Blog - Completely Machinima

S5 E187 Machinima News Omnibus (June 2025)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes June 25, 2025 Leave a reply

Another packed month of updates – lots of projects, a few games releases, the usual genAI avalanche and Predator, the world’s first BIG BUDGET machinima! Click the links, check out our comments and do add your own.

https://dashboard.transistor.fm/shows/and-now-for-something-completely-machinima/episodes/s5-e187-machinima-news-omnibus-june-2025/edit

YouTube Version of This Episode

Show Notes & Links

Machinima projects –

I spent 30 days in a dead game by Globert –

The GTA6 trailer but made in GTA5 by Gu1maz –

I Modded Fast Traffic Into RDR2. Now It’s a Horror Game by Blurbs –

Cyberpunk 2077: POV Hyper-Realistic Motorbike Ride on RTX 5090 with DreamPunk 3.1.1 Graphics in 8K by NextGen Dreams –

Haruki made in UE5 by Bad Decisions Studio –

IMicky Mouse by Mickey Mouse, made by J C Thornton –

Not machinima

Solstice 5: Forgotten archives by Paul Chadeisson –

generative AI projects

Corporation War by Solo Films –

Purely artistic using an aesthetic of origami by Kelly Boesch AI Art –

Where’s Alice by Aaron Sims Creative –

On genAI developments

Eleven Labs launched v3, check out the video update –

v3: 70+ languages from 33 with coverage from 60% to 90% of the world’s population; Dialogue Mode: Handles natural interruptions, tone shifts, and emotional flow across multiple speakers; Audio tags: Guide delivery with tags like [whispers], [angry], [laughs], or [door creaks]—controlling performance in fine detail. Its impressive stuff!

Veo3 about here and demo vid here –

A bit of Game News

The Elden Ring Nightreign DLC came out in the last month and was downloaded a record 3.5M times in 5 days… I wonder how many of those were Ricky? And, what’s the verdict on it?

007 First Light put out a first trailer –

A big budget machinima?

Predator: Killer of Killers, released June 2025 –

and discussion at State of Unreal 2025 –

S5 E186 WoW: I’m So Sick (June 2025)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes June 18, 2025 Leave a reply

Our latest deep dive into machinima history, and this month we focus on Baron Soosdon, a Finnish creator whose work is legendary among us. The film pick, I’m So Sick, is an excellent example of the type of work he produced during his machinima career (circa 2006-2011) which, shockingly, never actually won an award – it was however runner up at a Bitfilm Festival. The film is a WoW fan fiction and a cultural mashup of its era, including subtle references to some of the key happenings in niche entertainment at the time: release of Edge of Remorse by Jason Choi (machinima), Ergo Proxy’s classic anime series, appearances by the WoW legendary band L70ETC, the BlackWingLair level play-throughs and Lacey Sturm’s incredible primal scream and the Flyleaf music video, song of the same title. Enjoy the discussion.

YouTube Version of This Episode

https://youtu.be/UN92SAzYMgI

Show Notes & Links

I’m So Sick by Baron Soosdon, released in September 2007 –

For those interested in the back story about the Elite Tauren Chieftain band, the fan wiki has some interesting dates and appearances here and here is a video about the band –

This is Flyleaf’s music video of I’m So Sick –

ETC’s best known song, Power of the Horde, was recorded by LFP Gaming in 2009 –

and here is a link to an Ergo Proxy playlist, the anime series mentioned in the discussion and included in the backgrounds of the film –

This is the film that inspired Baron Soosdon to create WoW machinima, back in 2006 –

and here is Baron Soosdon’s alt ego channel’s latest release, as a musician –

S5 E185 Starfield: Dark Side of Luna (June 2025)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes June 4, 2025 Leave a reply

Yup, there’s nothing to do in Starfield, except this kind of thing! Seriously, we love how this teases a potential mod by the creator, Starfield Cinematic, and we reflect on the portrayal of the characters, the juxtaposition of the narrator voices and the pacing in what is essentially just a teaser. One thing we all agree on is just how stunning this game world is.

YouTube Version of This Episode

https://youtu.be/SQhEA-an2NA

Show Notes & Links

Starfield: Dark Side of Luna – Unofficial Teaser by Starfield Cinematic, released 1 Sept 2024

Barely Not Monkey’s Adrift Part 1 (Star Citizen), just as a reminder –

S5 E184 NPC vs Man: Rat Bait (May 2025)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes May 28, 2025 Leave a reply

If you are going to troll the griefers in GTA, this is surely the coolest way to do it, without actually becoming a griefer yourself! In this short, by Putther Uncut (released 5 June 2022), we follow a let’s play style narrative of the creator pretending to be a rat NPC. The video is hilarious – who knew rats could be so dangerous!

YouTube Version of This Episode

https://youtu.be/FZzMaQ1HONM

Show Notes & Links

I Pretended To Be a RAT NPC in GTA RP and Trolled the ENTIRE SERVER | DonDada RP, by Putther Uncut, released 5 June 2022

S5 E183 Total War: Battle of BADR 624 AD (May 2025)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes May 21, 2025 Leave a reply

This week we delve into the use of a total war game to recreate historic battles. In our focal video, the Battle of Badr 624 AD: Rise of Islam by Bellum et Historia released on 16 November 2024, we reflect on the modding and creative process, the use of game technologies and the types of documentation used to achieve the outcome.

YouTube Version of This Episode