one like possibly over a month later.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: DigitalPh33r's Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima: Part Two

2008-07-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Part two of my guide to making Halo 3 machinima has been uploaded to Machinima.com.

View Now:
YouTube
Machinima

Thanks,
Jon

News: No Deus Ex Machina act this week, other news

2008-07-03T21:29:00.001-07:00

Hey,

I'm having a lot of trouble with the remainder of the final Deus Ex Machina episode, a bit of writer's block plus trying to achieve a decent ending which may require a guest voice or something, but I don't really want to have to do that, so I'm trying to work around it but I need time. So I've decided to postpone the remainder of Deus Ex Machina for a while.

To be fair I've been doing Deus Ex Machina for three weeks in a row and I need variety to function, that's how my brain works. So what I'm doing for this week is the second installment of my Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima, and then the following week, I will produce the first episode of the third season of Arby 'n' the Chief, which will now be entitled "Cold", and instead the SECOND episode will be entitled "Warped", unlike previously stated.

And unfortunately (for you Deus Ex Machina fans), I'll be on vacation for a couple weeks after the new Arby 'n' the Chief is released. This will give me time to work out Deus Ex Machina's finale for when I return. I'm not exactly sure when.

So yeah, that's all for now. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Deus Ex Machina: Episode 9 - "Doomsday (Part 2 of 2)" [Act 3]

2008-06-28T10:14:00.001-07:00

Hello,

Act 3 of the ninth episode of Deus Ex Machina has just been uploaded to Machinima.com. It runs approximately eight and a half minutes.

View Now:
Machinima
YouTube

Oh, and no. This isn't the last act. It's not finished yet.

I rule.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Updates

2008-06-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hello.

If you're not an idiot, you'll have noticed by now that the blog has a new cleaner, brighter layout. I've done some other things too:

- New cleaner, brighter blog appearance
- New cleaner, brighter forum layout
- Some moderator governing issues fixed (some mods were not set to moderate all forums)
- Link to my YouTube page added at top of main blog page
- Links to individual series playlists added to each series of videos in the lower right menu of the main blog page
- Link to full version of Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie added to lower right video menu of main blog page instead of just two parts
- Arby 'n' the Chief split up into three seasons in lower right video menu

Changes to my personal YouTube page are as follows:

- Some color changes
- Different layout
- Old Videos and Favorites boxes removed, replaced with entire series playlists and "Newest Video" video log box
- Featured video changed to Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie (full)

I have also e-mailed Machinima regarding the absence of Deus Ex Machina: Episode 5 - "Execution" on thier website. I realize it's just the trailer that's up on there right now and not the full episode, so hopefully that situation will be resolved fairly soon.

As I previously mentioned, I have decided to split the current episodes of Arby 'n' the Chief into two seasons, each made of six episodes, and "Brawl" and "Conflict (Part 2 of 2)" being the season finales respectively. I'm not exactly sure when I will begin the third season of Arby 'n' the Chief, but it will be soon, and it will begin with the episode entitled "Warped". That's all I'll say.

I'm trying to get Deus Ex Machina wrapped up in this third act, but there MAY be a fourth if I can't get it finished. Just because the timer for the virus dispension is now at fifty-seven seconds, doesn't mean the episode has fifty-seven seconds to go, there's a LOT of material that occurs after the timer expires.

Finally, I will be going on vacation somewhat soon, starting around July 10th, so there won't be any videos for a few weeks, and I'm gonna take a good long rest and do some relaxed writing for the episodes that will follow my vacation time once I return, including episodes for a brand new series I'm kicking around in my head. That's all I'm gonna say on that subject as well.

So yeah, hope you dig the new shit. The idea is to make it tidier and more seamless between this blog, the forum and my YouTube page, the big three.

Thanks,
Jon

P.S. I'm aware of the "MakeForum" redirection issue on the Forums, I KNOW it's a pain in the ass and you're all frustrated, I'm just as frustrated as you are, but unfortunately it's not something within my control. According to the technical support forum at MakeForum.org, their technicians have been working on the problem as we speak and they hope the situation is resolved soon.

