Massively

Based on WoW; the Rise of the Living Dead series (specifically parts 1, 2 and 3 teaser trailer) were my favorite.
Also the first "The Brothers Tauren" top my list.

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Technical excellence, good pacing, presence of storyline, either that or it has to be very humorous or have a really good song. I like stuff that's unique and took serious effort to do, not just cut-and-paste from in-game video captures.

The World of Warcraft ones that I know, probably anyone who has played the game more than I will know as well.

World of Warcraft: Dance Styles - the comparison between each race's dancing, the time to dress them up, and pacing of the real world dance to match. Still a classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=066_q4DIeqk

World of Warcraft: Code Monkey - storyline, neat song, sappy love story, got it all. I took one look at it and was seriously tempted to subscribe to WoW just to attempt to learn how to make videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Wy7gRGgeA

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I'm partial to a guild ad I did in SWG a while back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3p1JP-NGkg

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I like Samuraiko's CoH Videos

http://www.youtube.com/user/samuraiko

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WoW Hardware Store

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwh1MWg1LLA

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You know, when the article used the phrase "well-known dance extravaganzas" and even linked that phrase to a YouTube video, I definately expected something a little more than the old GW and WoW dances. - You could at least have given a nod to the ultimate video series of said genre, and even the game that allowed it!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkyllD-ljkg&fmt=18

While on the subject of said game, the thing I personally look for in a really good machinima, is story.

Story, and presentation. And if the soundtrack also fits, you have a hit. This is one such example, and definately one of my favorite machinimas of all time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcIYYB5k6GE&fmt=18

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The song was fairly epic. The video was alright.

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I wish they all could be Greater Faydark Girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds0XjxrZmgk

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30tpMCC_P-8

This was done by some friends of mine. The story is great and the music is original. It's like an epic western with a Warcraft setting.

What makes a machinima for me is the story. Plain and simple. Everything else either adds to it or takes away, and sadly, for many machinimas out there bad music and direction takes away from what would be a pretty nice story.

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Hate Blogsmith. It ate my City of Heroes links. Let's try again.

Vertical Studios (Aral and Coffy) - Dies Irae and Night Prayers are my personal favorites because I can actually make out some story, but the rest are technically spectacular.
http://verticalstudio.blogspot.com/

City of Heroes - The Operatives: In the End
Classic. Nice story. Inspiring because it actually looks achievable by ordinary people, not gods like Aral.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGrp_InCVNY

City of Heroes - Boom
Oldie but goodie. Nothing really wow technical effects-wise, but the sweet pacing and choice of animations during the BOOM chorus makes this worth watching at least once.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uetu_9D7yM0

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Clear Skies, hands down. Excellent quality, especially when blending HL2 and EVE together. On top of all that the story is quite good and completely fits within EVE while being accessible as well. Plus the soundtrack meshing EVE music with normal pop songs was interesting to say the least.

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Clear Skies FTW!

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