Project Milo
Project Milo
- Project Milo* (also referred to as Milo and Kate**) was a project in development by Lionhead Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. Formerly a secretive project under the early codename "Dimitri", *Project Milo* was unveiled at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in a demonstration for Kinect, as a "controller-free" entertainment initiative for the Xbox 360 based on depth-sensing and pattern recognition technologies. The project was a tech demo to showcase the capabilities of Kinect and was not released, despite conflicting reports that the project was an actual game.
Development The project began as work on an "emotional AI (artificial intelligence)" after Lionhead had finished work on Black & White in 2001. Details revealed about the project led some to speculate that "Dimitri" had become Fable II, but a 2006 interview with Molyneux confirmed that the projects were separate. resulting in scarce news updates during this phase of development. In later interviews, Molyneux began to refer to the project as "Project X".
However, the game was not present at Microsoft's E3 press briefing the following year. Further confusion arose later in the month with a statement by Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg stating that the game was not a product they were planning to bring to market, but was more of an internal tech demo. This was later refuted by Molyneux who stated that he would reveal a more advanced version of Milo during his TEDGlobal talk in Oxford in July 2010. Molyneux went on to hint at difficulties in getting Microsoft to see Milo as a full game. Molyneux said "The biggest challenge for us is convincing people (Microsoft) what we're doing is actually going to work, is going to reach a new audience, is going to be an idea that people love." At the TED conference in Oxford in July 2010, more footage was shown. Players could make crucial decisions in Milo's life, or smaller ones such as squashing a snail or not. During the conference it was shown that Milo could be taught how to skip stones. The demonstration also indicated that users were only able to talk to Milo when a red microphone image appeared on the screen.
In September 2010, Eurogamer ran a story, citing an unnamed source, stating that work on Milo had been halted, and that the Milo tech would be used in a "Fable themed Kinect game". This story was seemingly backed up by Microsoft's Alex Kipman in a November 2010 interview with Gamesindustry.biz, declaring that Project Milo "was never a product" and "was never announced as a game". However, an interview with the drama director of the game was released in March. It showed part of the creation process that he had to go through and some brief sections of gameplay. Completion of the project was also hinted in the interview. Molyneux later stated in a May 2025 interview that when they first started work on Project Milo, they were basing it on the capabilities of the prototype Kinect; as Microsoft refined the device, they discovered each Kinect unit would have cost thousands of dollars, well beyond expectations for consumers. Microsoft subsequently cut back on the Kinect capabilities and to focus on more casual games that use motion controls. According to Molyneux "Then, the death blow of Milo, which still breaks my heart to this day, was that it was decided that Kinect shouldn't be a gaming device: it should be a party device. You should play a sports game with it, or dancing games with it. So, it just didn't fit into the Microsoft portfolio, and unfortunately the project was cancelled."
At the 2011 Game Developer's Conference, Lionhead lead programmer Ben Sugden showcased a new graphics technology used in Project Milo for upcoming Xbox 360 titles.