Lionhead Studios announced recently that movie-making sim and machinima creator The Movies is now available for the Mac.

The studios also have a demo up on their site for Mac users. The Mac version got a director's cut treatment, adding some new features for this latest port. Brian Crecente

The movies for Mac [Lionhead Studios]

I didn't play The Movies... from everything I read, it sounded like the fun machinima generator I always wanted wrapped up in a plodding, completely pointless sim game.

Now I want to, despite all that. This machinima of zombie Bruce Lee versus shotgun-wielding Chuck Norris is great enough to make me sit through even the most plodding, pointless sim game for a chance to jizz my creative juices. Florian Eckhardt

Game site Kikizo has an interview up the legendary Peter Molyneux (Fable, The Movies) in which the designer dishes on Microsoft's acquisition of his Lionhead Studios. So things must have gotten worse, right? With Peter Moore sneaking around and all, constantly taking off his shirt to show staffers his 24-inch guns. Not so, says the Lionhead leader.

Being an independent developer now is very, very difficult. And I found, a lot of my time, a lot of the decisions that Lionhead were taking, we were FORCED to take because we were an independent developer, and it was starting to affect the quality of our games. That's not the reason I started Lionhead. I started Lionhead to make truly unique, fantastic, original games. And at that point, Lionhead and Microsoft joined together. And that is the absolute truth, that is not a pre-prepared answer, it's a really...

Molyneux then said he would be at Lionhead for a long time unless he was abducted by aliens, which "could happen" he added with a laugh. That Molyneux sure is a kidder. Brian Ashcraft

Good Interview, Too Many CAPS [Kikizo]

VH1's new game site, Game Break, points out that Lionhead has freshened up their Movies site. The make-over is in preperation for The Movies upcoming expansion pack Stunts and Effects, which hits on June 6. The relaunch includes giving The Movies movie-makers the ability to market and promote their Sim-like films with posters. The site will also have new categories for films made with the expansion pack. Finally, people who buy the expansion pack will get their site disk space bumped up from 10 megs to 25 megs. So far the site is host to almost 90,000 movies, which, if played back-to-back, would take 196 days to watch. That and the ability to stomach an endless stream of cliche-ridden blockbuster knock-offs. Brian Crecente

The Movies: You are Spielberg [VH1's Game Break]l

But the good news is that support for The Movies shall continue and that current Lionhead staff are hard at work on "an amazing next generation title".

Report: Lionhead To Re-Organize, Lay Off Staff [Gamasutra]

Contrary to original reports, Worth Playing reports that Lionhead Studios issued a statement today that said they are still in fact prepping The Movies for release on home consoles. Activision dismissed the game from its console line-up, but Lionhead apparently expects someone else to publish the console version. The return of easy mode machinima!

The Movies Not Cancelled [Worth Playing]
The Movies Canned for Consoles

The console versions of The Movies have been canned, according to Gamersmark. Activision says they decided to pull the plug on the inventive title because the PC version didn't do well enough.

Wow, that's shocking. The Movies is a fantastic game and a streamlined machinima creator to boot.

Activision Cans The Movies [Gamersmark]

There's not one, but two pieces up over at Wired about the machinima-enabling movie simulator. The first, a review of the game, looking at the mechanics and the "how" of the game's functionality. The second piece concerns the actual creation of machinima within the game and how popular the machinima community surrounding The Movies has become. Our impressions of the machinima-tool-meets-The Sims can be found here.

Machinima for the Masses [Wired]
Thumbs Up for Movie-Making Game [Wired]
The Movies Impressions

Those of you planning to attend the Sundance Film Festival this year may want to check out the "Chrysler in the Movies: Virtual Film Competition." It's a contest in which the participants make a film with Activision's The Movies and upload it for consideration. Hmm, that might make it a legitimate business reason for me to attend. What do you say, Nick?

Sundance to launch virtual content [Hollywood Reporter]

You know it's a slow news day when publishers start sending out emails about the clothes in a game.

Activision announced today that they penned a deal with John Malkovich's Uncle Kimono line of clothes to allow the duds to appear in The Movies. You can't make this stuff up.

Starting in January, players will be able to log on to the official site and use virtual credits earned from creating and uploading movies to the site to purchase virtual versions of the outfits.

Malkovich is quoted as saying that his collection "has resonance of late 1950’s California beach boys, some Palm Springs Rat Pack, a touch of lounge lizards, and a recollection of a Swiss banker who'’s been let go."” Which totally explains the Uncle Kimono name, totally.

