Microsoft Showcases its Virtual Human, "Milo"
Last year at the E3 expo in Los Angeles, Microsoft unveiled "Milo," a virtual human who reacts to its user's emotions, voice and movements. Under wraps since, Microsoft and Milo's designer, Peter Molyneux, have shown off Milo again at the TED global conference in Oxford, reports the BBC.
Molyneux told the crowd, "I want to introduce a new revolution in storytelling," according to the BBC. He described books, TV and films as "rubbish" because they don't involve him on a personal level. Hence Milo. He's a character that, in Molyneux's words, "seems alive, that would look me in the eyes, and feel real," according to the BBC.
The artificial intelligence technology is designed to be used with Mircosoft's Kinect, a hands-free controller for the Xbox. The game apparently leaves the user in complete control of Milo's life, and Milo reacts to each player's commands differently so that no two games are the same. Milo eventually recognizes the user, according to the BBC.
Sometimes events in the game that seem harmless or banal at the time can affect Milo greatly at later stages in his virtual life, according to the BBC. Molyneux and company left some things to the imagination, not revealing much about the game itself beyond the basic functions of the technology and Milo.