I was thinking the other day about The Leet World and doing a bit of reflecting on the Counter-Strike machinima that was, and I remembered some cool pieces of commentary that I’ve been wanting to share with you guys. Normally, this kind of stuff would come up in a podcast, but as we haven’t had any time to ourselves lately, I thought it’d be good to go ahead and post it.

Here are some lost TLW factoids for you to nom on.

• Player was originally going to be a girl. Yes, how very Spriggs (and Red vs Blue, come to think of it) of us. I’m not sure when the decision was made. Somewhere in the middle of making the first episode, we felt that if Player ever got a voice, the voice would have to be funnier than what he already was. We decided we could never top him as he has always existed in the show, so he stayed voiceless and male-ish.

• Asher’s original name was Jenkins. As many have surmised, Leeroy, the World of Battlelore player extraordinaire, was named after Leeroy Jenkins. As even more of a nod to the classic video, we were going to name Asher as “Jenkins”. We eventually changed this idea so that people wouldn’t start assuming that Leeroy and Asher were twins, seeing as how they shared the same model. Asher’s actual name is a reference to Ash, the android in Ripley Scott’s Alien.

• Westheimer was going to be Chet’s father. This is one that I’m still kind of sad we ditched. For whatever reason, we chunked it by the end of season 1, but Westheimer was intended to be Chet’s father. This adds even extra humor to Chet’s lamentation in Episode 5 about never knowing his father.

• Ahmad’s original murderer? The Producer. After Asher detonated (inside the warehouse instead of outside), the gang was going to leave the burning building behind, assuming Ahmad’s demise was inevitable. He is eventually found by the Producer and some Noonien soldiers. Ahmad reaches to the Producer for help and is shocked when Prod pulls out a silenced pistol, executing him amidst the rubble of de_nuke. The Producer simply walks away, ordering the soldiers to “Clean up this mess”. As awesome as this would have been, it was just a little bit too brutal and far less heroic for our lovable noob.

There are plenty more where those came from. Feel free to send in your questions about The Leet World, I’d love to give out more information like this. And come back on Wednesday for more Web Zeroes!

In this episode, we see the house operating under some new dynamics, and the effects of Leeroy’s departure from several sides. Also, there are lulz. Anywho, check the TLW Premiere page to see a high-res version of the episode. Clear your browser cache if you’re still getting the old video.

See the new ep after the jump!

I’d like to give a special shout out to our webmaster Jeff (better known as JJ around these parts) for writing this episode. As I’ve said before, we divided this Season into 4 distinct arcs, each consisting of 3-4 episodes apiece. We are now on the third arc of the show, which Jeff is lending his expert penmanship to. He also wrote episodes 9 and 13 of Season One.

Also, as always, thanks to Jace (AKA Damn Dangerous) for the killer tunes. He always surprises me with each song, and seriously, listening to the music is one of the most exciting parts of each episode before we release it. We’ve easily got the best music in a machinima series. By a mile. Give him props and double props, plz.

Enjoy!

Season 2 will be the last season of The Leet World.

I know this comes as a shock to a few of you, but there are quite a few good reasons that the show we all know and love will draw to a close over the next few months. And amidst all of that, there is even some good news that I think you can all be extremely excited about, but more on that later.

We started working on The Leet World back in May of 2007. To be honest, we thought we would only ever make a couple of episodes of it and then we’d give up on the thing altogether. We’ve been called a lot of things over the course of our lives, and motivated typically wasn’t one of them. But then something really awesome and shocking happened — people wanted more of it.

So around Episode 3 or 4 of the first season, we mapped out where we wanted the show to go. Over the course of a few weeks, we brainstormed, hashed some things out, and then came up with a really exciting story that would cover three full seasons worth of episodes. From that point on, we have been committed to that idea for the entire show.

So why is Season 2 the last, then? Read on for the text wall explanation, as well as a really awesome announcement.

There are two main reasons for this (and a few smaller ones), and both of them kind of tie together, so bear with me. Many of you are aware that we just do this as a part-time hobby. In reality, it can be called a part-time job. We work about 15-20 hours a week on The Leet World in addition to our 40 hour-a-week jobs. We’ve now given the last 2 years of our lives to this show.

The thing about machinima is that it can’t be sold. We can’t charge anybody for DVD’s, or any other merchandise that has the characters on it, because they belong to Valve, makers of Counter-Strike: Source. In fact, we can’t even really capitalize on our Web site traffic or our YouTube subscribers because of this.

I know that many of you have kindly suggested that we just ask Valve, but this is a complicated process that goes beyond just sending a friendly e-mail. While I can’t go into the details of this claim, the fact of the matter is that Valve is not interested in commercial machinima at all. To put it simply, we will never make a dime on The Leet World, ever.

