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Xbox Live Vision Camera details & Specifications:
The Xbox Live Camera for Xbox 360 opens up a new world of gaming and entertainment on Xbox Live, the world’s premier online video games service. With the Xbox Live Camera, video chat and video messaging with your friends becomes more than just a feature set; it is an integrated part of the Xbox Live experience. Connect and communicate while playing the same or different games, watching movies, listening to music, and more.
The Xbox Live Camera also takes personalization to a whole new level and allows you to customize your gaming experience by putting your face on characters in your games, all while being able to video chat with your friends as you play online. And with next-generation online motion-detection-enabled games, the Xbox Live Camera puts you entirely in the game and in control of the on-screen characters over Xbox Live.
Product Review:
As usual with all Microsoft Xbox 360 accessories it comes in one of those blister packs which as always are a pain in back side to open; it makes it slightly more difficult knowing your dealing with a small fragile camera as well.
Judging on which Xbox Live Vision package you may have purchased, your contents may be slightly different. The package I have was the cheaper one which contains the Xbox Live Vision camera, an Xbox 360 headset, typical instructions and a promotional card which contains a code for the camera supported card game Uno and the card also contains a one month subscription to Xbox Live, which can be added to your existing account extending it by one month (or 12 months if you bought the other package).
Upon connecting the camera to my Xbox 360’s rear USB 2.0 port and placing it on top of my display then powering the console on I was greeted to seeing my self sat down in the Xbox Dashboards background covered in a watery effect, which actually reacts to your movement by creating ripples in the water. There are a total of three different camera effects which can be applied to your Xbox Dashboards background, the default effect as mentioned earlier is Watery, the other two effects are Edgy and Dotty – To access these camera effects or to disable them altogether press the Xbox 360 Guide button, select Personal Settings, Themes, Customisation and then Camera Effect – you can then choose the desired effect from this screen, Watery is my personal favourite as its not too intrusive and is just faintly there in the background.
Setting a personal picture is simple enough to do you can access this by selecting your gamer card then selecting Edit Gamer Profile, Gamer Picture and then Take Personal Picture. Once you have taken a personal picture you can then add an effect to it from the many choices available. Unfortunately though you can not store your pictures taken from the camera for your personal picture, you just have one personal picture so when you want a new one you need to take a new picture which is a shame as you would think you could take several pictures and be able to access and edit those from the Change Personal Picture screen.
Video Chat is something that seems so new, yet people have been doing it on their computers for years now. Perhaps it’s just more fun on a console for some reason and being on a large screen as opposed to a monitor will probably emphasise that more for some. I have video chats mainly with one of my friends from the US, but have recently had the chance to chat to some British friends as the camera released just yesterday here in the UK. During Video Chat conversations you will see yourself on the right hand side of your screen in a medium sized window and the friend you are chatting to on the left side of your screen. Also you will notice that above your window will be your gamer tag and the time from the area you live in, which is a nice feature to be able to see that I’m up at 4 a.m. Video Chatting with an American friend where the time will be about 8 p.m. where he lives. You have a few options during your video chat sessions, you will notice below the display windows is a horizontal panel which lets you do a number of things which are: Invite friend, Zoom in/out, pause video chat (which cuts off your video feed, handy if you need to scratch or something) and change voice settings.
By pressing the X button you will enter the options screen which lets you change settings best suited for your camera room and lighting conditions – This options screen can also be found under the System blade and then Xbox Live Vision; it’s worth having a look here to get your camera set up the best possible way for your room’s conditions. My camera I thought was fine but I decided to have a look at the focusing which is mentioned in the options screen; basically rotating the rubber band around the cameras lens will change its focus, mine is now pin sharp. Other somewhat unusual things that can be done during video chat involve the Xbox 360 controller, pressing LB/RB several times will alternate between different visual effects on your video image which both you and your friend will be able to see on screen. The other thing with the Xbox 360 controller that you can do is make your friends controller vibrate… This is achieved by pressing either the LT or RT; it seems somewhat weird the first few times; almost like you’re doing something naughty. But you will get used to it and to be honest will probably rarely use it, I can’t help but wonder why it’s included in the first place though…
Messages, messages, messages. You can now send picture messages to friends as well, this is done in the same way that you would send a text or voice message; basically with your camera connected you will notice a new selection called ‘Add Picture’. When selected this will display a preview window where you can zoom in/out and then when you’re happy, take a picture; you get a three second count down before the picture is taken 3, 2, 1…. Cheese!
Before sending the picture off to your friend you can take it again if you’re not happy with it or you can add an effect from the many on offer. Once you’re happy with your picture before sending it off you can even add text and a voice message with it as well.
You will have a nice surprise the next time you go to play your music. Enter full screen visualisation when you play, and wave your arms about in front of the camera – you will see a white glowing blurred outline of your arms/hands moving, also notice a nice effect where your previous movements glowing outline vaporise into the visualiser. Perfect for a party perhaps?
