• by Shankar Gupta , January 24, 2006

Lionhead Studios has released a new tool that enables video gamers to create their own machinima. Say what? Machinima is filmmaking within a real-time virtual environment, often using 3-D video game technologies. Essentially, gamers can produce their own movies by manipulating the characters in video games, then exporting and uploading the films to the Web.

Marketers have begun placing ads against machinima, and not just video game and entertainment advertisers, either. Heavy.com, a site that produces original machinima, boasts sponsorships from Sony, Unilever's Axe, Burger King, Coca-Cola, and Diesel.

The Lionhead tool "The Movies" positions the player as a Hollywood studio owner. In addition to the business management aspect of the game, players can shoot their own movies, design costumes, choose sets, add subtitles, and dub audio.

It's typically only the most hard-core gamers and game designers who create machinima. But that may be changing. David Carson, co-CEO of Heavy.com, says that machinima have capitalized on the growing popularity of video games. "Nobody in Hollywood would've ever considered, 'Oh my God, this is great entertainment,' but people online say it is, and millions of people are watching it."