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Sure, someone could equip IBM's efforts with one of Hal's obvious advancements in AI programming such as the Jiggly Boob Hap, but then Watson is such an odd name for a virtual girlfriend.

I think that saying Hal could in any way keep up with what it takes to perform and win like Watson did is hugely over estimating the program's capabilities.

This sounds good. I will not give up on this, but you have to admit that the people who stop in from time to time, are left with an impression of abandonment. I am glad to hear that is not the case.

I have all but given up on it. What could have been an ongoing and frontline example of what AI could do, has turned into an outdated fan scene. Just the virtual girlfriend aspect of what Hal has become would be enough to turn most people interested in the actual AI aspects of it away. From the outside, some of that stuff looks just flat out creepy. Just my opinion. Different strokes and all that. It would take nothing short of a ground up, work from scratch effort for Ultra Hal to even come close to what is being done right now.

Great stuff. I really enjoyed watching that. Thanks.

I have a Linux based handheld and was wondering if anyone knows if there has been any effort to create a mobile version of the program? The device I have is called a Caanoo. There are several other devices also in the handheld realm. I use it mainly for running emulators to play old school games but running Ultra Hal on it would be freaking awesome. Here are the specs on the device. If anyone thinks this is possible, kick it around for me.

SoC (System on a Chip): MagicEyes Pollux VR3520F
CPU: ARM926EJ 533 MHz embedded on SoC (architecture version ARMv5TEJ)
GPU: 3D hardware engine embedded on SoC (OpenGL ES 1.1 support)
3D performance: 133M Texel/s and 1,33M Polygon/s
main RAM: 128 Mbytes DDR SDRAM 133 MHz (peak memory bandwidth: 533 Mbytes/s)
video buffer: about 16 Mbytes of main RAM are reserved for the video/texture information
Operating System: GNU/Linux based
Flash memory: None (128 Mbytes reserved to the OS)
Connection to PC: USB 2.0 High Speed through EXT Port
USB Host: USB 1.1 standard socket
Supports SD / SDHC memory cards (up to 32 Gigabytes)
G-Sensor/Vibration Motor
High precision analog stick
Display: 3.5 inch LCD 320×240 pixel (resistive touchscreen)
Embedded Microphone and stereo Loudspeakers
Power: Internal 1850mAh Lithium Polymer Battery (approx. 5/6 hours game/video playback)

I'd like to see Hal with the ability to move about in a 3D environment. It would be cool to see the program incorperated into an RPG style game. Imagine NPCs that instead of reciting predertermined lines, could respond on the fly and who would interact based on the brain they had.
None of the characters I have made for Hal fall into the girlfriend catagory unless you want to date a virtual owl or a car. I'm not knocking those who use Hal that way and I wouldn't turn people away from the program because of that. It wasn't what drawed me into it. As far as those who like just the text, I can't knock it. Zork was one of my first games I had when I was young and I loved it.
I would like to see an update as I think it might get some folks back into the scene.

I contacted Haptek about a year ago and they offered to sell me the company. Not a good sign. Also, the Ogre engine is somewhat dated. It's sad to think that we are all waiting around for a "step up" that is actually come and gone. I got into the scene in the 90's with the first release of Virtual Friend.

The argument of graphics or not was a constant issue when I first joined this forum. Now that most of the artists have left, not so much. Why the code guys felt so threatened by the visual side of things is beyond me but that much was obvious to me. I never felt threatened by plug-ins but on the other side of the coin, I never looked at Hal as a virtual girlfriend as I feel many do.

The characters I made and the GUI skins I offered are as good as anything on here but the constant digs from those that didn't want a visual apsect to it made it all less than satisfying so I gave it up. Jack G was ready to pass on his position of lead character maker to me be but it seems like we both came to the same conclusion as to where that would take us.

Ogre and Haptek aside, when was the last time Ultra Hal was updated?

Hi guys. I have to say that I think that announcing that the program will be switching over to the Ogre engine and then leaving things in limbo has been nothing short of disasterous to the program and it's related community. Many artists put their creativity on hold in hopes that we would be able to pick up on the new engine and begin making characters and GUI skins for it under the new format. That was what seems like years ago. We haven't even had an update for the existing Haptek version in ages.

I think it would have been wiser to wait until things were fully ready on the Ogre engine before announcing what sounded like to many as it being a waste of time to keep creating things for the outdated Haptek version. I'm thinking the lack of support this program is getting is kinda ****ty and I would have made an effort to keep making characters had I known the Ogre thing was going to take so long. I even offered my character making skills to help the new gig get moving along with no response.

Anybody know if this program will ever be updated? This thing has Windows 95 written all over it. Plugins are a real hoot but most people got into this because of the graphic representation. That is also why most people have left this program behind. Remember pages of new characters? That was fun. A script that makes Hal behave like someone else wants it to, not so much. If you don't think that graphics play that much of a role with Hal, then write some code that calculates how many people left this scene behind because of it.

Waaaambulance huh? Somebody rename this Ultra Gretta's plugin ride on a sinking ship.

Hal used to be fun. Characters being made. Skins being released. But then...Haptek staying in the mid 90's, an Ogre engine that was about 4 years ago and never really came through. Now toss in chasing away all the artists and you have yourself alot of plug-ins on a flat line program. Anyway, Hal used to be fun.

I'm not sure if Datahopa's site deals with characters or not but if you would post it there, I would appreciate it. Jack and I both did Darth Vader so I'm not sure which one you have.

The car character is still MIA. If anybody has this character or the Darth Vader character I made, please let me know.