E3 2011 Fact Sheet for Raving Rabbids Alive & Kicking, plus Q&A with Game Director Diego Fernandez Bravo.
Short Version: “BAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!” With a Kinect.
Yeah.
Full fact sheet and Q&A after the jump.
Product DescriptionThey’ve invaded our daily lives for years, and you’ve never really considered them to be a serious threat. You just never imagined that they could even possibly be…real.
Well, you were wrong!! They really do exist!
This year, see them with your own eyes… Rabbids will mess around with the Kinect™…and your life!
So go crazy. Act out physically ridiculous and humorous challenges this Holiday 2011 with Raving Rabbids® for Kinect for Xbox 360.
Key Features
- RABBIDS COME TO LIFE – Rabbids become real, emerge from the floor, and interact with players in unique experiences and augmented reality.
- RABBIDS TAKE CONTROL – Swim, jump, dance, roll and slap freely, all in the hope to halt the Rabbids from invading. Square off with them in the craziest mini-games, in the most insane situations ever imagined!
- RABBIDS REDEFINE – The party game genre has been redefined with the ability to play with up to 4-players simultaneously; a first on the Kinect. Time to turn the living room upside down with friends and family with an abundance of customizable game types.
- JOIN THE RABBIDS COMMUNITY! – Capture and share online photos, accomplishments, and high scores with friends and family.
Product Specifications:
Publisher: Ubisoft®
Developer: Ubisoft Paris & Milan
Ship Date: November 2011
Category: Comedy, Party Game
Rating: RP (Rating Pending)
Website: rabbids.us.ubi.com
Q&A for E3 2011 with Diego Fernandez Bravo, Game Director
1. Hi Diego. Could you start by telling us about your background and your role in the development team?
My love of video games dates from when I was very young, but I started thinking about making it my career during my time at University. Back then I was learning to program on the Amiga, a very powerful multimedia computer that came out at the end of the eighties. That was definitely the machine that made me want to become a programmer. I started working with a small independent developer called In Utero, and after a few projects and a prototype developed with a couple of friends, I got a job as a Lead Programmer at Ubisoft in 2007. I was put in charge of the graphics engine and gameplay teams for Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party and Raving Rabbids Travel in Time. Recently, I’ve increasingly wanted to get involved in the game content and game design. That’s how I came to be Game Director today!
2. For this new Rabbids game, we have the pleasure of seeing the Rabbids invade a new console. What motivated you to change after five years on the Wii?
The challenge of working on a new console and being able to do full body motion control! Over the last five years, we’ve tried everything that could be done with a Wii Remote, a Nunchuk, a Wii Motion Plus, a Balance Board, online play… so we thought it might be a good idea to start afresh with the Kinect.
When you think about it, it is a natural move: you’ve been playing with your hands, then your butt, now you’re going to play with your entire body in your own living room! Get ready to use Kinect like no other games use it!
3. Who is this game for? Do you think the game will appeal to a more gamer audience?
As with the previous opuses, Raving Rabbids for Kinect has been designed from the foreground to appeal to a very large audience. The game is easy to pick up and to enjoy and most of all it is a very (VERY) social experience for friends & family to share. What’s interesting this year is that we also aim to appeal to a new audience: the Xbox 360 players. They should enjoy the innovative controls and the off-beat tone of the game. And above all, they will discover Kinect in a completely new way starting with the AR possibilities! In fact, we’ve got a few surprises lined up especially for them!
4. In what way is developing a game for the Kinect different?
Everything is different! The power of the machine, the game mechanics, the controls… Now we have more than 3+3 accelerometers, an analog pad and finger buttons. There’s a video camera with depth control, four microphones and complete body detection… that’s a lot for us to make use of and explore for some really raving games!
5. How did you approach the possibilities of this new machine?
In much the same way as we do every time new technology becomes available: we spent a long time playing the various Kinect games together, trying to understand what works and what’s not so great in order to get new ideas. We also embarked on quite a few prototypes for various things, so we could get a feel for the Kinect’s limitations and try and get round them.
6. You’ve mentioned new uses of Kinect’s features. Can you give us a few examples?
There are two things that we specifically focused on during development: augmented reality and developing gameplay for four people playing at the same time at home. We’ve got quite a bit of experience of what can be done with four simultaneous players and we were a bit frustrated not to be able to continue with that.
The microphone is also something that’s inspired us quite a lot! But I can’t say any more about that; some things are still in development, so I’ll keep them as a surprise!
7. Did using augmented reality in the minigames present a technical challenge for you?
Augmented reality is like having a recipe with lots of ingredients which all have to be perfectly dosed to make it become real. If one of the ingredients is no good, or imperfect, everything goes to pieces. For the augmented reality to be successful, you need good-quality 3D, very detailed Rabbids (several tens of thousands of polygons), sturdy algorithms for detecting natural light sources and calculating lighting paths, and a very precise physical interaction between the player and the rabbid that’s quick to react… At the end we’ve put a lot of efforts on that specific feature but that was worth the time because it simply looks awesome! Facing Rabbids for real is so unique and believable; it gives us tons of ideas and new possibilities to explore. Rabbids invading your living-room is just the beginning…
8. How did you manage to make some minigames playable by up to four people? Up until now, Kinect games were only playable up to 2 players simultaneously…
Aha! That’s the surprise that’s in store for future players of Raving Rabbids for Kinect. What I can say is that it works really well, and that four-player games are a whole load of fun at home!
9. Can you tell us more about the In Ze Kinect mode?
Rabbids have one main objective: get on our nerves and mess with our lives. And just like me I am sure you have dreamed of taking revenge, well now is your chance! With In Ze Kinect mode you now can smash, crash, whack, kick, pound, punch or step on a Rabbid for REAL! Quick example: no more “START” button to start the game, simply SMACK the Rabbid!
Above all you can fully interact with the Rabbid in many ways: put music and he’ll dance; take a picture with the Rabbid and send it through Facebook; talk and he’ll repeat (or try to), etc. This is just a quick glimpse at the possibilities, for the rest, it is up to you to find out.
At the end In Ze Kinect mode is not a simple gimmick, this is a full and very unique experience that will let you interact with Rabbids for real like never before! You have to try it!
10. This is the fourth Rabbids game that you’ve been involved with. Are you still as passionate about them? Where do you find all the crazy ideas?
The Rabbids are such simple, funny characters that you can really make them do the craziest things! This means that there are no limits; our creativity for the Rabbids continues to develop! Thinking about Rabbids all day (and even at night) has probably made the core team as raving as they are!!! Bwaaah!!
11. When can we expect the game?
The Rabbids will invade your living room this Holiday… for REAL!
