For those who may have missed the latest Comic-Con, it's worth remembering that a Warcraft movie is finally on the way. After nearly a decade, the conflict between humans and orcs will reach the big screen... though eleven months of waiting still remain. Meanwhile, the folks at Industrial Light & Magic, tasked with all the effects for this project, present Skies of Azeroth, a 360-degree video soaring over Stormwind.
Personally, I have to say that I haven't really liked Blizzard's recent work. Almost all of it feels disconnected from what players want, with the apparent exception of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, a card game with more than 30 million registered accounts. Being free-to-play is definitely a plus, since participants focus on spending money on resources that provide specific advantages... but if the best the Warcraft universe can offer today is a card game, I think those in charge should ask themselves a question or two. Granted, World of Warcraft remains the number one MMORPG on the planet with more than seven million subscriptions; however, we're in 2015, and consumer expectations have changed.
Which brings us to the movie. The original announcement was made in May 2006, before falling into a true development hell. Delays, director replacements (Uwe Boll wanted to direct it, for heaven's sake...), rejected scripts, date changes, and a long etcetera stretched the chaotic situation for nearly a decade. Its definitive director is Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code), with a release date of June 10, 2016, another change after December 18 was taken by Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The responsibility for the effects falls to Industrial Light & Magic, and as a promotion, they created a 360-degree video with a gryphon flying over the city of Stormwind.
The recommendation is to use Google Chrome to play the video and set the resolution to maximum (when possible), otherwise you'll miss many details in what is already a fairly basic short. Still, that doesn't stop fans from being excited about the movie. Caution is logical given all the video-game-to-movie adaptations made so far. Perhaps, and only perhaps, Warcraft might become the exception.
