Xbox veteran takes charge of Rare

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 28 October, 2010

Henson swaps Redmond for Birmingham.

One of the chief architects of Xbox's success and development has taken over Kinect Sports developer Rare as studio manager, Microsoft has announced.

Scott Henson, who will move from the US to Birmingham in January, has been with Microsoft for 16 years, working on the original Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox 360, XNA Game Studios and Games for Windows Live. He played a key role on the hardware and software of the new Xbox 360 and motion-sensing add-on Kinect.

Henson joins the gang just in time for the release of Rare's first Kinect game: Kinect Sports, on 10th November in the UK.

Now it's time to get to know Scott. "Scott holds a Computer Electrical Degree from the University of Oklahoma where he also enjoyed football, music, basketball and coding. He's a big sports fan but also enjoys family time, travelling, skiing, hiking, swimming, cycling, working in the local community and of course family game nights playing both board and videogames," reads Henson's bio.

His favourite game is Diablo II, "which he claims is the 'perfect blend of art and arcade, simplicity and sophistication' however admits he's a big fan of the Halo franchise too, playing on a regular basis."

Rare was founded in 1982 by brothers Tim and Chris Stamper. It's perhaps best-known for creating N64 classic GoldenEye 007. In 2002 Microsoft bought the studio for a reported $375 million.

We'll have an interview with Henson up in the morning.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (14) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • metallicorphan #1 2 years ago

    can we have RARE back to real games please

  • Optyk #2 2 years ago

    A proper Banjo Kazooie platformer and Kameo 2 pleeeeease.

  • sfp_noodle #3 2 years ago

    I don't know if anyone has mentioned this before, but if Rare get a kick up the arse and return to their glory days, they could be the studio to continue the Halo franchise. Think about it. If when Halo CE came out, Rare was installed as the developer, most of us on the internet would ruin our keyboards and laptops with a sex wee. If this man can give them that kick up the arse, they could turn Halo into something special. Perhaps there is logic in this appointment.

  • Masarin #4 2 years ago

    I prefer the company name Ashby Computers and Graphics Ltd. And please bring back Alien 8 now when we're on it. :)
    Edited by Masarin at 28/10/10 @ 00:15

  • darth_paul #5 2 years ago

    lets hope that, over at Rare, things start to change for the better. They went from one of the most interesting developers, to one of the most forgettable. I vote for:

    - Killer Instinct 3
    - Banjo 3 (a real platformer, not a weird pseudo-game)
    - Conker 2
    - Halo 4 by RARE.
    Edited by darth_paul at 28/10/10 @ 00:18

  • Cloud-Strife #6 2 years ago

    No way could they handle Halo...

  • carrotcake #7 2 years ago

    Microsoft didn't green light Conker 2. Rare had a hilarious script and everything.

  • Harmonica #8 2 years ago

    sfp_noodle: Rare don't have the sci-fi or storytelling chops to take on something like Halo. I'm not saying Halo is the most advanced example of sci-fi storytelling, but it at least has a fully developed universe with a potential to tell some interesting stories about AI and extra-terrestrials and galactic-wide warfare.

    Rare don't really do storytelling on that kind of scale.

  • deez #9 2 years ago

    It goes from bad to worse.

  • spliffhead #10 2 years ago

    Is that football or Soccer fella in the CV?

    Either way, I don't see " I love videogames and shun sunlight"!

    Stick Conker on XBLA as Banjo and Banjo 2 were converted, then let a small teams run with the old IP's and some crazy ideas.

    Keep the main team working on the Wii Shovelware to pays them bills.

  • Phantom_Dynamite #11 2 years ago

    Am I the only one who would kill for a new Viva Pinata, I found the other ones strangley relaxing whilst highly addictive.
    Oh and yeah where the fuck is Killer Instinct.

  • schnide #12 2 years ago

    What's with all this "..get Rare back to x" etc?

    It's a different company to the one which produced all those games from the glory days. The main thing remaining is the name. It doesn't matter what IP they're given to work on, if they were still a top-class studio then they'd be producing top-class work no matter what they were given to do.

  • Purist #13 2 years ago

    Rare sold out, and now a yank is coming across to tell them how to do things their way. What a sad demise.

  • darth_paul #14 2 years ago

    @Cloud-Strife
    they handled Goldeneye on the N64 (at the time the best FPS ever), so they definitely can handle Halo. Whats there to handle anyway? The template is more than set into stone. Just evolve it...