Peter Jackson Is Making Machinima?

Interesting news article from Times Online in the UK which links Peter Jackson to making machinima. But I guess this is what happens when you talk of interactive storytelling at a game conference. ;)

Two weeks ago, Peter Jackson, director of the box-office-busting epics The Lord of the Rings and King Kong, announced: “I’m getting a little bored with films.” More and more, he said, he was looking forward to the release of computer games, not movies. “I do not have to keep delivering stories as movies. There are other things I can do,” he added, then announced he would be creating a series of tales based on the Halo video-game franchise.

To the casual cultural observer, this sounded like the hysterical laughter of Saruman just moments after he had finally accepted the dominion of Sauron, the Dark Lord of Mordor. Yet Jackson’s decision was influenced by a strange and growing trend in which film-school graduates, hardcore gamers and cutting-edge design studios are pulling apart the programming code of high-street video games to create a whole new style of movie-making. This new genre even has a name: machinima.

Overall, the article is a good machinima overview though.

On another note, the Academy has posted the bios of the judges for this years festival over at Machinima.org where you'll find yours truly hanging out at the bottom - alphabetically speaking only ;)