"Wii HD will be announced in 5 hours. Count on it!"

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The problem with AI? It still is only as good as how you program it. This Milo thing is nowhere near as advanced as sci fi movie stuff. 

Milo and Kate

First up is Peter Molyneux's new baby. As you'll know if you followed our live text, Milo is the name of the new AI character in development at Lionhead Studios. And as you'll know if you read our interview with Peter Molyneux, or could have predicted if you know anything about Peter Molyneux, Kate is the name of a dog.


A Lionhead man mucks about with Milo.

But the dog's not on show today - instead we're presented with Milo on his own, sitting on a swing by a river. Molyneux invites me to try interacting with him by standing in front of the screen and moving around the room. 

As I move, the camera moves with me. Shift your body left and the camera pans left; tilt your body forwards and it zooms in, and so on. "Normally you'd be using the right thumbstick for this," observes Molyneux. It's a bit disconcerting, but in a good way; looking around to change your viewpoint feels a lot more natural than pushing a stick. 

What about those who would rather stay sat on the sofa? The technology works just as well when sitting down, according to Molyneux: "You just move your torso and your head to move around. It can be a very relaxed experience."

Now, he says, we're going to train Milo to recognise me. I'm told to smile and frown to start the process off, and I try to make things easy for Milo by exaggerating my expressions like a gurning champion at a rave. "That's too much," says Molyneux. "You don't smile and frown like that in real life, do you?" He clearly hasn't seen my Facebook page. 

I tone it down a bit and sure enough, Milo jumps off his swing and walks towards me. "You OK?" he says. 

It's unnerving, there's no doubt about it. Instinctively I reply, "Yes, thank you. How are you?"


Claire again, Milo again. We want the dog. Show us the dog now.

"Wearing black, I see. It suits you." He's not wrong. About the first bit, anyway. But once the shock of Milo noticing this wears off, I realise he hasn't answered my question. Perhaps this is one of the tricks used to make you think he's real; and they are indeed tricks, as Molyneux is happy to admit. 

I try another direct question. "Have you had a nice day, Milo?" He smiles and nods, so I go for something more complex. "Did you enjoy Microsoft's E3 conference?" He's non-committal. "Are you looking forward to the rumoured unveiling of the PSP tomorrow?" Milo nods. The truth is though, he doesn't really know what I just asked. He understood I was asking a question by listening to the tone of my voice, but he didn't understand the words. Knowing that doesn't make the whole thing much less unnerving, though. 

Molyneux invites me to go and look at the fish in the river, as seen in the E3 press conference. The water effects are stunning anyway, but to see yourself reflected within them is astonishing. "Swish the water about a bit," says Molyneux, so I do. There are one or two odd moments where the water doesn't quite seem to flow naturally, but once again, the overall effect is highly impressive. 

The demo's over, and all too soon. I didn't get to try out the work or play activities, or draw a picture for Milo, or meet his female counterpart, Milly. Not to mention the dog. There are still lots of questions about Milo and Kate, particularly with regard to how scripted the conversations are and just how clever your virtual friend really is. Here's hoping we'll get to find out more soon.

Did the updates.

What is going on here? Ubisoft is making a sequel to atrocious Wii launch game Monster 4X4, but it looks a lot higher quality than the first game. 

Hello! Anybody out there?!

Alan Wake:

The game itself plays in similarly to most modern-day action games and shooters. The right trigger fires your weapon of choice (which can be cycled through via the directional pad) and the right bumper activates road flares that you can use as a source of light. You see, light plays a very important role in Alan Wake, as it's the only thing that dissolves the dark shields around inanimate objects and people that have been taken over by the "dark force." While most dark shields fade with time, it's not quick enough to keep you in the clear by just waiting around -- you have to be smart and ready to shine the light at your enemies at a moment's notice; the trick being that your flares are special pick-ups.

What I enjoyed most about Alan Wake as I moved from cabin to cabin in the eerie mountain village of Bright Falls, was how effectively Remedy has implemented strong action-oriented gameplay without sacrificing atmosphere. Alan is the only normal person in a very paranormal place, and he's not the type that can just run and gun his way through the horde of evil things surrounding him. Running away is probably the smartest strategy in the game and combining that cowardice (or as I like to call it, tactical withdrawal) with a clever use of your flashlight and gun combo is every bit as entertaining as previously 'roided up horror titles like Resident Evil 5. 

Besides the use of light, Alan has other tools at his disposal. Weapons like pistols, shotguns and flare guns blast your unshielded enemy with great sound effects, and the ability to dodge (with left bumper) puts your reflexes to the test. Of course, using the environment to protect yourself is a key tactic as well (finding street lamps to shun your foes away, turning generators on to create an impromptu shield for yourself or using trees or other big obstacles to block incoming projectiles is just the start. Interestingly, my experience with Alan Wake was somewhat less intense than the demo shown on Microsoft's stage, as the number of enemies was toned down quite a bit, so I never saw the army of Dark enemies that we saw today. Remedy says this was intentional, because they wanted us to a get a feel for how the game works in conjunction with its atmosphere without overwhelming us with too much too early. 

Most of everything else we know about Alan Wake can be seen in the oft-mentioned MS stage demo that I've already talked about several times over (and I encourage you to check it out). Based on everything I've seen so far, though, Alan Wake is already one of the most interesting, and one of my most anticipated, upcoming games over the next year. Here's to hoping it lives up to its potential.

robio said:

Turtles looks like it'll be fun.  I am disappointed that Ubisoft didn't announce more of the playable characters.  Now that they've covered the turtles, Shredder, Splinter, and April now the interesting ones will come out. The real freaks.  

Turtles in time remake. Somehow it's just not the same. 

Archangel3371 said:

Woah. Red Steel 2 is looking very nice as is No More Heroes 2.

Man I think Natal and Milo sound so freakin' cool with tons of potential. I can't wait to see what other developers can do with this stuff.

Turtles in Time coming soon to XBLA and fantastic news. I totally loved the first arcade game.

I've been watching a lot of the trailers on XBLM for the games shown off at their press conference and have seen so much great stuff. Keep 'em coming Microsoft, I'm lovin' it.

 Dont be fooled by Milo. Its not revolutionary AI.

The responses are all like pre-canned animation. 

You see the guys asking him questions and all he does is nod and shit. Milo has nothing to do with AI. It's Natal that can recognise your emotions, but being able to talk into a mic means jack if the construct you are looking at has no intelligent reactions. You need human level AI at which point you might as well be using a webcam anyway. 

So Super Mario Bros Wii.

"I've just learned that they are remaking the original  Super Mario Bros with the Mario Galaxy engine and it looks fucking amazing!"

Oh.......... my............. God. 

*just kidding*

gamingeek said:

So Super Mario Bros Wii.

"I've just learned that they are remaking the original  Super Mario Bros with the Mario Galaxy engine and it looks fucking amazing!"

Oh.......... my............. God.

*just kidding*

I wouldn't want the original again, but regardless I'm excited as hell about this.  I'm still hoping for a classic 2-D platformer.  Just as long as it's not a Paper Mario game.  They're good, but they're just not my thing.  I've never been able to push myself to actually finish one.  Mario is just better when you're actively playing it.