The thing that has the best camera support at the moment are some titles on Xbox Live Arcade. The first XBLA Camera only controlled game released just the other day for FREE to download from Xbox Live – and that is TotemBall. So Xbox Live Vision owners get downloading right now, if you have not already downloaded it. There is sure to be some new content for TotemBall in the not too distant future, but for now let’s talk about how the camera effect’s the game play. In the campaign you control the main character with hand movements. Basically there are two waterfalls on the left and right of your screen; the camera has you faded in the background of the game. So you place your left hand in the left waterfall and your right hand in the right waterfall. There is a thin panel of wood which appears horizontally in each waterfall so with your hands in the waterfalls you have to move both sliders up with your hand movements to move forward, half way to stop and down to reverse. Having your hand half way in one water fall and moving your other hand up/down in the other allows you to rotate the camera angle in the direction you want to go, so then moving your hands up again will move you forwards in your chosen direction.
I’m sure that sounds a bit confusing and it is, at first anyway. The main problem is that it gets very tiring on your arms (or mine anyway), though I may not be very fit; luckily for me as you travel the levels there are little beds which if you move up to them let you rest your arms for eight seconds. TotemBall features some mini games as well including pinball, which works in a similar fashion with the waterfalls, but instead of the wood to move up and down there are cogs which you must rotate left/right with your hand gestures – which equates to you controlling the flappers which hit the ball.
So that was TotemBall, which is definitely worth checking out. Other XBLA games which do support the camera are Uno which of course is included in your Xbox Live Vision package and another game that supports the camera is Bankshot Billiards 2 as well as some other XBLA titles. The camera supported games all support the camera in the same way, which is simply in game video chat. So for example during any online multiplayer game of Uno, Bankshot Billiards 2 or any other supported games you will see the opponents you’re playing against (if they have the Vision camera) in a minimized window below their gamer tag and they will also see you, now as the windows are much smaller than what they are in Video Chat and if you’re quite a distance from the camera then you can access the games settings and edit your camera configuration for that game, you can zoom in up to 3x – which will look very pixellated, due to the low resolution of the camera. That is not a problem though as that’s just the larger preview window in the settings. In an online multiplayer game of Uno the window is much smaller and thus is not as noticeable. You can also disable Video Chat in the same settings menu; which will turn your camera off and stop you from seeing the other people in the game.
We have covered pretty much everything that the Xbox Live Vision camera can do right now. Do I think this camera is worth your hard earned? In the long run I would say yes it is worth the money. Is it worth it right now? Probably not, though if you have family/friends abroad with an Xbox 360 this is certainly cheaper than loads of phone calls. It’s time now though to talk about what the camera will do soon and what we think the camera should be able to do.
The Xbox Live Vision camera will put you in the game, literally. The first Xbox 360 game that will allow you to take screenshots of your head and make a digital 3D image in the game using face mapping technology is Activision’s World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions which is available in the US now, the game is scheduled to release in the UK this autumn.
The new face mapping feature looks to be extended (thankfully) to more than just basic card games though. The first blockbuster Xbox 360 title to be confirmed to feature DigiMask technology is Tom Clancy’s: Rainbow Six Vegas.
I’m sure that we’d all like to see, things that should have really been in from day one. But that’s fine, Microsoft probably just want to tantalise us a bit before giving us the goods. It’s clear from having spent a considerable amount of time with the camera that there are limitations and things that you would generally like to be able to do that you can not do yet . There are just two simple things really.
Private Video Chat – I’d like to see it work in a similar way to what Private Chat is like now. It should be accessed from the Xbox 360 guide if you’re not on the dashboard and you send a friend a video chat invite from your friends list when you’re watching a movie or playing an Xbox 360 game. Then once they accept they appear in a minimized window picture-in-picture (PIP) style. Then under Personal Settings in the 360 guide you should be able to edit the settings for private video chat; for example what corner the PIP window of your friend appears on and through the Xbox 360 guide you also need to be able to edit your Xbox Live Vision camera’s zoom amount and basic settings – so you can check what your friend sees and to make sure you are properly centred etc.
I have already considered the limitations of the Private Video Chat during game play. It quite simply will not be possible during online multiplayer sessions as that would use up your bandwidth but I see no reason not to have this feature implemented as it would be ideal for watching a movie or playing an Xbox 360 game (single player).
The other thing I expected in from day one was multiple video chat, I remember seeing screenshots some months ago of a four-way video chat on the dashboard. I don’t mind that it’s not in and I’m sure it will be added at a later date but I was under the impression it was ready judging from early screenshots? Overall I would rate the Live Vision Camera 7/10.
You can check out a quick demonstration video of the Xbox Live Vision camera on Xbox.com here
Features
• High-end online camera supports up to VGA 640x480 video at 30 frames per second and takes 1.3-megapixel still photos.
• The camera includes a microphone that connects to the controller, so everyone in the room can chat online with their friends.
• The camera supports built-in video chat and video messaging on Xbox Live.
• Your face can be imported into games and can also be placed next to your name on leader boards for even more recognition or fame.
• Chat with your friends while you play online in Xbox 360 games as well as in the Xbox Live Arcade.
Date: 12-5-2005
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