New Machinima Prime Show Combines Video Games And Pain

Former Attack of the Show host Kevin Pereira has produced several web series through his production company, Super Creative, and the studio’s latest effort has found a home on Machinima Prime. The YouTube Original Channel will release Player Vs. Pain, a video game competition that lies somewhere between Major League Gaming and Distraction.

The premise of Player Vs. Pain is simple: top gamers, many of whom will be affiliated with the Machinima network, must compete in various video game challenges while being subjected to painful “tortures” as rewards for their virtual successes. For example, one episode will require Halo players to endure a paintball shot to the body for each in-game kill, while another will reward Tetris players by waxing some of their hair off for each line they clear. It’s like a sick mix of typical Machinima fare and operant conditioning.

Pereira’s previous web efforts through Super Creative include web series like The Playlist and Megabit. “Working with Machinima to bring this twisted concept to reality has been an intensely rewarding process,” he said. “I can’t wait for viewers to feel the need to clear their browser history after watching dominatrixes employ shock-collars and wiffle-bats in unexpected ways. They clearly know their audience and we’re just happy to produce content we believe in.” I’m not sure how a wiffle bat can be used unexpectedly, but based on the thoughts running through my head, I hope Pereira doesn’t mean what I think he means.

The series seems like a roided-up version of a previous Machinima Prime series, The Controller, which also placed pasty nerds in awkward situations and filmed the results. Somehow I feel things are about to get a bit more violent this time around.