What does machinima mean ?

 What's that word again?

Machinima is a word suitcase, a contraction between the words machine, cinema and animation that was invented in 1999 by Anthony Bailey and Hugh Hancock. It is more precisely a cinematic genre and a film production technique that uses video sequences filmed as real in virtual spaces. This is not exclusively reserved for video games.

Spielberg has been using machinima in his films since 2001 (A.I.). The concept is simple but difficult to explain in simple words.

To give you an idea, we find it in games such as Minecraft, Second life, The Sims (from 2) or Halo or World warcraft to name only the best known.

Here's a little video that explains how it works