This is the real reason project Milo was killed

Peter Molyneux, creator of Lionhead studios and the brain behind games such as Black and White and Fable, recently left Lionhead and Microsoft to start his own studio. Now that he has left Microsoft he’s been talking with the press about his experience there, and the reasons why he left. In a recent interview with develop he talks a bit about Kinect and Project Milo…and it seems that the truth about this cancelled project is finally out.

[Godmars290]

So basically Milo is complete and sitting on some shelf, buried in a data base, while its creator shames the company that made it?

[RedDead]

Pretty much. They may as well put it out there if it's nearly finished, seems like a shi* reason to lose out on some revenue.(And the actual experiment that Milo represents). I mean you could say the same about most kinect games

[guitarded77]

It's really a shame that the game isn't being released... if it's complete, they should put in on the market. Unless it's a real turd, I don't see any other reason for it to be shelved. The money was spent, and to keep it shelved doesn't make them any money to offset the cost of developing it. I don't know if I'd buy it or not, but seeing a team's hard work just sit bugs me for some reason.

Plus, how are they gonna market Kinect on the premise of innovation, and then say a piece of software for Kinect is too innovative for gamers to handle. Doesn't make any sense to me... kinda insulting when you think about it.

[Soldierone]

I don't understand the excuse because 9 out of 10 Kinect games are casual crap and they still sit on the shelf next to COD and supposedly sell fine....

However this breaths light into why this generation is so lackluster in other genres. Why make a super creative platformer than breaks boundries? We have a shooter idea similar to everyone else that will sell millions because it has a gun in it! .....

[MaxXAttaxX]

but with a little boy, so.... yeah....

Who wants to bet that this is just a lie? ;)
It doesn't seem like it would've worked in real time anyway. 

Does anyone really see it being more than a tech demo?
Do we REALLY want it?
I mean, what the heck kind of gameplay is this?!

[come_at_me_bro]

Yeah yeah yeah. I have a hard time believing it's actually complete sitting somewhere collecting dust or that it was close to completion and it was cut because of the risk involved. Pete is trying to paint himself as some martyr for video games right now to market his new indie company, that's it. Fable is far from a murderous shooter and it's definitely successful. Most of its marketing and PR involves anything but its combat or gameplay, it's usually focused on marriage or npc interaction. You honestly think Milo wouldn't appeal to casuals and curious hardcore gamers, especially with Microsoft's marketing power backing it? It was a tech demo to bring hype for the Kinect and that's it. I'm sure they tooled around with the possibility of it working as a game, but Molyneux is a complete hack and probably couldn't design anything worthwhile. Pete, go "change the world" already. Maybe I'll finally live on a planet where Peter Molyneux doesn't make trite overhyped garbage someday.

[CommonSense]

or...Molyneux is full of it. He has been known to embellish a bit. Even Fable 3 doesn't live up to the original vision Molyneux said he was creating with Fable 1.

[iamnsuperman]

"They may as well put it out there if it's nearly finished, seems like a shi* reason to lose out on some revenue"

You have to bare in mind that Microsoft would have to put more money into it for advertising, shipping, general costs to get it on shelves. As it says in the article

"The game (Milo) did work, it really did. But I think that the world – whether that world is retail or marketing executives – wasn’t quite ready for Milo."

Doesn't matter the game is nearly complete. Obviously someone at Microsoft saw that there is little to no market for this type of game and so why have added costs. Who is realistically going to buy this game. It doesn't have the cuteness of kinectimals to appeal to a younger audience nor did it have anything really to appeal to a more mature audience.

[ChiVoLok0]

Yeah they could bundle it up with one or two decent Kinect games and sell it for full retail price or bundle it up with a 360 and then release it on Xbox Live.

[MAJ0R]

hahaha onyoursistersback got marked as immature, which it probably was, but that doesn't make it false lol

[TekoIie]

Has anyone not thought of the simple reason being that if Milo was a game we would all have to agree that it would be the biggest turd in gaming history???

[Godmars290]

I was thinking more that Molyneux was just talking for the sake of talking. That someone with an ego and a known habit for saying thing just to make an interview interesting might have some odd ideas about the word "finished".

And even if it is done its still a game that most likely is too heady for either the COD crowd or kids.

