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Microsoft Shows Off 'Milo' Virtual Human
adeelarshad82 writes "At TED Global in Oxford, Microsoft released a video showing off its 'virtual human' technology, named Milo, designed for the company's hands-free Xbox 360 motion controller called Kinect. Milo is built to react to people's emotions, body movements, and voice, allowing players to interact with the virtual character. It was built using artificial intelligence developed by Lionhead studios, along with undisclosed technology from Microsoft. According to games designer Peter Molyneux, the game exploits psychological techniques to make a person feel that Milo is real. Each Milo character will be unique because every player's interaction with the virtual character will sculpt the type of virtual person Milo will evolve to become."
Honestly, I don't know whether this is the Uncanny Valley manifesting, but that kid just creeps me out.
He's a video game character. I don't want him to be real. Him being real would miss the point entirely.
I piss off bigots.
Can you imagine being the poor bastard at Lionhead responsible for making sure that these "virtual humans" can exhibit realistic suffering responses to griefers, gropers, and every other ghastly atavism that the Kinect users of the world will allow to roam free when they know that there are no rules and no consequences?
(Incidentally, I bloody well hope that Lionhead has had some time to learn a thing or two since Black & White. The "AI" in that game managed to suck every ounce of joy out of being a malevolent deity, something that I wouldn't have believed possible.)
Microsoft Bob lives!
And takes up the awesome responsibility of being the latest hyped MS product to utterly fail. Sheesh.
Looking for a Rails developer in Chapel Hill?
Oh boy! Clippy comes to the living room!
Seriously old. I saw this at the MS keynote last year.
Why does Microsoft not get that stuff like this is seriously cheesy?
Parity: What to do when the weekend comes.
I think that seaman will stick with you
He's famous for his grand claims. Edge Magazine, a UK mature gaming magazine, use to do couple of pages with the man in them every so often. And I remember how he fabled up Fable 1 into grand momentous game that would revolutionize Action RPG's yet failed to impress anyone. Likewise with the game Black & White that supposed to push new heights for the god genre.
Let's see... what kind of horrible things to people do to Sims? Put them in a house with no toilet? Strand them in pool without a ladder? etc... I shudder at the abuse we'll see attempted and if this thing learns from it's interactions. Ick.
Yeah, he's a schmuck and all of his games are, at heart, reworkings of the tedium that was Populous. Every know and then people make great claims for the realism, or open endedness of their games, but the only games which are like this are multiplayer games, where other humans genuinely act differently/unpredictably - either that or they're just better than you so it's up to the engine to find servers where people are about as good as you (as quakelive, for instance, does).
1) Walk around naked in Milo's presence. How would he react? Is Milo into women or men?
2) Drink beer in the presence of Milo. Would Milo care for some and if yes, can Milo become drunk?
3) Mess with Milo's logic.
4) Scare Milo by saying that it was created by Microsoft and therefore is evil.
5) Teach Milo to fart.
6) Tell Milo he is a pirated version.
7) Convert Milo to a religion.
Of course all I could think about when he was on the doc was "Wow he's annoying, I want to shove him off into the pond."
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
People might think it's funny when their AI friend has a funny accent, but it's cheaper to outsource these things to India! I assure you people will be amazed and perplexed by how wonderful this AI is, but maybe curious why it has an hourly cost....
If I turn off Milo, does he die?
What if I turn him off and then never play with him again?
What if I delete him?
Is it unethical to mass produce thousands of Milos that will live short (often abused) lives before they are forgotten or deleted?
I tried to do that but then she slapped me. I must now stay at least 15 metres away from her at all times.
so instead of studying actual humans, we try to make something just as complex as them, that behaves identically, and then study that? even if it WAS possible, it seems like a gigantic waste of time to me. also: to make something that behaves like humans we'd have to understand ourselves/each other first....
I'm old enough to remember every promise Molyneux has ever made. I had subscriptions to EGM and Next Gen, so I'm well-read in the subject of 1990s video game lore right?
He talks a big talk, but either he misjudges his creation or the technology just isn't there to realize every dream he's had.
I didn't get far enough into B&W to really see anything interesting. I just remember struggling with the "innovative" and "intuitive" control system and thinking it was actually just "fiddly" and "incredibly frustrating". I remember trying to get a peon to go up a mountain to do... something or other at the beginning of the game, and failing for some arbitrary reason and being forced to do the whole thing again right from the beginning. As usual, big promises with some serious flaws in implementation. I honestly think the guy has some good ideas if he could just reign in the ambition and deliver a solid gaming experience instead of reaching too far and not spending enough time on the fundamentals. I played most of the way through Fable, it was a pretty average game really, a lot of ideas were crammed in there but just didn't go anywhere. The ageing of the character, for instance, didn't seem to have any real impact, and the fact that it was tied to major story points just made it feel unrealistic.
As for games which try and let you play as good or evil, and alter the story on that basis, they always fall into the trap of forcing you down a particular path. Having just played Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption, they both have exactly the same fundamentally flawed mission type, namely: fight through fifty guys (who are probably just employees of the main bad guy defending themselves from this lone lunatic storming their base) and happily kill them all with no ill effects, but then be pushed down the path of "evil" if you mete out the same justice to the main bad guy instead of sending him to trial, even though in other instances its fine to summarily execute people who you could just as easily take into custody.