The Movies Expansion Confirmed

[Everlost_MI]

Computer and Video Games (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/) has posted a story from the print version PC Gamer (http://www.pcgamer.com/) confirming an expansion for the PC edition of The Movies (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/r/?page=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php?id=134965) is in development. No release date has been set and the title for the expansion pack at this point is "Stunts & Effects Expansion Pack."

Alongside new effects like lasers, water effects, smoke and electrical charges, you'll have the power to direct your jaw-dropping set-pieces - with examples like the ability to fire cars off bridges, causing them to burst into flames given. Of course, to achieve these magical movie moments, you'll need to hire top-class stuntmen to do your bidding - maybe even snagging a stunt award in the process.

On top of all this, Stunts & Effects apparently contains new sets including a bustling city and military barracks, alongside special miniature sets enabling much fancier, more epic camera work than is normally possible. You can even employ model helicopters, spaceships and other objects for impressively choreographed sequences against greenscreen - letting you slip your own backdrops in once the action's been finalised.
Thanks to Blues (http://www.bluesnews.com/) for the tip.

Very cool! Hopefully they will offer a bundle of the original title and the expansion pack to draw some of us fence sitters (me! me!) into the fold.

[DeadPixel]

Lorenzo Lamas already agreed to sign on for Gladiator Cop 2 and Snake Eater 4.

[Citizen Philip]

Umm.. I have this game somewhere but I never installed it. Should I?

[goc_sin]

Cool. I enjoyed the game.

[Grimmjow]

i love making movies with this game SO MANY possibilities

[askheaves]

So... is it possible to add voice acting natively in game, or is it so hard to accomplish that everybody just does subtitles? That missing aspect makes the movies created feel so cheap.

[chazio]

So... is it possible to add voice acting natively in game, or is it so hard to accomplish that everybody just does subtitles? That missing aspect makes the movies created feel so cheap.

there is an in-game voiceover recorder. a lot of people edit it outside of the game and import the voice track, but it is possible to just use the game to do voiceovers.

[The Continental]

Count me amongst the fence sitters. I keep seeing mention of the large library of user made movies online and various contests for making movies using the game, yet none of my regular circle of gaming friends has tried it or even heard anything about it via word of mouth. The game looks promising as hell, but does it really make good on all of its hype or does it suffer from Molyneux-itis?

[slink-jadranko]

The game looks promising as hell, but does it really make good on all of its hype or does it suffer from Molyneux-itis?

Not for me. Well, all of them since Black and White have for me but to varying degrees. I played this one for about 6-8 hours before getting bored of it. I might go back for a time, but I doubt long, and I certainly won't be bothering with the expansion.
It does seem to have a fair amount of controls, and so maybe my impatience is simply that I have far better things to do with my time. That does though include other games.

Probably worth trying somehow before buying...

[Evil Avatar]

Umm.. I have this game somewhere but I never installed it. Should I?

I'm in that same boat. I played it for one night and I felt that the studio aspect of the game felt tacked on and forced (and not fun), so I uninstalled it.

[Spigot]

The movie making part is a lot of fun. It's the studio part that tends to drag. I really need to get back to working on that aspect so I can unlock everything and actually make whatever movie my heart desires.

I just have many other gaming options that are more fun at the moment.

I do recommend it. I'd probably also recommend looking for a save file online so you can just unlock everything and get to the fun part, which are the movie-making tools.

[askheaves]

So, did they bother to draw a line between it being a 'game' and being a 'production tool?' Or did they try to make 'making movies fun!!1' I don't think I could tolerate a tool that got in the way of making a movie by adding stupid required tasks or by making the interface clunkier. I also don't think I would choose 'making movies' as a fun game play mechanic, seeing it more as crazy obsessive-compulsion-laden nights of hair pulling trying to get the perfect animation and voice over for a segment.

[Spigot]

The problem, as it were, is that there is a wonderful movie making program that has a somewhat dull and clunky tycoon-style game overlaid on it. In order to unlock all of the different sets, props, etc., one must first play through the tycoon part of the game.

Granted, I've only made it to the early 1940's (the game goes to 2005) and have had a blast making movies. I just don't enjoy having to deal with pissed off actors, messy studios, etc.

Well, I won't go THAT far. I actually don't mind the studio stuff but compared to the sheer joy that is scriptwriting, editing and filming, it's rather dull.