Xbox Live Vision Cam Preview September 06, 2006 John JCal Callaham

Introduction

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Nope, we are not talking about Nintendo’s Wii controller, but rather the EyeToy for Sony’s Playstation 2. The USB camera got a lot of attention when it was released a few years ago as players participated in mini-games with the camera translating the movement of the person on the screen for simple mini-games like window washing (yep window washing) and dispatching cartoon ghosts. While the Eyetoy sold a lot of units when it was first released, follow-up games for the device failed to deliver on the camera’s promise of revolutionary gameplay.

Now Microsoft is preparing to release its own USB camera add-on for its Xbox 360 console. Unlike the EyeToy, however, the Xbox Live Vision camera is being marketed as being more of a communication device than as a gameplay addition (although it will reportedly be used for that as well). FiringSquad got an early look at the Xbox Live Vision product before its officially release to stores on Sept. 19 (a few store in the US apparently sold a few units of the camera ahead of time).

The camera itself looks pretty much like every other USB web cams that have been marketed for desktop and lap PCs. Like the Xbox 360’s “ring of light” the camera’s lens is surrounded by a green glowing light (something that doesn’t really show up when you photograph the camera). The small flat stand for the white colored camera keeps it upright on flat surfaces (we would have liked to have seen some kind of clip on the back for attaching it to, say, a wall or another flat surface), and the camera itself has a handheld focus lens that allows the person to adjust the focus. The stand allows the camera to rotate and also angle for a few degrees up and down.

The Xbox 360’s user interface already has support for the Xbox Live Vision camera in its last major update so it should be easy for people to begin using the camera out of the box (and for the few of you who don’t have your console online yet, we think you are behind the times). The UI’s set-up menu allows the player to adjust both the amount of lighting that the camera brings in (from its default setting to almost complete darkness) and also can change the kind of lighting that appears in the camera as well. The camera can also be used to replace your gaming picture for your Xbox 360 player profile. All you have to do is go to your gamertag profile, hit the take personal picture button and you are taken to a screen when you can quickly take your profile image. The UI allows you to activate a control for an even more close up profile from within the camera’s image which is adjusted via the Xbox 360 controller. After the gamertag profile picture is taken, Microsoft has got some weird distortions that you can use to make your player face look very odd indeed (mine splits my profile image in two).

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