Legendary game designer Peter Molyneux is no stranger to redefining how we interact with games. One of his early successes as a concept developer was Populous, released in the late 1980’s, the first to put the gamer with the perspective of god. Here was a guy who wasn’t simply interested in making fun games, he wanted to redefine the way we interacted with these machines and their artificial intelligence. In Black and White, another god-game released through his company Lionhead Studios, Molyneux would add a moral layer so that your choices would impact not only the physical but also the psychological development of your character.
His latest project is no different in that there has been nothing like it in the past. And if you were to explain the concept to a friend, they’d probably struggle to consider it a game at all. Milo made its first appearance at least year’s E3 Expo and was designed to be used with Microsoft’s new hands-free Xbox controller dubbed Kinect. For Molyneux, this is more than just a game. “I want to introduce a new revolution in storytelling,” he told the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Global conference in Oxford. “Films, TV, even hallowed books, are just rubbish because they don’t involve me,” he said. “It’s a sea of blandness.”
Molyneux had been experimentally developing the project more or less for the last decade with the primary goal of developing an “emotional AI.” By implementing Microsoft’s Kinect architecture, gamers are able to interact with Milo freely through physical gestures and realistic two-way dialogue. At this year’s TED, he was able to show off a much more advanced version of the game. According to The Tech Herald
Speaking at the TEDGlobal 2010 conference in Oxford, industry bigwig Molyneux explained that Milo and Kate tells the story of Milo, a young boy who’s just moved from London to New England with his parents and his dog Kate.
Demonstrating an early section of the game located outdoors, Molyneux outlined that male players will be tasked with helping Milo to hunt down snails – female players will apparently help to capture butterflies because girls find snails “too icky.”
After grabbing one particularly slimy snail, Milo asked the on-stage player whether he should stamp on it, to which the demonstrator shouted, “Go on Milo, squash it!” and the unsuspecting snail was promptly squished underfoot.
It all feels a bit creepy and it will be interesting to see how this will develop into a full-fledged game. Microsoft seems to have its doubts as the company noted that it has no plans yet for a full release. Molyneux disagrees though hinting that the game will be designed for millions of people and that Milo’s mind will be cloud-based so he will evolve and get smarter as more people play with him.
Of course, if downloading a virtual friend isn’t your cup of tea, you could always rent ఒనె
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