News: Awesome illustration by awesome fan

2008-06-22T19:54:00.001-07:00

A fan who would like to be referred to as Steph drew me this picture as a 20th birthday present, an incredible gesture and so well done that I felt obligated to post it here for you all to see. The attention to detail is very impressive, right down to the barren, snowy Canadian wasteland that can be seen through the screen door on the right! Many thanks to Steph!

Steph has a DeviantArt page which can be found here.

Thanks again!

Jon

Video: Deus Ex Machina: Episode 9 - "Doomsday (Part 2 of 2) [Act 2]"

2008-06-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

Hellew.

Act 2 has been uploaded this Saturday morn'.

View Now:
Machinima
YouTube

NOTE: Links will be updated when video is actually available.

This act is a bit shorter than the last one, but absolutely action packed, which is how I'm justifying its length. Seriously, there's like no room for any dialogue other than grunts and shit because there's so much crazy business happening. Your boxers will be rocked.

Hope you enjoy.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Deus Ex Machina: Episode 9 - "Doomsday (Part 2 of 2) [Act 1]"

2008-06-14T00:46:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

Rather than get your hopes up and disappoint you later, I'll tell you right now that this is just the first act of the final episode of Deus Ex Machina, just over ten minutes in length.

Deus Ex Machina: Episode 9 - "Doomsday (Part 2 of 2") [Act 1]
View Now:

Machinima
YouTube

I had mentioned months ago that I was cutting down on the length of the Deus Ex Machina episodes as it's so much work to do in a week, so that's what I'm doing. Completing Doomsday Part 2 in a single week would be a monumental feat.

So here you go, the first act, and hey, it IS ten minutes, still fairly long, relatively speaking.

The episode may have ONE or TWO more acts, I haven't decided yet. If one more, act two will be pretty long. If two, the two acts will probably be just over ten minutes each as well or something. I'm leaning towards two.

Once all acts have been completed, I will be combining them into one complete episode and uploading it as well, for people that hate acts.

I hope you bear with me and enjoy. Look on the bright side, at least I'm FINALLY getting around to giving this series the finish it deserves.

Thanks,
Jon

News: Machinima tutorial now available.

2008-06-08T22:08:00.001-07:00

The new vid's finally up. Check the blog post below or the video menu on the right for links.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: DigitalPh33r's Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima, Part One

2008-06-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Instead of making another Arby this week, I've decided to answer your desperate e-mails inquiring about "how to make machinima" in the form of a video tutorial ironically created in machinima itself. I'm so clever!

It's the first part, and covers the definition of machinima, the pros and cons of it as opposed to live action filming, what games to use as a medium and legal issues regarding game content and use of music, and brushes on the world of music licensing.

Of course it's laced with a couple comedic sketches and my signature rude humor, so it's not COMPLETELY boring.

I really hope it helps all you guys that e-mailed me asking for help.

View Now:
Machinima
YouTube

Now, as usual on Friday mornings, I'm starving and exhausted to the point of nausea and must rest, so I hope you enjoy.

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Arby 'n' the Chief: Episode 12 - "Conflict (Part 2 of 2)"

2008-05-31T21:12:00.001-07:00

Hello,

Sorry for the delay, episode 12 of Arby 'n' the Chief is now available. The CanWest event last weekend left me no time really to brainstorm for the episode, plus there were a number of issues during the week like recovering my computer from a crippling virus that fucked everything up, so I needed an extra day to work on the episode. It was posted early this morning (Saturday).

View Now:
Machinima
YouTube

I hope you enjoy!

Thanks,
Jon

Video: Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie

2008-05-26T17:18:00.000-07:00

Arby 'n' the Chief is finally done and available on YouTube and Machinima.

I realize there was a problem with it freezing on YouTube and stuff, but Machinima recently re-uploaded the video and split it into two parts, so it should be okay now.

View Now:
Part 1: Youtube
Part 2: Youtube
Full: Machinima (Coming Soon)

Note: It's up on Machinima, but I'm having trouble accessing the website at the moment so I'll update the link later.

Also, I realize Arby 'n' the Chief episode 9 and 10 (I think) have been suspended, I don't quite know what's going on yet but I'll find out.

