Joystiq

Molyneux's Milo demo from TED conference now available

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:20:00 EST

Lionhead Studio creative lead Peter Molyneux gave a TED talk last month featuring a whole mess of information about his team's "very big tech demo," Milo & Kate. Milo squashed snails and discovered the garden of his freshly minted New England property -- it was nothing short of moving.

Now, through the magic of the internet, Molyneux's TED presentation is available for all to see (just after the break). Learn why snails are replaced with butterflies when you're playing with Kate and how that whole "hive mind" thing works -- no two Milos or Kates are the same, Molyneux claims. Also, you won't want to miss what happens just beyond the 10-minute mark. Check it out.

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Molyneux's Milo demo from TED conference now available originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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'Project Milo' team about 50 strong; 'product' not coming this holiday

James Ransom-Wiley — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:15:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Pictured here we see the "Project Milo Team" hard at work, according to a TweetPhoto posted by Lionhead Studios' Sam Van Tilburgh today. Van Tilburgh's proof comes in response to comments made by Aaron Greenberg about the status of Lionhead's Milo & Kate project in a video clip (see 0:41 mark) posted on the Australia-based ABC "Good Game" site. "Obviously, that's a tech demo -- and technology -- that continues to exist, but right now it's not a game that we're planning to bring to market," Greenberg said of Milo in the brief clip.

While Van Tilburgh could not openly comment to Joystiq on the assumption (based on Greenberg's statement) that Milo could remain a non-retail tech demo, he did clarify, "There's about 50 people on the 'Project Milo Team'" (which would seem an unlikely number of staff and apparent resources to devote to a mere demo).

Van Tilburgh deferred to Greenberg, who tweeted this official statement today: "Project Milo absolutely continues in development at Lionhead Studios, it is just not a product we plan to bring to market this holiday." While carefully worded, Greenberg's statement suggests that Milo, in some shape or form, is likely to be integrated into a retail product in the future.

Just last week, Lionhead head Peter Molyneux teased that there was "a very interesting reason" why the updated Milo & Kate demo was not shown to media outlets during E3. Could it be that Molyneux is saving the big reveal for his scheduled TED talk? Probably not -- but the "game changing" designer will be lecturing about his "astonishing virtual friend" on Tuesday, July 13. Hopefully, he'll start to Kinect some of the dots.

'Project Milo' team about 50 strong; 'product' not coming this holiday originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Roger Ebert's latest column posits 'games can never be art'

Ben Gilbert — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:00:00 EST

In the "Games as art" debate that seems to never end, the number one opponent of our industry's medium of choice being considered art (at least "high art") has been renowned film critic Roger Ebert. Since he made his initial declaratory statements about video games many years ago, folks have piped up on both sides of the argument. Ebert's latest volley in the long-running discussion is a piece published on the Chicago Sun-Times website in response to thatgamecompany prez Kellee Santiago's TED talk at USC last summer.

While he allows Santiago many pleasantries and compliments throughout the piece, he argues that, regardless of her various points, games "can never be art." At the very least, he says, "No video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form." He contests that games consist of "rules, points, objectives, and an outcome," which stands in contrast to his somewhat ambiguous definition of what, exactly, art is. In a moment of seeming clarity at the end of his piece, he asks: "Why are gamers so intensely concerned, anyway, that games be defined as art? Bobby Fischer, Michael Jordan and Dick Butkus never said they thought their games were an art form." And while we might not agree with all of Mr. Ebert's points, we can certainly find common ground with his wondering why the debate over games as art is still such a topic of concern among gamers (ourselves included).

[Thanks, Salvatore]

Roger Ebert's latest column posits 'games can never be art' originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ted Nugent confirms his appearance in Guitar Hero IV on talk radio show

Griffin McElroy — Sun, 18 May 2008 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Rhythm

For a game subtitled "Legends of Rock", Guitar Hero III didn't feature that many real-life six-string virtuosos. Sure, you had Rage's Tom Morello, GnR's Slash and a brief cameo by VH1's latest lothario, Poison frontman Bret Michaels -- but many classic rock aficionados who tried their hand at Activision's shredding simulator were left unsatisfied in terms of quantity (and in the minds of those belonging to the churches of Hendrix and Clapton, quality).