That being said, money isn’t the reason we’re ending the show. While it was always a cool dream to make a living doing something that we loved, it was never the priority. But in the real world, as much as it sucks, you’ve got pay the bills.

This brings us to the second reason. All three of us have made some pretty hefty sacrifices financially, socially, etc, in order to keep this show going as long as it has. Daniel in particular has put some really promising career opportunities on hold in order to wait and see what the developments would be for Smooth Few Films. After all, if you can make a living doing something awesome with your friends, wouldn’t you wait and see how it worked out?

However, in recent months, Daniel has started to make plans to pursue some of his career options that lie elsewhere, especially after the recent confirmation that TLW could never net us any income. This means he’s going to be moving to another city later this year, where he can no longer participate in The Leet World. And if that’s the case, Nick and I would rather wrap it up than continue on without him. We fully support him in this. It makes no sense for him to continue putting his life on hold for a show that can’t support us, as fun as it is to make.

The three of us got into this thing together, and we want to end it that way, too. I know that some of you will want to volunteer to step in, but this isn’t a matter of manpower or having enough people to continue. As our director and friend, Daniel is irreplaceable. We’ve been best friends for years, and truthfully, I wouldn’t be able to stand to work with anybody else as much as Daniel and Nick over the course of each week. And if one of us has to go and do what’s best for him, we don’t want to make the show without him. It really is as simple as that.

So… what’s the good news?

The good news is that even though the series is ending with Season 2, we are committed to finish what we started. We love these characters and this story too much to simply let it fizzle out like damn near every other machinima on the Internet. After all, we had 3 seasons we wanted to make.

That’s why, after Season 2 is over, TLW: The Movie will release this Winter, and wrap up the story and the show. It will pretty much be a condensed version of what Season 3 would have been, put into an epic action packed conclusion. And believe me, from the stuff we’re already planning for this thing — it is going to have face melting potential. It essentially gets to the good stuff without all the fluff that an episodic show is bound to have. We plan on having a lot of fun with it, and pushing Counter-Strike:Source as far as we can.

I know that some of you are going to be bummed by this news. Hell, some of you might even be angry, and I suppose that’s kind of understandable. But really, there’s nothing in particular that you can blame for the end of TLW. It’s nobody’s “fault”. These things just happen, and a fact of life is that good things don’t always last forever.

Besides, it’s just better that we end it on our terms, rather than because we got burned out or sick of making the show in a year or so. The Leet World really is a labor of love, and I for one would like to send it out with a blaze of glory while we still love making it, rather than just abruptly ending it in a half-assed way somewhere down the line.

Beyond that, Nick and I will continue to do smaller productions (including TLW shorts), so this isn’t an end to SFF as we know it, or even your favorite characters… well, the ones that make it, anyway. You’ve still got half a season and an awesome movie left, so enjoy it while it lasts, and be glad that you got to be a part of it while it was still around.

We really appreciate all you fans. Thanks for (hopefully) taking the time to read this, and feel free to leave a comment. Episode 8 should be out early next week.

Just to prevent any unnecessary craziness, all comments will have to be approved to go up on the site.

It also officially marks the halfway point of Season 2, in terms of the story we’re telling. Does that mean the whole season is going to be 14 episodes? Maybe, maybe not. We’ll see how it unfolds.

But just like Episode 8 was a big mile marker last season, this episode is serving the same function. And just like last year, we’re taking a few weeks off to get ready for the back half of this epic season. We need it!

Remember, you can watch a higher res version at the TLW premiere page, or just watch it after the jump!

Do be careful about spoilers if you decide to read the comments before watching the video. Super big thanks to Damn Dangerous for yet another rocking score. Some of the moments in this episode gave me chills, for real.

Enjoy!

Remember, you can watch a higher res version at the TLW premiere page.

Anywho, some surprises are in store for the cast (and you dudes) in Episode 7, to say the least. You might pick up on one or two through the screenshots, or maybe there’s nothing there at all and I just want to make your brains hurt. Both of these things are possible.

Enjoy!

I’m really thinking you guys are going to dig this episode and the next one, which will be out by the end of March. Some cool stuff is going down, and I think you’ll like where it’s all pointing. Remember, you can check out a higher resolution version on the TLW premiere page.

Or, just check the episode out after the jump!

Enjoy!

To view a higher res version of the episode, go to the premiere page.

However, we’re all good now. Well, I am. Daniel is still his evil self, with his plots and schemes.

Also, Web Zeroes Episode 3 should be out the week following that. This episode really gets into the stuff we’ve been dying to get to, which is just the three geeks doing their thing. It’s even got orcs, friend requests and mana.

In other news we’ve got a sweet new feature over at GamerSushi, 7 Things a Gamer Should Never Admit. Check it out!

And here’s a fun poll for you dudes to sound off about. Remember, if you’re having trouble logging in, just refresh. Tell us your thoughts!