Karisma Williams, ’04 “Kinects” with New XBOX Game

12/02/2010 5:12 PM

Multimedia Alum Designs XBOX Game

By: Melissa McGuire

With the holiday season approaching, this year’s hot ticket gift item has a Bradley name behind it. Kinect for XBOX 360 has sold more than 2.5 million units since its launch a month ago. Karisma Williams, a 2004 multimedia graduate, helped design an integral feature of the controller-free gaming system package.

Williams works for Good Science Studies, the company behind the Kinect Adventures game. The game comes with every Kinect sensor device sold. During production of Kinect Adventures, Williams was responsible for making sure the most user-friendly interaction model was used, and she ensured all menus and interface elements were integrated properly and looked the way the art team had imagined.

Working on XBOX 360 has been a rewarding experience for Williams while challenging her perspective on gaming.

“It’s a dream come true,” Williams said. “Although once you work on the development side of things you do look at the platform and games differently. A little bit of the magic is gone from a consumer point of view at times.”

Kinect for XBOX is a controller-free gaming experience. With the success of Nintendo’s Wii console, many consumers want to know how Kinect compares 

“Kinect is much more advanced technology compared to the Wii,” Williams said. “I don’t really think you can compare the two since they both have different goals. I think the Wii did a great job of introducing motion gaming to the general public. Kinect is a much more powerful piece of hardware and developers are just now figuring out how to harness it to deliver innovative experiences.”

Kinect provides users with a sense of magic and a futuristic gaming experience.

“Controller-free entertainment in living rooms is something most of us expected to see in the future,” Williams said. “Well, the future is here.”

According to Williams, the best video games in the Kinect market this holiday are “Kinect Adventures” and “Dance Central.” Keep this in mind when you ‘kinect’ with your shopping list this holiday season