Milo's a cheeky little runt. He enjoys joking, and playing around the local fishing hole, and is a pretty good at criticing your artwork. Also, Milo doesn't exist.
While there wasn't an expressly RPG announcement during Microsoft's press conference,Fable 2's Peter Molyneux was there to nail home the idea that gaming, and RPGs have officially changed forever. With Project Natal, the future is now. Today Microsoft showcased their latest innovation, Project Natal, a motion capture voice recognition system that will allow controller-free gaming. I'm still tingling, knowing that I am witnessing history in the making. Today our world has changed, today the Jetson's are one step closer to reality. Today we are living in the "future" that Marty Mcfly went back to.
What does this mean for RPGs? Well, in essence Molyneux showed us what Lionhead Studios is doing with this tech: he's built Milo, a completely interactive child who can chat with you, respond to your emotional cues in body language, expression and vocal pitches, and who draws you into his world in the way that no virtual character has been able to before.
Essentially, the Role Play Game has turned into a session of Live Action Role Play, where virtual characters are participants in the sessions. The walls are coming down between the virtual character and the player, and now we will be able to talk to the characters in our games the same way we talk to the people we are playing them with.
I'm still processing what this means for the gaming industry in general, but this is by far the greatest day for RPGs in years.
