Halo 2 Machinimist Makes it Big

Against all odds, the folks who have used the Halo 2 game engine to create the machinima hit "This Spartan Life" have been selected to make some flicks for the Spike TV game awards.  If only someone had told me you could find success this way, I would never have abandoned my dream of becoming the next Steven Spielberg.

Award-winning New York independent filmmaker Chris Burke, a finalist at the recent 2006 Machinima Film Festival, held at the Museum of the Moving Image, has once again been tapped to produce machinima content for Spike TV’s Video Game Awards.

Using popular videogame Halo® 2 as the backdrop of “This Spartan Life,” his “talk show in gamespace,” Burke has created exclusive online-only segments featuring such guests as Jared Palomar of the rock band Augustana, Geoff Keighley, host of Spike TV’s GameHead, Julian Gerighty, producer of the blockbuster game Splinter Cell: Double Agent, and Blizzard Entertainment’s Tristan Pope and Terran Gregory, the duo behind the machinima for the World of Warcraft-themed 10th season premiere of South Park.

The first segment, highlighting all-female competitive gaming team The Frag Dolls, is already online, with the remaining spots to appear as part of the run-up to the show, which airs December 13th at 10PM with Samuel L. Jackson as the returning host and special appearances by Tenacious D, rockers AFI and 50 Cent.