In case you missed the news, Moviestorm is now officially out of beta. Last Friday, just minutes after I'd finished talking to Matt Kelland and Dave Lloyd for an upcoming overcast episode, the Moviestorm Early Access 1.0 release went public. There are still some items to be addressed before an official release, but the reviews coming in via their forum are very strong indeed.

And let me take a moment to personally add to that: Moviestorm is simply awesome. Even in its unfinished form, I cannot describe what a joy it is to get to spend so much of my production time working on the MOVIE rather than wrestling with a video game not designed for what I'm trying to do. I think you'll find it to be a breath of fresh air too.

If there was a list of ten most amazing moments in machinima history, tell me the announcement that the Moviestorm core program would be FREE isn't right at the top of that list. The highly guarded news first broke in this Cambridge Evening News Online story. I had heard the rumor because I'd been working as Technical Editor on Machinima For Dummies (which includes a copy of Moviestorm on its DVD), but when I actually saw it confirmed in print it really blew me away.

The people behind Moviestorm have said they want to put movie-making tools in the hands of a million new filmmakers. Have you tried it yet? Download it here for FREE.

To commemorate the occasion, here is one of Frank Fox's most recent Moviestorm creations: