Games Amazing "Teaching Tool": Jack Thompson

Chances are if you follow video games with any fervour you know who Jack Thompson is. Thompson is the former attorney and conservative activist who has spent much of the past decade of his life crusading against violence in video games. Controversial, often misrepresented and a father himself Thompson has taken quite a beating in the sphere of public opinion online. This might be because cyberspace is populated overwhelmingly by the very youth Thompson is fighting to keep M-rated (17+) games away from. Some gamers have taken to wearing 'I hate Jack Thompson' t-shirts and simulating killing him in games.

Recently Thompson attended the Screw Attack Game Conference in Texas to debate the issues. Responding to a question during an informal Q-and-A session Thompson admitted that while he finds the Grand Theft Autos and Gears of Wars appalling, video games in general have potential to do good. "It's the most amazing technology and teaching tool in the history of the world" Thompson said. This may seem like quite the concession for the man who has been demonized on the internet for wanting to shut down Rockstar Games, but for anyone who has actually seen Thompson speak it is not surprising. Thompson's stance has long been that violent games have the potential to impact young people's lives in a negative way. It would follow then that games could also have the potential to impact youth positively.

The fact that Thompson calls gaming a "teaching tool" may be prophetic. Many an elementary school student has gone through their education in a state of agony and alienation because of a perceived rigidness in the system. And, high school students are certainly not immune to disillusionment with classrooms and textbooks. What if their was a way to teach through gaming? Could there come a day when Nintendo develops interactive curriculum experiences? It may not seem likely, but then again Nintendo teaching people how to do Yoga wouldn't have been foreseeable back in the 1980s (the days of Nintendo's first console) and here we are today with Wii Fit. In another twenty years who knows what will happen.

As always please comment on anything you find interesting

Artificial Intelligence A Hoax?

My mother says she can't understand my last blog so I will try to make this one clearer:

The British author Mary Shelly wrote a great novel. It is about a man who created a being that can walk, talk, and most importantly think on its own. His name is Victor Frankenstein. "Frankenstein" is considered to be the first science fiction novel ever written and the first example of artificial intelligence in English literature.

Artificial intelligence is something that may exist within our lifetime; some would argue that it already does. But, a red koopa that knows to turn around at the edge of a cliff instead of shuffling off this mortal coil is not artificial intelligence (A koopa is a bad guy mom). Artificial intelligence is something that has been written about in science-fiction novels and attempted by game programmers, but it has yet to be truly achieved.

Now Lionhead Studios claims to be on the verge of a breakthrough. It is working to create a fully responsive and adaptable video game character named Milo. Milo will interact with users, respond to questions, intuit emotion and dare-we-dream exhibit true intelligence. He will do all this via voice and facial recognition technology. In contrast to Frankenstein's malicious monster the young boy Milo exhibits a certain charm that has gamers and technology watchers excited. Microsoft is excited too! Milo, or whatever he evolves to become, will be a feature product for their newly announced camera system dubbed Natal which will hit X-boxes at some point in the future. So excited are they that Milo was given a spotlight in the form of a presentation at Microsoft's recent E3 press conference. On the surface Milo seems to be it, true artificial intelligence, but what has come out since E3 tells a different story.

While Milo wowed the audience during Microsoft's press conference only a select few of the gaming press were given access to something playable behind closed doors. Many of these journalists have reported something fishy about the demo they played. According to Shane Satterfield of Gametrailers.com journalists were asked by Microsoft not to stray from interacting with Milo in the ways seen on stage during the press conference. "Its not legit" said Satterfield. "There were a lot of smoke and mirrors going on there."

Satterfield also speculated that someone was behind a curtain controlling Milo's responses. It seems that the only intelligence behind Milo at E3 was some Wizard-of-Oz figure listening to users questions while scrambling to feed Milo responses. Deceptive.

The blogosphere and message boards have lit up with speculation about Milo's E3 appearance. One reader of Joystiq.com posted a comment about Milo. rrrr writes that the only people impressed by Milo were the "dumb/deluded/paidoff press that couldn't see how faked it was. It was 60% prerecorded and 40% 'live' with faked responses by a bloke out back."

rrrr believes the press to have a bias which favours Microsoft. "American press, American console, can do no wrong" rrrr writes.

Perhaps Microsoft and Lionhead Studios felt this trickery would best display how the product should work when completed. It is unknown how long it will take Milo to turn into an actual game on store shelves, but when he does perhaps a miniature man behind a curtain should be packed in with the software. This is just in case gamers chose to ask Milo a question he isn't programmed to answer.