The post-E3 scuttlebutt surrounding Microsoft’s Project Natal is mixed, at best. Some seem to think it’s equal to the Second Coming, while others are less than impressed. The truth of the technology’s potential is somewhere in between: great possibilities, but whether or not Natal can realize them remains to be seen.

While we don’t know precisely how well Natal will work, we already know one piece of software doesn’t quite work as advertised: Peter Molyneux’s “Milo” demo. According to Spike’s Vice President of Content (and Gametrailers’ editor-in-chief) Shane Satterfield, Milo was mostly — pardon my terminology — bull.

Satterfield had this to say about Milo in Gametrailers’ latest episode of Invisible Walls: “All I’m going to say about Milo is that it’s not legit. There were a lot of smoke and mirrors going on there — not the case with the ball demo [Ricochet] and the other stuff, but with Milo there was definitely a little bit of deception going on.”

Satterfield was part of a select group shown the Milo demo behind closed doors. Satterfield says a Microsoft employee was “controlling” Milo behind the scenes. He also says that Molyneux informed the press on hand that Milo’s voice recognition features aren’t as swell as they appear. Milo — and Natal in general, it seems — apparently does not recognize an individual’s voice, but rather his or her tone, and only uses rudimentary open-ended statements that will fit into any conversation a player can start.

It would be foolish to take Satterfield’s word as gospel, but bare in mind he isn’t the only one voicing his doubts about Natal’s true potential. And Satterfield isn’t saying that Natal is  a complete lie, but rather its motion detection works much better than its voice recognition. That isn’t terribly surprising, considering the current state of voice recognition software.

So, we’re forced to consider: if Natal’s technology isn’t as advanced as Microsoft would have us think, just how ground-breaking can it really be? Is this a true evolution of existing technology, or simply a new proof-of-concept? Only time will tell, as Project Natal isn’t anywhere near finished. Hopefully, once Natal is released into the wild, it will be more than ready to live up to the hype.

Major Nelson let us know (via Twitter) that the original Perfect Dark will be coming to XBLA in glorious 1080p this winter. It’s the classic, folks. Forget that lousy launch title, I’m talking about the old school Perfect Dark many of us played on the N64 back when Rare was still dropping hits. Hopefully the frame-rate has improved and all the bizarre simulator opponents (dark sim, perfect sim, peaceful sim) will be included.

A free theme is also available on Xbox Live today to celebrate.

How did you feel about the idea of “horde” in Gears of War 2? How about Survivor mode in Left 4 Dead? If you say “I loved both!” then boy are you in luck. Halo 3: ODST is also jumping on the “horde mode” bandwagon with their own rendition entitled “Firefight”. You and up to four friends can go head to head with waves upon waves of Covenant forces until you are eventually defeated.

Now that the press conferences are over, it’s time to see some footage! Let’s kick things off with brand new gameplay for Left 4 Dead 2. It sure looks like more Left 4 Dead..but that’s okay with me!

Sony announced the official release window for God of War III at their E3 press conference today. That window, in case you didn’t bother to read the article title, is March 2010. That keeps in line with the release dates for previous entries in the God of War franchise.

Sony also showed off a gameplay demo, featuring Kratos struggling against Helios, the young Greek god of the sun. I think it’s safe to say Helios’ days are numbered — as well as the entire Greek pantheon.

Said demo will be on-hand on the E3 show floor, so I suspect we’ll hear a lot more about how it plays in the near future. We’ll update as often as possible. Why the special attention? ‘Cause it’s friggin’ God of War III, that’s why!

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See, we’re not all Microsoft fanboys at HCG. Honest.

Fumito Ueda and Team Ico’s newest creation, The Last Guardian, was announced at Sony’s E3 press conference today. It is the final installment in the Team Ico “trilogy,” and is exclusive to the PlayStation 3.

Team Ico unveiled a trailer which looked nearly identical to one leaked earlier, but with a few new tweaks. There’s still a boy running around in a Shadow of the Colossus style world, bonding with a strange bird/dog creature. What kind of gameplay The Last Guardian will offer remains to be seen, but it’s a safe bet it will be amazing.

The Last Guardian will be released sometime in 2010. Check back here for more info in the months prior to its release.

Sony announced United Front Games’ new kart racer Mod Nation Racers — a PS3 exclusive.

I know what you’re thinking. Oh, yawn, another stupid kart racer. I sympathize. But imagine a Little Big Planet level of user customization in a kart racer. Cool, right? That’s exactly what you’ll get in Mod Nation Racers. Customize literally everything you can think of: karts, racers, tracks, backgrounds, music, and so on.

The actual racing gameplay will be very similar to Mario Kart, utilizing weapons to knock out opponents. Hopefully that aspect is fun, or else the customization features will be fairly pointless. We won’t know for a while, as the game won’t be released until 2010, so check back for more information.

Yes indeed, dear readers, Final Fantasy XIV is coming exclusively to the PS3 — so says Sony anyway. And what’s more: it’s coming next year.

But don’t get too excited, as this isn’t the next entry in the main series. FFXIV looks to be an online experience, though whether or not it is a MMORPG remains to be seen. Considering the rumors spreading recently about a Square Enix-produced MMO for the PS3, I’d say that’s precisely what FFXIV is, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Check out the site in the near future for more details.

Sony announced Rockstar North’s PS3-exclusive original IP, Agent, at their E3 press conference today.

What’s it about? Well, we don’t really know. We know it involves espionage and assassins, and is set in the 1970s, but that’s about it. Sony seems to think it will be as important to them as the Grand Theft Auto franchise, so expect to hear a lot more from this title in the near future.