The Movies [Community Site]

Activision sent out a missive today tooting their own horn about the excellent machinima The French Democracy. We first wrote about this last month, after Clive Thompson pointed it out. The machinima, created with The Movies, is a short about the riots in France that uses the dramatized lives of three black French citizens who follow different paths but all end up rioting.

Activision points out that the short, made by French designer Alex Chan, has attracted international media attention showing up in the Washington Post, MTV, Business Week and 20 Minutes. (A French newspaper with a circulation of more than 800,000)

They also got comment from their own Peter Molyneux.

With The Movies we wanted to make a game that allows anyone to easily express themselves by making a short film and posting them online to share with the world. Alex s film, which is absolutely terrific, really demonstrates the potential power and impact that these films can have.

And from Chan himself.

I did not expect such a reaction to my little home-made movie, but I have spread some human values that are important to me. I'm very happy that The French Democracy has moved so many people, even if it is not always in a positive way. I'm very glad and proud that this movie may help people to think a bit more.

It's nice to see a game that is not only fun to play, but is also a palette for those creative enough to use it.

A Thinking Man's Machinima [Kotaku]

Clickable Culture has a lengthy look at some terms and conditions that The Movies has when submitting content to Lionhead for its gallery of user created films. Basically, the rights to the films and their "additional content" (user-created, original content) goes to Lionhead. Ouch.

The official fan sharing site for The Movies hasn't been up that long, but there are already 3,400 gamer-created movies available to watch. If you haven't heard about this PC game, it's a blast. It's basically a sim that also allows you to make your own very robust machinima. Check out some of The Movies fan favorites over on the site.

The Movies Movies [Official Site]

I've been slowly working my way through the mammoth stack of games on my desk and had a chance to play around with The Movies over the weekend. I haven't played it nearly enough to write my full review yet, but certainly enough to know that it's a great game. It was really delightful to watch the efforts of my fledgling studio: A black and white silent "film" that lasted all of 30 seconds and showed a woman trying to live a huge barbell.

What's cool about this game is that it so seamlessly slips between strategy simulator and a simplified machinima maker. I haven't yet gotten to my studio to the point where it can create full-length color feature films with sound and special effects, but that's coming. The genius of The Movies is that the payout isn't just doing well in the game, it's being allowed to create increasingly intricate movies as your studio succeeds.

To Sims fans the game will be very familiar. You won't have to micro-manage your workers (you hire everyone from directors and stars to the janitor by plucking people hanging out in lines at the studio's doors and dropping them in the appropriate building), but you will have to keep them happy. You do this but sprucing up the studio and giving stars the occasional make-over. The happier the cast and staff the better your movies.

Creating a film can be as automated or hands-on as you would like it to be. By plopping down writers in one of the genre rooms (like comedy or action) they will automatically create a generic film based on what sort of sets you own and cast you have.

I haven't moved far enough through the game to do more hands on development, but my understanding is that I will eventually be able to write my own story by putting together pre-created scenes.

Once the script is written you just choose the director and cast and the get to work. You can actually watch the film being created from a God's eye view or slip into the shoes of any of the people involved and see it through their eyes. It's very neat. Once the film is done, you can hop over to the screening room and actually watch, a very cool experience the first few times.

The fact that The Movies also offers the ability to upload your films to their site so others can watch it will very likely make this game a smashing success.

I hope they come out with some very cool Sims-esque expansion packs. There is so much potential here.

It's fitting that it's not words, but an image that announces Lionhead Studios upcoming game The Movies has gone gold. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

The Movies Goes Gold [Lionhead Studios]
Auteurs Unite at The Movies Online

Lionhead Studios and Activision announced plans to create a community for the November release The Movies. The Movies Online will be a place for directors to upload and show their films to the community. There will be a variety of awards and film festivals taking place throughout the game's lifespan (assuming all goes well at retail). The Movies is obviously a platform for the creation of machinima, hell the entire game is built on crafting movies. The Movies if done correctly could spawn an entire subculture of movie-making within the game's engine. Let's hope the game itself is as customizable and flexible as it is ambitious.

Lionhead and Activision Launch The Movies Online [Team Xbox]

The Movies isn t due out until November, but you can get a head start on casting your films. The company is releasing a free stand-alone character builder called StarMaker which allows you to create your virtual actors and import them into the game when it is released. Right now the only place you can get it is with a Best Buy preorder, but word is that the company will soon be releasing it on their website for download.

The Movies [Official Site]

The Movies had quite a showing at Edinburgh. The head of Lionhead studios says that the game will be coming out in November and revealed that the Monkey God from Black & White will be available as a bonus costume in the game.

Bring on the poo-flinging shenanigans of Monkey God.