November '12 News Roundup

Following September's launch of Kinect Sports Ultimate Collection and our October double bill of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Skin Pack appearances, the Rare barometer of autumn 2012 swung decisively back towards Kinect Sports as we marched on into November.

The first wave of fun-sized, instant access Kinect Sports Gems landed on Xbox LIVE Arcade on the 20th. Gems are a quickfire way to play hand-picked events and activities from Kinect Sports and Season Two, squeezing in new missions, a levelling system and photo leaderboards. There'll be one free to play every week, and second and third waves featuring different sports will swell the ranks over the coming months.

Minecraft did get a look in as we approached the November 26th cut-off date for the Halloween Skin Pack (featuring characters from many developers including Rare) – and the total raised for charity topped $700,000 during the single month it was on sale. Thanks to all who bought it!

Around the internet we also saw a wealth of Kinect Sports-flavoured deals crop up in time for Black Friday, while recognition from TIME Magazine for past work is always a pleasure. Closer to home, Gavin enabled our series of Rare Life staff profiles to breach the colourful world of game design. Now let's see what the final month of 2012 brings...

News
• Fast to the Fun with Kinect Sports Gems – polished to a sparkle

Blog Posts
• Rare Life: Designer – Gavin initialises ideation session
• October Social Occurrences – alright there, what's occurring?

Games
• Kinect Sports Gems

The World Wide Web
• [Major Nelson] Kinect Sports Gems launch today
• [PlayXBLA] Kinect Sports Gems – Instant Access To The Sports You Love!
• [Digital Spy] Xbox Live update: 'Kinect Sports Gems'
• [PlayXBLA] Only A Few Days Left To Give Back With The Minecraft Halloween Skin Pack!
• [Games Asylum] Kinect buyer's guide
• [TIME Magazine] All-TIME 100 Video Games – GoldenEye 007