While often is it that North America gets a lot of bonus contests for games, it seems that MS and Bungie have decided to re-route their focus to Europe with a new machinma contest for Halo 3 that will take the winner to Los Angeles, California.

The aim of the contest? To produce a new scenario for Master Chief by using in game clips, video cameras, original animation or just massive splicing with video editing software, the entries will be judged by a panel of experts from the industry to find the winner. From the details they don't mention any restrictions about having to use a specific edition of the game so one would assume that this means Halo, Halo 2, Halo PC, Halo 2 PC or Halo 3 to accomplish that.

Entries can be sent in from January 31 to March 21 of this year, entries will be accepted throughout EU and choices will be made by country allowing for each regional winner to recieve an Xbox 360 and a copy of Halo 3. The winners from there will go through the following.

"Each country’s winning video will then be put through to the European final which will be judged by the creators of the game, Bungie Studios. The overall European winner will win a trip to Los Angeles to study for one month at the New York Film Academy, where they will learn all they need to know about making movies. The prize includes return transatlantic flights, accommodation, car rental and $2,000 spending money."

Sounds  like a pretty sweet deal for machinma creators, check out the link for more detail.

[Contest entry]

*Credit to Joystiq for the MC/Norris image.