TGS 2002: Microsoft gets NUDE
Yes, I know it wasn’t funny
One of the biggest crowd-pullers at this year's Tokyo Game Show was a game by the name of NUDE. Understandably, you might say. Unfortunately, NUDE stands for Natural Ultimate Digital Experiment, and we don't think there are any naked women in this one. So you're still have to wait for Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
NUDE features a robot called PASS, who lacks communication skills. All she can do is repeat words you say via the Xbox voice communicator headset. The idea is to teach her to speak and communicate, and help her develop emotions.
The game is early in development, so the best TGS-goers got was a short video of PASS speaking and little else. Nevertheless, we'll be keeping our eye on this one, although a Japanese-language game about teaching someone the Japanese language would presumably be quite difficult to localise...