Straight From Video

Long an underground pursuit, machinima has made its way into music videos, TV shows and commercials. Creating a film using video game components not only is cheap, it appeals to both movie buffs and computer game enthusiasts.

"We're broadening the demographic with machinima," said Evan Shapiro, general manager of the Independent Film Channel, which is airing short machinima segments between feature films. "We're taking film purists and introducing them to a new form of entertainment. We're also drawing in a gaming audience."

Actually quite a good article on Machinima over at the LA Times. Intermix of history and introduction to the medium (note its the 'business' section). I definately think machinima is hitting the end of its 'early adopter' crest.

LA Times