As we have seen over the past few weeks, Machinima comes in many forms. Some is created using video game footage while others are inspired by content in games. Geometry: Everything You Need to Know is one of the latter examples as it takes a look at the modern classic Geometry Wars in South Park-esque paper stop motion animation.

Early in the XBox 360 life cycle, there wasn’t much of a launch lineup to keep players busy for the early months of the system. This provided a great opportunity for XBox Live Arcade games to step up. The one that did it the best was Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2. With a simple two stick control scheme and intense music and beautiful visuals, GWRE2 racked up thousands of players in its online leader boards competing for its top spot.

Geometry: Everything You Need to Know replicates this brilliantly simple formula in stop motion fashion. Exquisitely animated and synched to actual game sound effects, this Machinima does a great job of recreating a low-res game of Geometry Wars for the viewers enjoyment. Take a peek below and let us know what you think.

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Without a doubt, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the most important gaming franchise on shelves right now. It claims the highest opening day gross in the entertainment industry. Not just video games, but ALL entertainment.

That’s nothing to sneeze at. And of course, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 came out to its share of controversy. Most notable is the level entitled “No Russian”.

Be warned, there are spoilers ahead if you are one of the four people left in the universe who haven’t played this game.

“No Russian” has the player in the role of an undercover agent attempting to infiltrate a Russian war criminal’s inner circle. He is forced to do the unthinkable as you will see in the video below in an effort to take this man down.

Machinima talent Michael Barnes takes this scene to an entirely level. Using interspliced footage from his own created camera angles of another level of the game as well as dramatic timing and footage from the actual “No Russian” level, he has retold this story in amazing cinematic fashion. The actions feel more brutal than the player pulling the trigger themselves could have even imagined.

If you don’t believe us, take a look at the video after the jump.

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Ever wonder what your toys do when you aren’t around? (And no, the proper response isn’t “They aren’t toys, they are collectible action figures.”) Well one Machinimist did and combined it with his love of Halo 3 to make Arby ‘n’ the Chief.

Instead of having someone from the real world voice a video game character, DigitalPh33r took a different approach when he showed the Master Chief is actually an action figure who hops on to Halo every now and then when his owner isn’t around and is terrible at it, as well as completely immature. In addition to flaming of opponents and denial of his own lack of skill, Chief tries to overcompensate with constant failed attempts of LEET speak.

And did we mention that Chief is voiced by Microsoft Sam, the in-Windows text to speech program, instead of having an actual voice actor? Surprisingly entertaining for this fact alone, it doesn’t end there for the Chief as he gets a roommate in the first episode of the series, rekindling the infamous video game odd couple when his owner receives a package containing, you guessed it, an Arbiter action figure.

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Sometimes we watch Machinima because it tells a compelling story with some of our favorite characters. Most of the time we end up watching it because we appreciate a quick, cheap laugh. Ultrahouse 13: Mega Kitchen comes from an entirely different perspective: amazine visuals. You are probably asking how a Machinima could bring amazing visuals if it is just taking footage captured from a game.

Ultrahouse 13 uses the assets from the Half-Life 2 engine and places them in a real life house. Combine soldiers, no taller than a few inches, storm their way through a home and deal with resistance fighters along the way. The Combine don’t come alone as they are quickly joined by a Strider walker and drop-ship. But the rebels don’t go down easy as they defend their home with a gigantic DOG robot.

The short presentation seems very reminiscent of the style of “Ataque de Panico” which led to director Fede Alvarez being signed to Sam Raimi’s studio. Not to say that a “simple” Half-Life 2 Machinima will bring massive success to an aspiring effects artist, but after seeing what was accomplished here, it wouldn’t a huge surprise to see creator Eddie Smithson’s name in the credits of the silver screen someday soon.

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Back in 2003, a risque Sesame Street inspired musical by the name of Avenue Q featuring puppet leads came out with a shocking statement: “The internet is for porn.” How could this be that a network that enabled global communication and business opportunities could come down to such a lowbrow concept as porn? But as the audience began listening to the lyrics, it was hard to argue that the internet really my revolve around men cozying up to watch various acts of depravity they weren’t experiencing at home.

The truth is, everyone knows that the internet is for porn. The only ones who don’t are just living in denial like Kate Monster does in Avenue Q. And, interestingly enough some of the most frequent patrons of this less than social activity may end up coming from the world’s most social game: World of Warcraft. It was only a matter of time before a mash up of the two came to be.

Using their beloved MMO, a group of players came together and put together an animated version of the song using their on screen avatars. Still in the early days of machinima creation in 2006, “The Internet is for Porn” does a fantastic job of taking the canned animations of World of Warcraft and lip synching the song to the on screen characters. The result turned in to another internet hit as the Machinima closes in on almost six and a half million views up to this point.

Sit back, relax and let yourself open up to some high culture by viewing the following clip. Yes, culture. If it has been on Broadway, it’s considered culture. That’s our story and we are sticking to it.

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It’s not a secret. A good percentage of the Machinima world is created using Halo or one of its sequels. The reason for that may lie in the most popular and successful Machinima series Red vs. Blue.

With its first episode posted by the folks at Rooster Teeth just under seven years ago, Red vs. Blue has a loyal following with some of the most iconic and entertaining characters in Machinima. Subtitled “The Blood Gulch Chronicals”, Red vs. Blue follows the tales of two armies stuck in the box canyon of Blood Gulch.

Each team starts off with only a few members but quickly grows to reveal the eight main personalities that drive the series. These include Red’s miserable leader Sarge and his personal brownnoser Simmons as well as Blue’s lovable Caboose.

Over the show’s five seasons and an astounding ninety-eight episodes, the teams venture in to other worlds and encounter some unreal scenarios such as a never-ending game of Capture the Flag and a love struck tank named Sheila.

Much like Halo on XBox Live, the language of the series isn’t kid friendly. The characters go to great lengths to combine various expletives together in never before seen and incredibly funny ways.

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Starting this week, The Flickcast will be taking our love of Machinima and turning it in to a weekly feature. For those who don’t know, Machinima is real time 3D rendering of graphics to generate computer animation. What that means is people take different video games and their associated mods and create different short films or series based off of them.

This week, we will be taking a look at Phil from Black Light Productions. Named after its main character and created using Halo 3, Phil revolves around a Halo newbie as he learns his way around the XBox Live world with the accompaniment of the standoffish Zack and overly nice and naive Wally. Unlike some Machinima which has the players reacting as if the events of the game are “real life”, Phil, Zack and Wally acknowledge that they are playing Halo 3 and communicating over Live.

Following them through the series’ thirteen episodes, we get to see some of the biggest faults in online gaming portrayed in a very humorous way. Everything gets covered through the series from trash talkers, glitchers, griefers, competition and clans… and even a little bit of romance.

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