Microsoft gets Miivatars! Er, avatars.

[stirrell]

Actually, the avatars they have displayed in the Joystiq article makes me think of the Office Assistants (ala Clippy and the dogs and cats).

 

"It appears you are trying to make a head shot... do you need help with that?"

[rockman_x_2002]

Well, I really don't think there's a lot of doom and gloom about having a Mii-like avatar on the 360. It's a neat idea, and would be supplimented if there are at least a fair amount of free content for them. Not that I would be upset, exactly, if they chose to have customizations as strictly pay-only. It's their perogative to do so.

 

Actually, I just wanted to chime in that avatars are nothing new, and have been around even longer than MMORPGs have. In fact, there are many Commodore 64 titles that allow you to create a personalized character with customized looks (albeit with very primitive tools so your combinations are quite limited). Suffice it to say, it's not really anything new to the table, except the fact that these things, like the Miis, are in 3D now, are on consoles, and will likely offer a good amount of customization sure to please most people.

 

As for Microsoft trying to snag exclusive rights on the term "avatar", it's a common enough word these days that I don't know if they'd be able to do that. Even so, if anybody has a hold on the word "Avatar", I would think it would come nearer to being EA under the Origin Systems Ultima series.