The Xbox 360 has toyed with interactive TV with Kinect games such as Sesame Street and National Geographic, and Microsoft appears to be doubling down on interactive TV with the Xbox One. Today at E3, Ubisoft announced it’s creating an interactive TV series called “The Rabbids Invasion” for Xbox One and mobile devices. The Rabbids Invasion TV series is being created by Ubisoft Motion Pictures in partnership with France Televisions and Nickelodeon.
The traditional TV series itself will make its debut later this year, while “Rabbids Invasion The Interactive TV Show” will be available in 2014 for Xbox One. There may also be a PS4 and/or Wii U version, as Ubisoft did say “next-gen consoles” in its press release, but 99% of the announcement focused on Xbox One and mobile devices, so that may have just been a way to give Ubisoft an “out” if another opportunity comes along.
The interactive series is being developed by Ubisoft Paris with support from Ubisoft Barcelona. With Rabbids Invasion The Interactive TV Show, the majority of the 78 seven-minute long CGI episodes from the original Rabbids Invasion TV series will be adapted to allow the audience to join with the Rabbids in acting out some of their crazy antics.
Thanks to the integrated motion control and voice recognition of Xbox One, Ubisoft will mix classic television programming with the interactive elements of video games, much like the Sesame Street and National Geographic games did on Xbox 360 last fall.
On mobile devices, Rabbids Invasion The Interactive TV Show will be playable using touch technology as well as other features such as the camera and microphone.