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Peter Molyneux brings Milo, Kinect, and snails to the TED stage
Poor Milo. Our virtual friend has been in our heart for about as long as Kinect (née Project Natal) has been in the public eye, always doodling, always playing with snail, rarely able to escape the confines of dark developer studio. When we talked to Milo's "father" Peter Molyneux at the last Engadget Show, he kept referencing this TED Talk demo he recently gave, and sure enough, video of that speech is now available online. The 11-minute presentation delves into a number of the setups / "magician's tricks" used to make Milo an interactive and at times empathetic character, and how natural voice recognition was implemented (thanks in part to Microsoft's TellMe database) so that the player isn't limited to simple yes and no responses. Curious about the moral ramifications of an artificial adolescent aggressive to mollusk? Definitely worth a look, as is our last Engadget Show episode if you missed it; video after the break.
The Queue: The word
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today. Family Guy is one of the best shows on TV. Begin the flames if you must, but it's the truth and there's really just no arguments that can be made against it. The final question in the Queue today is the reason I've subjected you all to that awesomely annoying song of an ornithological nature.And to continue the polls we've recently been doing...%Poll-27151%Ganesh asked..."Which battleground (including Wintergrasp) can provide the most honor for the least time spent? I guess the short answer is whatever battleground the faction on my server usually wins, but any other ideas?"
360's Warranty extended to THREE years!
The guys over at Gamerscore Blog expressed their discontent with the failure rate of Xbox 360s and the customer service for getting consoles repaired. As such, they are changing the warranty policy worldwide to 3 years after the consoles purchase when dealing with the 3 red rings of light hardware failure on Xbox 360s. Anyone who's payed for any repairs up to this point will be reimbursed in full. This means that anyone who bought their console at launch will be covered until November 22nd 2008. On top of the press release, Peter Moore himself posted an open letter to the community on the policy change, which is included after the break, as well as a FAQ on how it's being rolled out.
Peter Moore wonders why Reggie never sent him a Wii
If our lives didn't revolve around Nintendo, we'd think Peter Moore worked for the company. Instead, we know he's the competition, however his public attitude as of late towards Nintendo presents anything but, as he once again compliments the company and speaks about how much of a fan he is.In the latest edition of gaming magazine EGM, during an interview Moore says he was hoping his "friend" Reggie would "send me one [a Wii]," but quickly reminds us his house is dominated by another console. Moore also goes on to say that there is no bigger franchise in gaming, to him at least, than Mario. [Via Go Nintendo]
World of Warcraft adds new spell: TPS reports
A new World of Warcraft commercial started airing on Monday, and it features everyone's favorite anti-cubicle movie, Office Space. It seems that Peter is too busy to talk to Lumbergh, because he's currently pwning in WoW. I think they really missed the boat here, because they should have featured Milton playing the game. Plus that would let them do a South Park-esque tie-in where the Red Stapler becomes a new weapon in the game. Either that or burning down the building as a pretty sweet paladin spell.Ah, yeah. Mmmkay?
Peter Green's Portable Mac Mini MK III rocks a touchscreen LCD
Peter Green is to Mac Minis what Ben Heckendorn is to gaming consoles, and Mr. Green has apparently one upped himself yet again by creating an even more compact alternative to throwing down for a shiny new MacBook. While Peter has apparently been too busy basking in his own glory to update his site with the juicy details we all crave, the Portable Mac Mini MK III has been spied by aminorjourney's wondering digicam, and judging solely by the looks of things, we dig it. Peter has seemingly crafted a portable enclosure that houses Apple's smallest Mac, a Li-ion cell that "lasts about three hours," and slapped a svelte touchscreen on the outer casing to get your computing on sans a mouse. While we're sure you're craving that case dimension and LCD contrast ratio info, you'll just have to live with photos for now, and be sure to click through for more live action shots of the MK III doing its thang.
Molyneux would've loved to work with the Wii
During an interview with Computer and Video Games, Lionhead Studios head and Fable creator Peter Molyneux took a chance to speak his mind regarding the Wii when questioned. The entirety of the interview is mainly based on Peter's work in the development field and his time at Microsoft, but he does take the opportunity to express his interest in Nintendo's console:CVG: Is the Wii something, under different circumstances, you'd like to explore? Molyneux: I'd love to play around with it. You know, it's a pure design challenge and the biggest change you can make in a designer's life is changing the controller and not thinking about 'oh we're not going to put this on the X button and that on the A button' - but having to do a complete re-think is quite an exciting challenge and something I would've loved to have got my teeth into, yes.
My Dream App Semifinals voting ends tonight
Voting for the Semifinals round of the My Dream App contest ends tonight at Midnight (EDT), and with it, seemingly any chance of Desktop Wars (my original choice) making it to the final round. Digg founder Kevin Rose, Peter Cohen and Jason Snell from Macworld, David Pogue of the New York Times, and netcaster Leo Laporte are just some of this rounds Big-Name™ judges. Everyone who votes in this round will get a free copy of playful recording software Voice Candy.So get out there and Vote! Show your patriotism.... or something like that.
Molyneux discusses Wii and PS3
Gamespot UK recently had a Q & A session with Lionhead's Peter Molyneux (Populous, Black & White). Lionhead Studios, who was acquired by Microsoft last April, has also developed such hits as The Movies and Fable. During the interview, the console wars debate came up and Peter's response was surprisingly Wii-positive, but of course he couldn't help but cram some praise for the 360 in there as well. As for Sony, he said: GSUK: There seems to be a backlash mounting against the PlayStation 3, while the Wii seems to be going from strength to strength. How do you think the next-gen console war is going to stack up? PM: Well, I have been through console wars before, but this one strikes me as particularly interesting. Nintendo has done a great job of convincing us that next gen is about game play rather than high-tech specs. Microsoft has done an incredible job of expanding games online and making them more mass market. Sony, in my view, seems it has been rather more lazy with their message. How all this pans out really depends on one thing and that is the brilliance of the titles that appear on each platform over the next two to three years. Marketing the hardware is nothing compared to the games that run on it, so I expect the system with the greatest games on it to end up on top. Everyone has been very supportive of the one-two punch combo of the Wii and Xbox 360, leaving Sony to stew in their own stolen juices, forgetting that Microsoft is in fact the competition for Nintendo as well. Just like Reggie said in his USA Today interview, he'd rather see consumers buying the Wii, along with some games and accessories, over buying both consoles and creating an opportunity to sell more of his competitor's product. We couldn't agree more.
Peter Moore: I want a free Wii
During a roundtable discussion at E3, Peter Moore discussed mostly his console, yet managed to take a second to say a thing or two on the Wii. In discussing the possibility of purchasing a Wii upon release later this year, Peter called upon Nintendo ass-kicker, and subsequent name-taker, Reggie Fils-Aime to hook him up with a free unit."Well I hope my friend Reggie [Fils-Aime] sends me one, I don't know. [laughs] Look I was there when Iwata-san pulled out that thing. I was there in the front row in Tokyo... and I said [to myself] "You've got to give 'em kudos for trying." And I'm literally going to go over there tomorrow and try to find Reggie or find Perrin [Kaplan] and I think Mario's the game... if you've got to play one game it's Mario. I'm sure I'll get one. Right now I'm trying to get my Brain Age down [laughs]. Look, it's not partisan; I love what Nintendo is doing."So even though a little bit of that comes off as condescending, which you can't blame me for assuming as I wasn't there and only have text to work with, any press is good press, no?
