Director Chris Burke graduated from NYU Film School and went on to work with some of the most creative talents in contemporary film, including directors Robert Altman, Lucio Fulci, and producer G. Mac Brown. In the 1990s, Chris started Bong + Dern, Inc., creating interactive audio projects for Bjork, MTV and others. In late 2004 Chris created This Spartan Life. A talk show in “game space”, This Spartan Life uses XBox Live and the videogame Halo as its backdrop and has been lauded for its brilliant combination of traditional filmmaking with the creative, interactive possibilities of videogame technology.

This Spartan Life has attracted the attention of countless mainstream media outlets, including Wired Magazine, The BBC, Reuters, Stuff Magazine, and BusinessWeek, and won Best Machinima Series at the 2005 and 2008 Machinima Festivals. Wired Magazine likened to "a mash-up of The Charlie Rose Show and Doom." This Spartan Life has also created exclusive online content for Spike TV’s Videogame Awards, and is currently creating episodes for Halo Waypoint on Xbox Live. For more information, visit www.thisspartanlife.com.

Chris is a panelist on the Extending Game Culture Panel.