G’day from New Zealand, Weta supporters!

Well it’s been another busy month here at Weta HQ, with lots of exciting developments!

The Bungie team recently had a test drive of the Warthog we created for the Halo shorts, and we caught it on vid! Check out the hilarious carpark derby, complete with ‘commentary’!

Weta Bug recently revealed our work on two Radical Publishing projects, Hercules and Medieval. The design team had a great time coming up with illustrations for these very cool stories, and you can check out the inspiration behind these here.

The world of Dr Grordbort’s continues to expand. The testimonials page has had four new character additions and two web exclusive comics from the adventures of Lord Cockswain!

Dr Grordbort’s fans and artists around the globe have been busy getting involved, too. This month on the Weta Forums, we held a competition asking punters to send in their craziest, wackiest and most entertaining acronym for the F.M.O.M. Industries Wave Disrupter Gun. And the winners are…
1st Prize: Future Masters Of Mankind
Highly Commended: Formerly Mike’s of Massapequa and Flouroquantum Moleculular Oscillating Munitions.

Across the world, a Lord Cockswain lookalike was spotted in a faraway jungle, a new art piece from a Raygun inspired artist graced the web pages of WetaHolics and the ManMelter was named Most Stunning Raygun‘ in a fan poll dedicated to the weapon!

The web team recently revealed an exclusive preview of the upcoming game, Hellgate: London on WetaHolics – which teased and tantalised fans who are looking forward to the October 31 release date. Next month, we’ll be revealing an exciting new Hellgate: London competition … more details coming soon!

Meanwhile, we have released further details of our work on the second film from The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian, with concept illustrations from the design files, and more details of exactly what armour, weapons and miniatures we have been working on.

Weta Co-Director Richard Taylor, designers Chris Guise and Daniel Falconer and Weta Bug headed down to the book launch of ‘Champ The Chopper’ earlier this month. It was a great success, with Author Rebekah Palmer wrapped at the feedback she received from kids and families alike.

Wellingtonians can now get their Raygun fix by checking out Pop Up, a very cool local gallery here in the Capital. They are our first Wellington stockist of the Dr Grordbort’s range – check out their site and online store here.

Talking of the Capital, the city has been abuzz with excitement as the WOW Wearable Art Awards™ take place. Richard Taylor was on hand to present the Weta Award to the entry that best fused film and costume. Congratulations from the Weta team to David Walker from Alaska, who designed a beautiful piece with wooden shutters, titled Prehistoric Princess.

That’s it from the Weta team for now – we’ll keep you posted!

If you have any feedback or suggestions, please feel free to contact our friendly Customer Services team on info@wetanz.co.nz and drop us a line.

Weta Limited . Po Box 15-208 . Miramar . Wellington . New Zealand
Email: info@wetanz.co.nz . Website: www.wetanz.com
 
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Weta harnessed for gaming 'first' Wellywood’s next hit could be on the small screen, with the release today of the PlayStation 3 game Heavenly Sword. The game’s character dynamics are a product of the Weta Digital motion capture studio, which is part-owned by Peter Jackson. Jackson helped to develop the game version of his 2005 blockbuster King Kong, and Weta Digital’s graphics were used in the Lord of the Rings’ gaming equivalent. Jackson is leading the development of a series of games for PlayStation’s main rival, Microsoft, based on the Halo franchise. Halo 3, due out next week, is expected to raise the stakes in the international game market.

Weta harnessed for gaming ‘first’

G’day from New Zealand, Weta supporters!

A big shout to all the Weta supporters who came and said hey at the San Diego Comic Con last month. It was a blast and we can’t wait for next years’ event! Check out our Image Gallery for Weta Bug’s pix of the event – plenty to see! [More]

Multiple Oscar-winner Weta Workshop will be key to Tourism New Zealand’s new campaign to promote the country to overseas tourists. Animated images of Maui hauling the North Island from the sea have been devised by Richard Taylor’s creative artists to re-launch the 100% New Zealand campaign. [More]

Star actors in Academy Award-winning filmmaker James Cameron’s latest film move to Wellington in October for their performances to be incorporated in fantasy worlds created by the Weta workshops.

Showbusiness newspaper Variety reported that Cameron had added two more cast members to the science fiction film Avatar, Stephen Lang and Michelle Rodriguez, who have joined Australian actor Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Wes Studi and CCH Pounder.

“In October, the company will move to Wellington close to Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital, which is supervising the film’s visual effects,” Variety reported today. Thirty-one days of live-action photography will be carried out on Weta’s soundstages. [More]