Microsoft: Kinectimals uses Milo & Kate tech

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

June 29th, 2010 @ 15:33

By Stephany Nunneley

Phil Spencer, VP of Microsoft Game Studios, has said that the tech for Milo & Kate was utilized in Kinectimals.

Speaking with OXM, Spencer said Lionhead’s tech will show up in other places as well.

“Milo and Kate, the technology is stuff that we’re still incubating back in the studios,” said Spencer.

“I think Lionhead has always been a great place, and the nice thing about Peter [Molyneux] as creative director in Europe is you start to see some of those ideas around Milo also showing up in other places, so Kinectimals is actually done at Frontier.

“But Peter being so close has actually been able to take many of the learnings that Lionhead has done and help other teams, and when you see the interaction between the girl and the animal on stage you can see similarities to stuff we were working on with Milo, so we start with experiments and they may turn into games themselves.

“We may not have had anything to announce today with Milo but understand that those investments in creative research show up in many places.”

Kinectimals was demoed during Microsoft’s E3 press conference.

Milo & Kate is apparently just a demo and not planned for release.

http://www.vg247.com/2010/06/29/microsoft-kinectimals-uses-milo-kate-tech/

Molyneux – New MGS role is about “guidance”

He's doing his job well then (Y)

[Hedon]

http://www.vg247.com...milo-kate-tech/

Never thought of it like that. I remember Milo had the scanning and recognition, and Kinectimals is using scanning with Microsoft Tag recognition. The interaction with the pet is similar as well. Most likely the water movement is easily possible, and of course the animals do recognize when someone is there at the TV in Kinectimals. Right on.

[techSage]

I think that Kinectimals, though it's going to be viewed mostly as a game for children, showcases the possibilities for innovation in the video game industry that Kinect will make possible. I would say that RPGs could greatly benefit from this kind of interaction with in-game characters. Think of Mass Effect: one fo the biggest draws of the game from fans of the game is the level of involvement and engagement that the game makes you have with it - the story and characters draw you in very effectively. So imagine if you could actually talk and interact with theses characters at various points of the game. It would probably engage players by an order of magnitude greater.

Another idea that I have specific to Kinectimals, but applicable to other games as well is being able to interact with them - the characters in them or vehicles in them or lands held or explored in them - from your smartphone while you are waiting in line or on the bus or train. So for Kinectimals maybe you would be able to let your kids "take care" of their animals from Kinectimals on your phone or something similar in other games. How do you think other games could have tie-ins like this on a smartphone? Also, if you like this general idea and want to see it happen, vote here so Microsoft sees that people are interested in it: http://bit.ly/wp7game (long link: http://www.windowsphone7.com/ineedthisapp/?pbb_qsi=45219648 ). Microsoft has the influence in the video game industry to make this happen, so please vote now and vote everyday if you can. Thanks.