[Fylus]

Was Milo even real? I've heard that it was just a staged event to get people hyped for Kinect.

[jeeves86]

There's always Wii Music. At least Milo would have achievements lol

[dark-hollow]

Another promise that Mr.Molyneux didn't fulfil.

Surprise surprise!

[Bimkoblerutso]

His reasoning was that the market would not accept Milo sitting in stores "alongside these murderous shooter games."

He's such a pretentious douche. I don't believe for a second that this game was close to completion. This was just another opportunity for him to play the victim like he has been for the past decade.

[MaxXAttaxX]

I don't see why you/we should care much about this game/tech demo in the first place.
Do we REALLY want it?

[humbleopinion]

There's still a big difference here. While Fable games didn't fulfill many promises made during development, they still came out eventually and turned out to be excellent games: much more original and much better overall than your typical game. The second one especially.

Milo on the other hand is a completely unfulfilled promise (Like BC before it). It started out with tons of hype but then was completely buried without even seeing the light of day and letting the gamers decide if it's actually worthwhile or yet another casual kinect crap.

At least it wasn't a complete waste of time - while I never really cared for the premise, their mega meshes engine was simply stunning and will hopefully be put to good use in future games:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Nimblest-Assassin]

5 bucks there is a dance mini game in it..

Im sorry I acted like a douche... but after kinect star wars, and the fact dance central is the kinects best reviewed game... I keep viewing the kinect as an accessory for dance games rather than what was advertised.

Granted, it is kind of cool with core games like ME3 and Ghost recon using the kinect, but I would much rather use a controller to quickly select a conversation option, rather than say it. But the vocal hotkeys are a cool idea, but I could never see myself yelling FUS RO DAH or LIARA SINGULARITY! in my living room... it would make me feel really stupid, since Im yelling at home.

[TekoIie]

I really like the gunsmith stuff. Can just sit there and read or play on my DS and just put a command without a controller and it would probobaly be a lot more enjoyable.

[N4realGMRZ]

You can yell it but you can type it? whatever pal....

[xAlmostPro]

Maybe the issue was amongst other Kinect games, this one actually took time to create and actually worked.

Despite what you say all other kinect games are completely on rails and require simple gestures. If this game worked so well people would begin expecting this from all kinect games which would mean longer dev times, probably what microsoft don't want.

As for the comment on how this would look against shooters etc, just look what heavy rain achieved for something some people called a QTE movie.

Although i'm still unsure if this is 100% working/real, look at the angle and how fast she put the paper up the sensor and it was scanned in, less than 1 second at an angle and it was perfect, hmm..

Anyway if it's real he should release it online as a free download :P

[-Superman-]

Its just big lie. It did not work !!!

[THESONYPS3]

Why not just make it a xboxlive game (download)? For like $20 it would hbe good like journey

[SandWitch]

Well, I guess the reason for its cancellation is simpler. It was the most boring game ever.

The most impressive thing on that demo is boy's AI and recognition technology, but the gameplay doesn't look interesting at all. I think only some forever-alone-retards would want play a game where you talk to a virtual guy and touch virtual water.

[Thatguy-310]

Well the E3 demo was obviouslyall smoke and mirrors. There is another video where even peter says that its all a trick but that its well done. In this demo we have milo exploring his new home that moved in and what it basically looks like is heavy rain because the game gives you options that you have to choose from and supposedly it creates a different experience with milo base of your decisions. This demo went to show that what they had showed in E3 was just to hype up kinect.

[kevnb]

i think milo is just too creepy.

[Gamer1982]

This is damage comtrol and nothing more as they found out somebody was pulling the strings in the back. We all read the articles about people controlling Milo in a back room. But of course he never would admit that as he wants to be known as a top AAA designer not as a scammer. He would never admit his mistakes in an interview like that so instead he's spouting the crap MS wrote up.

Want proof? There's no way MS would have pumped millions into this game and not released it. He blames it on its type and genre? There's games worse out there like Disneyland Kinect etc that sit fine on shelves. Plus MS were damn happy to show off this tech and if it had worked would have sold MILLIONS. There is no way a company who wants to make money like MS would have not put this in shops.

[Persistantthug]

:P

[Godmars290]

Given a bear of his resources, I'd expect him to have a copy.

That, a few "friends" to act it out with - *shivers*

[Virtual_Reality]

That version of AI, the build was scripted and fake.

