Microsoft establishes Vancouver studio, evidence suggests work underway on Kinect shooter

By Adam Rosenberg May 3, 2011

Microsoft released its full body motion control peripheral Kinect for Xbox 360 last November. It was an immediate success, enough to move 10 million units in a matter of months and earn the Guinness Book of World Records distinction of being the Fastest Selling Consumer Electronics Device. While that’s great news for the company, many questioned and continue now to question the value of the peripheral for the so-called “core” gamers, the people who spend their gaming hours with the likes of Call of Duty and Halo. It’s an ongoing discussion that Microsoft is undoubtedly aware of and working to address.

Enter the company’s newly established Vancouver studio, the latest addition to the Microsoft Game Studios collective of developers. The just-launched website for MGS Vancouver indicates that the studio is all about creating serious games for serious gamers. “We want smart, creative people who can create exciting experiences that core gamers will really want to play,” the about page reads. The site also notes that the team shares resources with BigPark Studios, the MGS development house based in Vancouver behind the Kinect launch title Kinect Joy Ride.

Now here’s where things get a little more interesting. A NeoGAF poster turned up an online resume for art director Shawn Woods. It seems to have since been changed, but Gamasutra notes that the doc originally mentioned “a core AAA shooter experience using Kinect” in connection with the studio now known as MGS Vancouver.

Whether or not Woods’ resume changed in an attempt to keep the news quiet or because it was simply in error, Microsoft is obviously looking for a way to crack Kinect for “core” gamers. Supporting the device with PC drivers is a nice first step if you’re in the modding community, but it’s going to take some deep, compelling gaming experiences to win over the large twin thumbstick-twirling audience.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Microsoft

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

Gaming

All Baobab Tree locations in Tales of Kenzera

Zau fights a dragon in Tales of Kenzera: Zau.

While it wasn't marketed as being a particularly punishing game, Tales of Kenzera: Zau is by no means easy. You will have plenty of environmental challenges that can instantly sap your life, and the enemies you face -- especially the bosses -- are no slouches. When you first begin, it will only take a couple of bad hits to send Zau to the land of the dead himself. Alongside the Trinkets you can unlock through hidden challenges around the map, there are also Baobab Trees where Zau can stop to reflect on his journey thus far, have a short dialogue with Kalunga, and get a small addition to his health bar. Like everything in the game, these trees aren't prohibitively hidden, but you could easily pass one by and have no idea where it was when trying to backtrack. These are all the Baobab Tree locations so you can max out your health bar.
All Baobab Tree locations
There are six Baobab Trees to find in Tales of Kenzera: Zau and each adds a small segment of health to your total. When you collect them all, you will roughly double your HP bar. Here are each of their locations in the rough order you should naturally find them in. Most can be picked up on your first time through that area.
Ikakaramba

This one is very hard to miss as it is directly on your critical path. If you do, you can fast travel to the nearby campfire to grab it.
The Great Cliffs

Gaming

All Fallout games, ranked

The courier in his nuclear gear and holding his gun in Fallout: New Vegas key art.

Who would've thought the post-apocalypse could be such a fun time? The Fallout franchise has taken the idea of a Mad Max-like future and not only made it into a wildly popular game franchise but also a hit TV series. The core franchise has been around since the late '90s, and yet we've had only a handful of mainline entries in the series since it was revived by Bethesda with Fallout 3. With Starfield in the rearview mirror and the next Elder Scrolls title currently being the dev team's focus, it could be close to another decade before we can set foot in the wasteland ourselves once again. What better time, then, to look back at the franchise and rank all the games from best to worst?

Fallout: New Vegas

Gaming

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble is as fun to watch as it is to play

Monkeys race one another in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble.

I couldn’t tell you what the last Super Monkey Ball game I played was, but I can still talk your ear off about the series. That’s thanks to the speedrunning community that has formed around the franchise, making it into the most exciting game to watch when it's played at a high level. After spending close to a decade watching old games turned inside and out, I’m ready to finally dig into a new entry for myself.

Thankfully, I’m getting that chance on June 25 when Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble launches on Nintendo Switch. The latest entry in Sega’s precise platforming series comes loaded with content, from an adventure mode with 200 stages to multiple 16-player multiplayer modes. That’s all exciting, but my attention was on one question when I sat down to demo all of that last week: How fun will it be to watch players master it?