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The Guardian Gamesblog has a post today about a machinima contest held recently by EA that awarded the best short film made in The Sims 2. The winning entry is actually being screened at cinemas in the UK. (It looks like the contest was UK-centric. Was there an earlier one in the US?) What with CBS airing a machinima promo ahead of the SuperBowl and Fox Atomic’s upcoming machinima contest, it certainly looks like the form is getting a lot more attention these days. Passing fancy, or emergence of a new medium? If the latter, it’s about time.

MIT’s Henry Jenkins has a great interview with our Muckraker-in-Chief over at the Second Life Herald, Peter Ludlow (aka SL’s Urizenus Sklar). In fact, it’s the first part of a two-part interview, the second part of which should be coming tomorrow. [UPDATE: Read part two.] There’s great stuff here on the importance of “local” or “community” journalism to virtual worlds. Tomorrow we’ll hear from Peter on the current debate that’s raging over Second Life, and more on governance in virtual worlds. Recommended reading.