Mass Effect director joins Microsoft for HoloLens push

May 19, 2015 | 11:49

Tags: #casey-hudson #hologram #holographic #hololens #mass-effect #user-interface #windows-10

Companies: #microsoft #microsoft-studios

Microsoft is continuing to forge ahead with its innovative augmented reality system, HoloLens, with the announcement that the producer of the Mass Effect franchise is now creative director at Microsoft Studios.

Unveiled back in January during the official Windows 10 unveil, HoloLens is an exciting piece of kit taking in technology from both the virtual and augmented reality markets. Worn on the head, the HoloLens provides an overlay which can be interacted with using natural gestures from an unadorned hand. During the demo, the company focused on its potential for creative types - viewing and modifying prototype devices at full-scale and in three dimensions using simple gestures, for example - but has indicated that the technology will be baked in to Windows 10 as standard for everything from work to entertainment, although requiring a HoloLens headset to use.

Now, the company has announced that it has hired Casey Hudson as creative director of Microsoft Studios, and that his work will centre around the AR headset technology. 'As Creative Director at Microsoft Studios, my primary focus will be the creative direction of HoloLens Experiences. I am extremely passionate about the potential of this kind of technology, as anyone who’s talked with me over the last couple of years can attest,' Hudson claimed. 'I feel that the work being done at Microsoft on mixed reality and holographic computing will have a tremendous impact on how all of us interact with technology in the coming years.'

Hudson's previous role saw him acting as the director for popular sci-fi role-playing game franchise Mass Effect, in which holographic user interfaces play a big role from the wrist-worn Omni-Tool through to fully-interactive Virtual Intelligences. 'I was fortunate to try an early prototype of HoloLens before it was announced, and I was blown away by the technology and what it was already capable of,' Hudson claimed. 'Walking on Mars while sipping coffee in an office setting, Skyping with a friend who can draw on the walls of my environment, sculpting an object in 3D modeling software while a hologram of it sits on a table next to me... These first experiences cemented my belief that holographic computing was where I needed to be.'

Hudson will also be working on 'innovative new Xbox titles,' has has revealed, along with 'driving a creative focus for Xbox and Windows gaming.'
Discuss this in the forums
YouTube logo
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review

October 14 2021 | 15:04

TOP STORIES

SUGGESTED FOR YOU