A ‘virtual human’ for Xbox Kinect has finally been demonstrated in depth. Originally introduced last year when Kinect was rolled out as ‘Project Natal’, the ‘virtual human’ is called Milo and has some interesting features.
Games design whiz Peter Molyneux revealed the ‘virtual human’ at the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Global conference in Oxford.
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Using the new hands-free Xbox 360 motion controller, Kinect, Milo will recognise emotions, body movements and voice.
“I want to introduce a new revolution in storytelling,” said Molyneux.
“Films, TV, even hallowed books, are just rubbish because they don’t involve me. It’s a sea of blandness.”
Molyneux said he hoped Milo would “look me in the eyes, and feel real”. The aim is for Milo to have”immaculate speech recognition, response and conversational ability”.
During a live demonstration on Xbox’s new Kinect controller (soon to be released), Milo was encouraged to explore a garden and, rather sadistically, squash a snail!
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We’re changing the mind of Milo constantly,” said Molyneux.
“No two people’s Milos can be the same – you are actually sculpting a human being. Some of the things you are doing will change the course of his life.”
“His mind is based in the cloud. As millions of people use it, Milo will get smarter.”
And if killing snails isn’t high octane enough for you, Microsoft has promised that at later stages of the game “There are lots of adventures – some of which are quite dark.”
Watch the demo of Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect virtual human Milo.
