Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux, had once stated that the latest build of ‘Milo and Kate is “10 times more amazing” than anything that had been witnessed during E3 2009. For E3 2010, Milo was locked behind closed doors and shown only to celebrities, at one point he was assumed to be dead, but a recent appearance at TEDGlobal 2010 confirmed ‘Milo and Kate’ is still very much alive - well Milo, at least!

TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences formed to disseminate “ideas worth spreading”. Peter Molyneux took to the stage at the Oxford event with his virtual being, then invited a volunteer on stage to help demonstrate Milo’s capabilities.

Quoted by Molyneux:

“I want to introduce a new revolution in storytelling,”

“Films, TV, even hallowed books, are just rubbish because they don’t involve me,” he said. “It’s a sea of blandness.”

“We’re changing the mind of Milo constantly, 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.”

Molyneux explained to the invited conference guests that Milo had been built using artificial intelligence developed by Lionhead studios, along with new technology that was “hidden in the dusty vaults of Microsoft”. It was further expalined that the system exploited psychological techniques to make Milo appear real, claiming “most of it is just a trick - but it is a trick that actually works,”

The demonstration of Milo showed the first stages of the game, where players meet Milo and begin their initial interactions. With the help of Molyneux’s volunteer, Milo was taught on screen to clean his room, skip rocks, and even kill a virtual snail.

Molyneux confirmed that the technology is still in development and Microsoft has no plans to release it, but the game was designed to be used for millions of people and could one day become a commercial product.

Thanks to Michel Beld for this news tip.

Sources: Kotaku & BBC