14 DAY TRIAL // Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft's Xbox project manager, said in a recent interview that the Milo Project shown by Peter Molyneux during E3 2009 as a demonstration for what was known back then as Project Natal would not see release as a full game. This came as a surprise, considering a recent statement by Molyneux himself who said the Milo title was still in development and he would show a glimpse of it at a future TED conference he was about to give.
Speaking with Kotaku, Greenberg went on to correct and clear up his previous remarks. He revealed 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 team at Lionhead has always been a center of innovation and will continue to deliver against that charter.”
Milo is a character created by Molyneux's team that used the Natal technology to its fullest, allowing the virtual person to recognize the faces of those they previously had contact with. Furthermore, according to reports from E3 2009, one could maintain a short conversation with Milo, the AI behind being able to understand some words and sentences and respond appropriately to them. In addition to all of this, Milo is able to react to body movements and facial expressions.
Other interesting features of the demonstration involved the transfer of real world objects in game through the Kinect sensor. One could give Milo a drawing, for example, by handing it to the Kinect sensors.
Milo would then take the drawing by holding out his hand in the area of the screen closest to the motion controller. While the technology is not yet fully developed, many creators have shown interest in it because of the immense potential to expand the scope of video game narratives.