Savannah (lost build of cancelled Xbox 360 Kinect prototype; 2006-2007)

A lion cub from the game, probably the main character.

Status: Lost

Savannah was a Xbox 360 prototype made in 2006 by Rare Ltd. This was one of the many Rare prototypes made for Microsoft to test out their new motion camera for Xbox. It was also one of several Rare prototypes that were made, but got canned or never greenlighted in the process. Savannah was the brainchild of artist Phil Dunne, who worked on such previous works as Donkey Kong Country 3 and Killer Instinct 2.

Gameplay

In Savannah, you controlled a lion cub, from birth to adulthood, with many challenges and survival tactics along the way for you to survival in the more realistic wilds of the African savanna. It is said to be a natural simulator of sorts (a few elements were set in stone at the time), some even go as far as to say it is like a "realistic Viva Pinata." They were going for a more realistic style to the animals and was said to have "great graphics", like giving the lions and hyenas a custom shell system. The team didn't know how good the camera was, but tried to work with the motion camera anyhow.

Cancellation

Finally, after a little more than a year in production, Savannah was turned down by Microsoft. Microsoft wanted their new motion camera (later called the Kinect) to be more fitted and costumed to children rather than a more mature audience. There were also plans to make a "hybrid motion controller" (which was mainly just a one button controller with a tilt thing on it) for this Kinect game, but that was canned aswell.

Availability

There is almost nothing about this game on the internet. Aside from some pictures, and a video uploaded on June 25th, 2011, that shows all of the known models/animations. Some of their work might have been reworked into the Kinect game Kinectimals, but that is just a speculation.

There was a theme song that was uploaded to YouTube and SoundCloud by Steve Burke, another ex-staff from Rare. but sometime between 2012-2017 it was taken down off on YouTube. The SoundCloud version however, is still up.

Gallery

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Videos

Almost all models/animations from Savannah (uploaded by Refurs}.

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4 seconds of elephant walking footage (also uploaded by Refurs}.

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A Did You Know Gaming episode on cancelled Rare games, including Savannah.

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An IGN News segment on the ex-staff member interview, including Savannah.

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A YouTube video on Savannah and Killer Instinct 3, has the link (which is dead now) to the theme song of Savannah.

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External Links

• A Rare Gamer article on Savannah.
• A Eurogamer interview with Donnchadh Murphy, an ex-Rare staff member, who details Savannah and what it was going to be like.
• A Dromble interview with Donnchadh Murphy.