“Four Eyed Monsters”, “Second Life”, Avatars & “Mackies”
As part of the baby boomer generation my participation in electronic games included pinball, space invaders and pac man. Since than the world of gamers has grown exponentially leaving me in the dust. Occasionally I get pulled into the game world when my kids play. But I’m not really interested in advancing my skills. I would much rather read a book or see a movie than pursue the offerings of GameCube, XBox and Nintendo.
But the business of electronic games is huge and its economic impact surpassed movies years ago. The phenomenon bears critical attention if one is to understand where the entertainment industry is headed. Recently theatres have explored interactive video games in movie theatres with Halo and other games.
I recently ran across an article about a virtual movie theatre. You must join the virtual world “Second Life” on the web. Once you create an avatar (a graphical image that represents a you) you can participate in this virtual world. “Second Life” hosted the Machinima Awards at their Luguana Beach Theater.
The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences gives their Mackie awards to the best film-making done within a real time, 3D environment. You can see this years nominees and winners at their website. Real people participated in the ceremonies held at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York.
The virtual world premiere of feature length film “Four Eyed Monsters” happened yesterday. Space was limited to 5o avatars at each virtual screening room. Both of the filmmakers were there as their avatars and did a live video stream to introduce the film, answer questions and interact with the audience.
Directors Susan Buice and Arin Crumley