For those who went to CanWest, thanks a lot for attending and I hope you enjoyed the movie. You may have noticed I'm not the omnipotent jerk I appear to be at times, I was really a pathetic nervous wreck that day. I hope I myself didn't disappoint, and I'm sorry things didn't work out exactly as planned out on my blogpost detailing the CanWest events outline, there were massive technical issues early that morning and I was really late getting to the festival.

Also, big thanks to my good friend D Laz/Lemur (creator of Halo: Epic Movie) who worked on all the uber special effects like the gun sequence and the suicide sequence, may not seem like much but he poured an equal amount of man-hours into the project as I did.

Please check out his new blog at lemurgimmick.blogspot.com.

Enjoy, and thanks again,
Jon

News: Some cool stuff that's cool and stuff

2008-05-22T00:54:00.000-07:00

In the last blog post (or second last, whatever), I mentioned there'd be a trailer for the upcoming Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie.

Well, change of plans. There won't be one, we're under a tight deadline and I couldn't get the footage I needed in time to make a half decent trailer. The trailer that Machinima created last Friday had more to do with Conflict (Part 2 of 2) than the movie.

However, what I WILL tell you is that it will be epic. Here's a synopsis for Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie.

Synopsis:

"Tension is rising as the Arbiter, Cortana, Todd and Travis grow tired of Master Chief and his antics. After a failed game of "pretend" involving all the characters and started by the Chief himself and then watching some of Jon's (DigitalPh33r) material, Master Chief is inspired to create his own epic machinima. The Arbiter makes a bet with Master Chief; if his machinima is a failure, Master Chief has to be nice for a day. If it isn't, the Arbiter and the rest of the gang have to "shut up forever".

After losing the bet and failing miserably, in a strange twist of fate, a video producer in Los Angeles named Skyler Loveheart sees Master Chief's work and is under the impression that it's an intentionally horrific, yet hilarious parody of poor machinima. Blown away, the producer contacts Master Chief and tells him to relocate to the City of Angels to work for him. Master Chief accepts the position and leaves the Arbiter and the rest of the gang behind.

Will Master Chief live up to his expectations in Los Angeles? Is Skyler Loveheart all that he seems? Will the Chief fail miserably or become forever successful, leaving Todd, Cortana, and his only true friend the Arbiter behind for good?"

So yeah, hopefully you'll get a kick out of it. It's been a grueling two weeks for me and D Laz creating this beast. Lots of outdoor shots and epic live action sequences will be featured. Footage for the movie was actually filmed in three different cities, Vancouver, Chilliwack (British Columbia), and Los Angeles in the United States.

The movie also contains a considerable amount (relatively speaking) of special effects, thanks to D Laz.

Here's some behind-the-scenes pictures of me and D Laz (Lemur) during the production of Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie if you're interested.

Remember, Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie will be premiered exclusively on Sunday, May 25th at the CanWest 2008 event in Vancouver, British Columbia (see red text at the top of the blog main page for details), and available online later on the same day, after the event is finished. Sometime in the evening.

I guess that's all for now.

See you at CanWest.

Thanks,
Jon

Notice: Shit.

2008-05-09T12:42:00.001-07:00

In the director's notes of Arby 'n' the Chief episode 11, I said Deus Ex Machina 9 was pushed until early April. I meant June.

- Jon

Video: Arby 'n' the Chief: Episode 11 - "Conflict (Part 1 of 2)"

2008-05-09T04:49:00.001-07:00

Hello all.

Arby 'n' the Chief: Episode 11 - "Conflict" has been uploaded and will be available sometime early Friday afternoon on Machinima.com and a couple of hours later on YouTube.

View Now:
Machinima
YouTube

At the end of this episode, you will be asked to vote in the poll on this main blog page (top-right corner) whether or not you want Todd and Travis to be eliminated from the series. This is due to a lot of negative feedback I've been getting about where the series is headed, so I'm leaving the fate of these two poor characters in your merciless hands.

Please vote. The result of the poll two weeks from now will affect the outcome of the next episode. Either fight to defend Todd and Travis or vote for them to be sent to their doom.

I hope you enjoy this episode!

Also, make sure you read the blog post below this one if you haven't already, it contains very important information regarding my schedule for the following couple of weeks.

Thanks,
Jon