More Virtual Worlds Machinima

Not exactly hot on the heels of the Second Life announcement (see last post) but some other virtual worlds are getting in on the machinima craze (I'm ignoring the 800 pound gorillas like WoW for now).

Habbo Hotel is hosting a film making competition (from Wonderland). The winner can win a trip to Hollywood along with virtual Habbo credits. This looks like fun. Check out "Stop That Hacker".

There's some sort of educational/student contest in Singapore using a MMOG called Granado Espada. Very strange topic requirements that to myself seem unbelievably nationalistic. Bizarre. And in a game I've never heard about.

I've posted about Croquet before (other note), an open source virtual world, and there is some development in that area towards recording machinima (via Wetmachines). It looks quite crude right now, but the graphics could improve in the future. This project by the University of Minnesota might be an interesting alternative to commercial virtual worlds and definitely a great educational resource.