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Visitors to the upcoming Gundam Metaverse will be able to talk with interactive AI characters. The Gundam Conference Autumn 2022 stream featured the debut of an AI character named Mellow Neige. The character wearing Haro-themed headband and necklace will appear in the Metaverse to discuss Gundam-related topics with the community via chats with a voice tone that feels close to a real human.
Shortly after Mellow’s introduction video which starts at the 12:04 mark, Bandai Namco’s Chief Gundam Officer Kouji Fujiwara revealed more details about the AI character. The company will fill Mellow’s database with knowledge about the Gundam franchise and the Gunpla kits. When the Metaverse goes live, the AI will learn more from the community’s responses. Mellow will not have a gender due to being an AI. At the end of the introduction video, Mellow hinted that the Metaverse may have more AI characters available.
Gundam Metaverse’s Mellow is one of the numerous AI characters that Bandai Namco is creating as a part of its larger AI development project. On the same day, the company published a new press release that re-introduced its Play BY Live AI character project.
In June 2022, Bandai Namco Entertainment launched the Go Round Game channel which would feature three AI VTubers in total. Two of the characters, Yuha and Satori Neon, are currently under active operation by regularly streaming mahjong matches. The third AI VTuber, Miyako Popuri, will debut at a later date.
While a conventional VTuber would have a real human acting behind the Live2D avatar, these characters are completely AI-managed. They will react to game situations and stream comments while generating speeches with intonations that feel as close as possible to real humans. The latter press release also confirmed that the Gundam Metaverse’s main interactive AI, Mellow Neige, will come from the same AI character technology that Bandai Namco has been working on.
Bandai Namco initially revealed the Gundam Metaverse project at the March 2022 Gundam Conference. It will create a hub where people can gather and talk about the franchise’s anime, games, music, and plamodels. The Road to Gunpla Battle project, which aims to realize a scanning system for customized kits, is also part of the Metaverse project. The company will hold a closed test for the Gunpla section of the Gundam Metaverse within 2022.