I was waiting a real Tech Demo of Milo, looks like is not gonna happen at all.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

*waits for pedophile jokes* lol

***"It’s just that… what was so hard for some people to imagine is what Milo would look like on the shelves, sitting alongside these murderous shooter games."***

That is a piss poor excuse.

I can't imagine how Just Dance looks on the shelves next to those murderous shooter games. /s

Milo was a great concept and shows the great potential kinect has when it's all said and done. I really hope future kinect games will implement some of the great elements that Milo was able to produce.

[StanSmith]

"I can't imagine how Just Dance looks on the shelves next to those murderous shooter games."

I can. Crap comes to mind!

Seriously though, Milo, while a great tech demo, just wouldn't have a place on store shelves. I mean, who would it's target audience be? What would be it's USP?

MS should have included it with kinect adventures and kinect or just put it on live to download for free. There was no way they could charge for it.

[TekoIie]

What would be its genre lol? Paedophilia?

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Yeah, I agree that Milo probably wouldn't have been a great game, but it was the only thing that showed kinect's great potential.

[tigertron]

Exactly, who would buy a game where you play with a 10 year old boy? and to be fair, would kids of that age do the same? they're too busy playing COD.

[mac_sparrow]

I'm completely unsold on kinect personally, but if its done and there's no real market for it, release it on xbl as a tech demo. Sony did it with super rub a dub and even managed to make a little money. The fact that kinect needs to prove its anything like what was promised plus the fact that Peter is known for hyperbole makes me doubt that this project even works properly, let alone is finished.

Prove me wrong MS.

[Felinox]

Im thinking the "real" reason is it was developed when project Natal was prorotyped with on board processor and better camera. Then when MS wanted to save a buck and decided to have Kinect run off 360 processor with lesser camera it made the game to inacurate to play Milo.

[Kahvipannu]

If they would change the Milo to hot chick, with customization for example, it would sell, and "would be accepted".

Virtual-reality boy sounds a bit hard to market, tought unique products like this should come out, just for the sake it's something different, it's a shame it didn't :/

[no_more_heroes]

I wonder what Microsoft is doing with the Mega Meshes tech from this game that they showed at GDC last year?

[GillHarrison]

I don't think this would've made a very good game. Great tech demo for Kinect though.

[ziggurcat]

i think the real reason was that it was garbage, not that the "world wasn't ready for it."

nice try, molyneux.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Wouldn't matter if it was garbage. Kinect Star Wars is garbage, but it still saw the light of day.

[VanillaBear]

But the difference is the game is called "Star Wars" , the name along would sell the game regardless if it's crap or not.

[Kahvipannu]

Yeah, VanillaBear is right here.

If it would be SW title where you follow Han Solo, or any character, or ME themed game where you follow Miranda's ass instead little cheezy boy called Milo, it would see the day of light, and would definitelly sell, and publishers/retailers/what ever would have no problem selling the product

Who really expected SW:Kinect to be great, it's ok in what it does, but it's still a license game, and brand sells, sad but true. HAs nothing to do with the quality of the product..

[sjaakiejj]

In reality, this game likely did respond to a limited number of sentences and responses the player could make. But that's exactly where its main flaw was - uncanny valley. The immersion would be broken too quickly when Milo was unable to understand simple language that just wasn't part of what Lionhead expected players to say, a problem which would have broken the game's experience.

I don't think it's the market, but rather the technology that isn't ready.

[Soldierone]

4 or 5 hours and its complete....ugh this generation I swear. No doubt this game would be absolutely amazing, but 5 hours? go back a generation or two and thats no where near complete at all.

[SuperBeast811]

People actually wanted this??either way I dont believe his reasons I've always assumed that it didnt work as demoed like almost all kinect games and it was canned to save themselves from embaresment.

[ginsunuva]

It probably was never I development. Just a pre-rendered crappy trailer to make people want kinect. They planned to cancel it all along.

You really think they can make a VI that responds to everything in a human, nonsynthetic voice?

[WooHooAlex]

"There’s three or four or five hours of crafted gameplay in there, and it was an amazing experience."

I don't get that. Asking a virtual boy if he did his homework is not gameplay.
It wasn't cancelled because the world isn't ready for Milo. It was cancelled because it was just dumb.

