Escapist Magazine - Machinima

The Escapist has an absolutely excellent article on machinima (Allen Varney). Not only does it get everything right, it goes far beyond what you find in typical mainstream press (oh wow, you can make movies with videogames!). Discussing The French Democracy (see previous posts #1, #2) the magazine focuses on one key aspect of machinima: the copyright problem that is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Their suggestion is for an open source machinima platform. That really could be a killer app.

Not only was the article accurate but there were a few things that I hadn't seen elsewhere:

• some information on puppetry in other cultures
  
• the discrepancy between film and games themselves as an accepted form of artistic expression
• the larger problem of subversive cinema in reaching mainstream audiences
  
• ILM's Zvix previsualization tool sounds fantastic

I applaud articles like this. Now if only the mainstream media would read it.