The vapid child that wooed audiences with his color-recognition gag and slumping shoulders at E3 2009 might have been MIA at this year's event, but that doesn't mean he's rotting in a hole somewhere on the side of US41. Project Milo is still alive according to Microsoft.
In a recent statement given to Kotaku, a spokesman confirmed that the little scamp is still part of an ongoing project at Lionhead. The details beyond that, though, are lacking. "Project Milo is something that is in ongoing development at Lionhead Studios," a representative said. "Lionhead has always been a center of innovation and will continue to deliver against that charter."
A more impressive and toothier digital inhabitant, Skittles the baby tiger, upstaged Milo's demonstration during an E3 2010 live demo of Kinectimals. In the demo, a girl scratched and then played hide-and-seek with an excited Skittles, who like Milo, appeared as a lone character in the forefront of a picturesque background. But unlike Milo, Skittles didn't appear to have suffered any sort of head trauma.
Lionhead's Peter Molyneux recently spoke to CVG (via MTV Multiplayer) about Project Milo and promised that it is "now ten times more amazing than you'd expect it to be from what you saw at E3 2009." He didn't elaborate, leaving me to wonder if Milo has been given a jetpack or dual submachine guns or something since last year.
No word on when or in what form Milo will come to shelves, of course.