So I, along with just about everyone at E3, was psyched when Microsoft Unveiled Project Natal. I mean christ, we’re now only a few steps away from Holodeck Gaming. One major project being developed for Natal was Milo, a sim of a young boy that you befriend and hang out with. It’s being developed by Peter “Fable” Molyneux, and allows you to talk to this child, help him grow, raise him and be a lifelong friend to him. Yeah, it really is that creepy.
At first I was pumped and couldn’t believe how incredible this technology was. I mean, Milo can recognize your face, call you by name, read your facial expression and ask about your emotions, and compliment you on the color of your shirt. That is pretty damn impressive and I am pumped to see how it develops.
That said, the AI of Milo was very simple. I’ve seen some highly developed AI, from Australian artist Stelarc and his prosthetic head (http://www.stelarc.va.com.au/prosthetichead/). They came to IU in the fall of 2007 and I got to meet the AI and talk to it. The prosthetic head has been around for quite a while, and seems to be more intelligent than Milo. That said, Milo is only supposed to be a small boy, and it sounds as though players will be able to help Milo grow up. I’m hoping that he grows mentally as well as physically. Stelarc’s prosthetic head has visual recognition abilities as well, so Molyneux’s claim of Milo being groundbreaking isn’t quite so true. Granted it’s fantastic to see this finally implemented into a video game, but it’s not as though the technology is brand new.
Another bit about Milo is that you interact with him as though he were a person and explore his world with him. I’m a bit confused what this means for the game. Does this mean that Milo is the main character? Or that you’re the main character, and Milo is your best friend? Either way, and I guess it was inevitable, but I’m not thrilled that the possibilities that Natal opens to us are going to be confined by a method of story-telling that was built around a now outdated model of gaming: the controller.
For me, the most interesting thing about Milo is the connection that the player feels to him. I’m not interested at all in developing Milo as a person, because I’ve done that in every other RPG. Designing a character and having his characteristics change based on what kind of a person I make him to be? That’s nothing new at all. What’s interesting about Milo is that I have a physical relationship with a NPC. When he threw me the goggles, I reached for them and caught them. It was no different than if a real person had tossed me an object.
But if I’m going to have such an intricate relationship with a computer, then I would want for the AI to be far superior than the level that Milo is currently at. I might suggest Molyneux contact Stelarc for advice, because I was more impressed with the AI I saw here two years ago. And currently, from my experience with Milo, I have doubts Milo’s ability. In our demo with Milo, he said the same things and made the same suggestions to every member of my team who approached. And when we tried to offer new routes of discussion, Milo’s eyes drifted away from the screen and he quit paying attention. In my opinion, a lame cop-out.
Don’t get me wrong. I am definitely pumped for Project Natal and I will definitely purchase whatever Milo is at that point. He’s still one of the most fascinating and advanced announcements in video game history. I just would like to see the technology pushed as far as I know it can go. Perhaps I’m too optimistic. I think that this new technology of Natal can be used in such a massive variety of ways that video gaming will never be the same. And Natal isn’t just great for games. Televisions no longer need remotes and computers no longer need keyboards. This technology of Natal could potentially change the face of home media altogether. I believe it can and I want it to go as far as it possibly can. For that reason I am nervous that we will limit ourselves by confining the technology to something as traditional as building a character in an RPG, unless this character building is breakthrough. And at the moment, I don’t believe Milo is that breakthrough. But it’s still early and there’s a lot of work to be done. I’m nervously confident, or cautiously optimistic, about the possibilities and can’t wait to see what Natal has to offer in the future.
By: Sam Sher
Let the voice of the poor and angry gamer rise! Microsoft plans to hike their price for online subscriptions. The monthly fee jumps up two dollars, while the gold subscription jumps up ten dollars. Let me be the first to say that an extra ten bucks a year is chump change. This is coming from a dirt poor college student. Sure, it’s an annoying change, but I think it’s easy to come up with an extra ten bucks a year. However, I’m not saying gamers don’t have something to grumble about. Price hikes and micro-transactions are more and more common in the industry now. When purchasing a popular title, players are almost guaranteed to pay a little more then they expect. Some gamers think of these as a few bells and whistles, while others get a lot more out of their experience from these updates. Micro-transactions can give more items, maps, or quests that give the audience more things to do in their favorite games. However, is a map pack really worth fifteen bucks a pop? Should players be able to earn this new content through playing rather than their wallets?
