While the folks at Blizzard Entertainment have made a name for themselves by making popular titles with great gameplay, the company has also been known for moving in-game cinematics to a new level of quality and storytelling. In keeping with this tradition of quality pre-rendered cut scenes, they have now released a "behind the scenes" look at making the introductory cinematic for World of Warcraft.

The four-minute video shows glimpses of the multiple stages of the cinematic from this upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG (MMORPG). It weighs in at 68MB and is available from Blizzard's new BitTorrent download system for those running OS X 10.3.

An accompanying Q&A has been posted at PC IGN, talking to Blizzard's Matt Samia, director of cinematics. Here's a description of the piece from him:

IGNPC: Walk us through the events in the trailer. Just what sorts of things are we looking at? What sort of overall effect are you going for?

Matt Samia: This is a "behind the scenes" look at some of the elements of the World of Warcraft intro, in various stages of completion. We're showing some character models, tests involving dynamic simulations, tests of hair shaders, etc. None of this is finished work, which is a real departure for us. We've had lots of people asking for "behind the scenes" material in the past, and we think people will be interested in seeing a bit of how Blizzard cinematics are created".

Download Blizzard Behind the Scenes Cinematic

World of Warcraft Cinematic Interview

Blizzard Entertainment (add to watch list)

World of Warcraft (add to watch list)

Buy World of Warcraft

Click to enlarge

Inside Mac Games has posted a review of Rally Shift, Code Blender's latest shareware game. Here's a clip from the review:

Rally Shift offers three game play modes: Time Attack, Single Race and Championship. The game includes five tracks only two of which are available at first. The other two need to be unlocked by playing through the championship.

Cars include the Mitsubishi Lancer (three versions), Subaru Imprezza and the Ford Focus. Weights and power vary by car, but I did not feel a significant difference when playing them. The color schemes are reminiscent of the popular Rally teams but lack sponsor names – this is understandable given the lack of an official license.

IMG Review: Rally Shift

CodeBlender (add to watch list)

Rally Shift (add to watch list)

Click to enlarge

Inside Mac Games and Pangea Software are offering IMG Pro users an exclusive chance to help beta test Pangea's upcoming release of Nanosaur 2. Now available through your Hot Downloads link, you can download a beta of the Nanosaur 2 demo. Pangea's Brian Greenstone is asking IMG Pro users who download the beta to send in bug reports through the email link provided on the Hot Downloads page.

If you're not a subscriber to IMG Pro, here's a bit more info on the subscription service:

IMG Pro is a subscriber version of the Inside Mac Games website that allows you to turn off all advertisements and customize the homepage to show only the items you want. IMG Pro also features a choice of themes, and a new QuickSearch feature that lets you find what you're looking for, faster and easier, plus Hot Downloads to download the latest demos at blazing speeds.

IMG Pro

IMG Pro: Hot Downloads

Pangea Software (add to watch list)

Nanosaur 2: Hatchling (add to watch list)

Buy Nanosaur 2: Hatchling

On tonight’s broadcast of The Gamesome Mac, the Mac gaming radio program, hosts Sean Smith and Omaha Sternberg talk with Nathan Lamont of Bigger Planet.

Nathan is the developer of the classic action-strategy game Ares, published by Ambrosia Software, and of Bigger Planet’s own recently released and well-received retro arcade shooter Starbase Defender.

Sean and Omaha will also offer Mac gaming news, reviews, and commentary, and together with their guest will take questions live from listeners in The Gamesome Mac’s chat room.

The Gamesome Mac can be heard live on MacRadio from 6 to 8 pm Pacific Time, 9 to 11 pm Eastern (Tuesday from 0200 to 0400 UTC), and on demand thereafter. You can tune in at The Gamesome Mac’s web page, where you’ll also find archives of past broadcasts. QuickTime 5 or 6 and a 28 kbps or faster Internet connection are required.

The Gamesome Mac (add to watch list)

Bigger Planet

Ares (add to watch list)

Starbase Defender

Search for other Mac games news stories or browse our Mac Games News Archive.