Until now, we've yet to hear anything about the roster for the next legit entry in Activision's golden goose franchise (no, we're not nor will we ever count Guitar Hero: Aerosmith), however, that silence was recently broken by the whistle of a flaming arrow through the night air, fired from the heavenly compound bow of the Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent. Listen to his radio interview on Detroit's WRIF (about 12:30 in), where he uses all manner of colorful language to describe the mocap process. Now, if they could only get the rest of the Damn Yankees involved, it would definitely ensure a purchase on our end. How 'bout it, Blades?

[Thanks, Tyler.]

Ted Nugent confirms his appearance in Guitar Hero IV on talk radio show originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 18 May 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Johnny Lee's Wii-nnovations blow TED's collective mind

Griffin McElroy — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Hacks, Nintendo Wii

We've all witnessed the incredible ways that technomancer Johnny Lee can put a Wiimote to good use, but apparently, attendees of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference were unaware of the handheld peripheral's vast potential. You can actually hear their minds crackle, then implode as Lee shows off two of his cost-efficient tech demos -- the multi-touch whiteboard, and 3-D head tracking (which was further confirmed to be in EA/Speilburg's Boom Blox as an easter egg). Like all Johnny Lee videos, we can guarantee this to be the coolest thing you've seen today -- unless, of course, you've just watched the entire "American Ninja" quintology.

Johnny Lee's Wii-nnovations blow TED's collective mind originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Johnny Lee rocks the TED conference

JC Fletcher — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Mods, Video

The TED (Technology Entertainment Design) conference gives some of the brightest people in the world, across wildly divergent disciplines, a forum to share their brilliant ideas. This year's lineup of speakers included names like Stephen Hawking, Al Gore, and ... Johnny Lee.

In the midst of a bunch of Very Serious Discussions about Very Serious Topics, Johnny manages to totally make a highbrow crowd care about the Waggle Wand. He does this by being awesome. There aren't any new demonstrations here, but it's totally worth it to see an audience's reaction to what is pretty much magic for the first time.

Johnny Lee rocks the TED conference originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today's most delayed-and-ambitious video: TED Spore demo

Zack Stern — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, PC, Online, Simulations, Video, MMO

Video of Will Wright's TED Spore presentation from March has recently appeared online. Wright expands on prior Spore demos, giving an overview of the game and explaining parts of his design process.

The information-packed 17-minute video keeps us interested in the total life simulation -- from origins to galactic colonization -- but reconfirms how wildly ambitious the project has been. We've been trying to play over/under on the projected ship date window of April, 2008 and March, 2009, but nobody wants "under." But whenever Spore finally arrives, we hope Wright and the other designers can deliver on the unique concept.

[Thanks, Guillaume and Kevin]

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Today's most delayed-and-ambitious video: TED Spore demo originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 22 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ze Frank talks video games, we laugh

Christopher Grant — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture

Video from internet gadabout (and host of the excellent The Show) Ze Frank's speech at the 2004 TED conference (Technology, Entertainment, Design) has been making the rounds and, despite our appreciation for performance readings of spam, it was his video game demos that we're interested in sharing with you.

For starters, he throws some numbers at us (did you realize the industry makes over $100K/year?) before walking us through three games titled Atheist, Buddhist, and Christian. Think they look like fun, try em out yourselves! Check out the entire embedded video after the break, or jump directly to his segment on video games here:

Watch - Ze Frank on video games at the 2004 TED conference

Continue reading Ze Frank talks video games, we laugh

Ze Frank talks video games, we laugh originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 10 Sep 2006 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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