Depending on where and when you heard the news, Peter Molyneux and Microsoft’s Project Milo, a simulated conversation with a creepily realistic young boy that made a memorable appearance at E3 2009, is either completely dead in the water, currently wrapping up development, or never meant to be taken seriously. Originally, Molyneux came out with an emphathetic response stating that while it was “the most interesting and fascinating thing I’ve ever done in my life,” the project simply wasn’t at a ready-point for a secondar demonstration at last month’s E3.
Shortly after, Product Management Director Aaron Greenberg made an appearance on Good Game and stated that Milo was never meant to be anything more than a technology demo. Microsoft then came out and clarified that although Milo may be no more, the technology utilized in Milo has already found its way into other Kinect titles like Kinectimals.
“Milo, he’s safe and sound back in England. No… the Milo Project is something that Lionhead Studios in their labs had developed. Last year we unveiled the Project Natal technology, we showed a bunch of technology demos as part of that. And obviously [Milo] is a technology demo that continues to exist, but right now it’s not a game that we’re planning to bring to market.”
Since then, however, all parties involved have changed their story and seemingly stuck to a final word on the subject. Sam Van Tilburgh of Lionhead Studios has emphasized that 50 people are currently at work on the project, and Aaron Greenberg has returned to state that “Project Milo absolutely continues in development at Lionhead Studios, it is just not a product we plan to bring to market this holiday.”
The thing is, it was a bad technological demo… since it was all controlled by a person behind the scenes. They do this better at Disney Land!