Project Milo

Project Milo
Demonstration of human interaction with Milo
Developer(s)	Lionhead Studios
Producer(s)	Geoff Smith, Jemma Harris
Designer(s)	Peter Molyneux
Platform(s)	Xbox 360

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 code name "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 has not been released, despite conflicting reports that the project was an actual game.

The project began as work on an "emotional AI (artificial intelligence)" after Lionhead had finished work on Black & White in 2001. The project was code named Dimitri, after the godson of Lionhead creative director Peter Molyneux. 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. For several years the development of Dimitri remained "experimental", resulting in scarce news updates during this phase of development. In later interviews, Molyneux began to refer to the project as "Project X".

During their press briefing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June 2009, Lionhead's parent company Microsoft unveiled Kinect, then known as Project Natal, during which it featured a presentation clip from Molyneux demonstrating a woman naturally interacting with a virtual character, referred to as "Milo." In an interview with Eurogamer after the press conference, Molyneux confirmed that the demonstration was of the previously-known "Dimitri," and would be a game developed around Kinect, titled Milo and Kate. In the game, players would interact with a 10-year-old child (Milo or Millie, selected at the start) and a dog named Kate, playing through a story. According to Molyneux, work on the Kinect-specific elements started in December 2008. The game would also feature an in-game store, for purchasing items to enhance gameplay.