Former Mass Effect project director and BioWare executive Casey Hudson is now the creative director of Microsoft Studios, where he will be working on “Microsoft HoloLens, Xbox, and other awesome projects.”

Hudson made a name for himself at BioWare as the project director of the critically acclaimed RPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and he later fill the same roll when he oversaw the development of the entire Mass Effect trilogy.

“As Creative Director at Microsoft Studios, my primary focus will be the creative direction of HoloLens Experiences,” Hudson told Xbox Wire, Microsoft’s official Xbox news blog. “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. 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 added, “I will also be working with innovative new Xbox titles, helping them to find success through clear direction and creative vision. I will be involved in driving a creative focus for Xbox and Windows gaming, and I couldn’t be more excited to be involved in that.”

“There’s no end to the potential of this technology”

Hudson explained that he is particularly excited to work on HoloLens, Microsoft’s augmented reality device currently in development. Unlike virtual reality, which uses a fully enclosed screen to play media, augmented reality like HoloLens uses a semi-transparent visor that can display images over real world environments.

“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 said. “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. There’s no end to the potential of this technology, and I look forward to being able to influence the full-spectrum experience on HoloLens, from hardware to OS, to applications and games.”

Image credit: CaseyHudson.com