[DNAbro]

I still don't think it actually worked.

[Bakkies]

That demonstration video is fake, I thought it would be common knowledge by now.

Peter Molyneux is a great guy, but sometimes he can be a bit much.

[Bakkies]

To those people who disagree with me, let me explain.

From the footage perspective, Milo is looking at the woman. From the woman's perspective, Milo would be looking to her right the whole time.

Thus the footage is fake. If Milo looked at the screen and at the woman, Milo would be looking at the person watching the footage as well(and everyone in the room)

[mamotte]

Because it was a great video, but in practice the Kinect cant do anything so great at all.

[LOL_WUT]

R.I.P Milo

[Drainage]

they need to put some anime chick/s instead of that milo kid , i bet it would revive the xbox360 in japan for sure. shame microsoft dont have my wits

[kesvalk]

i am more prone to believe that Molineux isn't ready for reality...

[guitar_nerd_23]

I think it was because it was creepy.

[Colonel_Dante]

Msft mostly play safe with releases.. if its a niche game.. it wont sell millions

[razorpakk]

So someone still believes what Molyneux says? lol

[Alos88]

You know what? I hope the world never becomes ready for the "child conversation simulator" genre.

[Kran]

Release it as an XBLA kinect title. If its only 5 hours then XBLA is the best choice rather than retail.

[bunt-custardly]

I guess no one here has played Kinectimals which shares many themes with Milo. They got around the whole paedophile aspects by using animals instead.

[floetry101]

Motion controls have done so little for this industry and it doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Most of the big ideas and concepts won't even be utilized by the end of the console cycle and hopefully they won't bleed into the next gen.

Milo and Kinect Star Wars were the biggest sellings points for the device. How ironic was the perception that Star Wars would be the "hardcore" title for the Kinect? The Milo project was, in my opinion, doomed from the get-go. How does Milo learn and grow? What if he's neglected? Is he like a tamagochi that you can't take with you? etc. Conceptually ambitious, but like most of Molyneux's work managed to be crushed by the weight of ideas.

I won't even get started on the Move, but Sorcery has come far too late in the cycle to make any sort of impact.

[PixL]

Milo was too innovative for Microsoft. Their target is dancing troopers and pink Vader.

[specialguest]

First of all, let me state that I'm not an Apple fan, but this is the kind of game that Apple would be able to market for success and convince their loyal fans that it's the greatest thing since... I don't know, the last Apple "innovation". Hell, they managed to get their fans to think Siri is revolutionary which I think calling it revolutionary is a big joke.

[catfrog]

who cares if it was real or not, it looked dumb

seriously, how few friends do you have to have to go out and buy a child sized peter molyneux as an interactive friend? what it looked like is tickle me elmo for xbox.

says the same stupid things over and over while you sit there and punch him in the face trying to get him to say anything else

[bahabeast]

search engine with a human face that i can speak to, pure genius sony and google should join and snatch this idea quick.

[mark0192]

To bad they cancelled it, let's hope MS will give it to a bunch of developers to polish, and finish this potential gem.

[Alos88]

And let me guess, you're the guy who gave everyone a disagree.

[VTKC]

Why would anyone want to be playing with a virtual kid let alone in an emotional kind of way? I certainly dont want to. Too right that this game never saw release. Makes me wonder who would want to play such a game.

[Game3s]

Target audience "Pedos"

[chukamachine]

There are no gems with kinect, KINECT IS A LAGGY PIECE OF CRAP.

[Redempteur]

Miko was nothing more than a bad tech demo..you don't axe game you've put money researching and with hype beihind it if you'e put satisfactory gameplay in and people ae interest ..

Milo was cancelled because it failed at those 2 points ..
how long would you people realize that he is still lying ...

[giovonni]

He is spitting out half truths. I do believe the game is done, and I also believe the game had some of those features in the game. I would have loved to play a game of this nature. It's different from the same rehashed games we have been playing. but of course it has to be put out there for people to judge. With that said I wish Xbox would have placed a demo version on live so it could be tested at least

[Darkspade]

I can't believe they Killed my Only Friend!!!!!

[SephirothX21]

I think the real reason might be that the game didn't shape up to what they wanted it to be. Maybe they thought the press would give them a hard time over it. After all, you are talking to a little boy. What else can you do with him? Unless they were aiming at paedophiles or priests, I'm not sure who else would really be interested.

[giovonni]

you really can't say that because you have no idea what the game is about though. This game could have been taken in any direction. what if the part that we saw was just a tutorial to teach you how to play the actual game., and the story is based upon a detective that needs the help of a kid that witnesses his families murder due to arson, but he was out side by the pound talking to you when it all happened, and your objective is to find out why the child and family are being targeted. You mean, you wouldn't be the least bit interested in Milo then ?

[Jamaicangmr]

I'm sorry but this sounds like BS to me. I don't know about anyone else but if the game is done and is as amazing as he claims then you seriously want me to believe it is unreleased because they don't know how to "Market" it?

Come on Mr Molyneux you can do better than that. Milo was just too ambitious for its time and hardware you are just trying to save face by passing the blame on to Microsofts Marketing department.

[giovonni]

I feel you on that thats why I think it's half truth. I think they were scared that the game only did half the things that were shown. for example, how many kinect games can you scan an object. I think the real truth is in the budget for the game, so it may have been compete, but not to the expectations of what we saw at E3 and if released backlash city

[n4gisatroll]

I thought it was canceled because its creepy. A little boy...for real the only people who would want to play with a little boy are pedophiles.

[glennco]

or other little boys???

[TGF_Zero]

I really hope Project Milo comes out soon. I was really looking forward to this. When I first heard about Kinect I wasn't so excited about it, still am not however I am very Excited about Project Milo. Microsoft had the chance to do something revolutionary here, I don't think they should let this opportunity pass by because some call of duty game is sitting next it. yes it most likely wont sell as much as call of duty but in this industry it has been proven that you must never say never.

[TGF_Zero]

there has to be more behind what Mr.Molyneux said.

[BrianC6234]

I don't believe this. Of course he'll say it was real and worked. He made it and wouldn't want to say he failed. He can say all he wants and doesn't even have to prove it. It might have existed but it was nothing like the demo. If it worked like the demo Microsoft would have released it for sure. It probably had a lot of trouble recognizing what people said.

[GamingPerson]

lol I just want heavenly sword 2.. but I am off topic.

[2v1]

feed them lies they love them

[Hayabusa 117]

Nice. After all this time people still listen to Peter's blatant lies.lolololololololololololol olololololololololololololololo lololololololololololololololol olololololololololololololololo lololololololololololololololol olololololol

[edgeofsins]

But there is a video proving that the video showcasing it is extremely fake. So it very likely doesn't exist the way the video shows it.

[enfestid]

Sorry, but how many times has Peter overpromised and underdelivered? Why should I trust him when he says it's fantastic?

He's never even described what the gameplay was like. That's a pretty glaring omission.

[Khan_k]

Peter Hyper strikes again, believe at your own risk.

[Raoh]

Kinectipedos?

[Double_O_Revan]

While I don't really care. I always knew PM was full of crap.

But at the same time, if it was almost finished and theyre worried about it failing on the shelf, it would make a pretty decent XBL game. No manufacturing costs, just Microsoft's fee.

[jag_stilvecchio]

I'm sorry but this is just really hard to take at face value given that it's coming from Peter Molyneux. His past is a colorful composition of truth-stretching and exaggeration and ultimately under-delivering on every project and game he's worked on.

In all likelihood Milo was probably nixed by Microsoft because they realized no one would pay $60 for an unfinished tech demo that had been over-hyped by that zany character that is Peter Molyneux.

[sugadaddy]

People still believe what comes out of Molyneux's mouth?

It's no wonder he managed to sell three Fable games.

[glennco]

i call shennanigans

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Peter always talks about his perfect projects or his "one perfect game" And he doesn't release a what "could have been" or "Would of been" his "perfect game", You know what? That's a shame because He leaves and blames MS for lack freedom and in his projects. Well, MS didn't say anything about not releasing Milo that was Peter's decision. Would Milo captivate audiences? Who knows. What Im guessing is MS does allow freedom for there devs to be creative in games and think outside the box. Peter doesn't know what he wants.

[tubers]

Because it's creepy .. maybe xD

[Shadowstar]

Just because Molyneux has left Microsoft doesn't mean he's now telling the truth. It's not like he was ever anything but marketing speak even before.