Xbox Live Vision Review
A good idea with some great potential but for the time being that's all it is. I think it's great that the camera can be used as a normal webcam, being a USB, you can just plug it into your PC.
The camera is reasonably clear, however you can take a higher advantages of the effects on the 360. After taking a photo, to set as your personal gamerpicture, or to send to a friend, you can add various effects, including the common settings like black and white, sepia, negative, as well as special lens effects that expand, inflate, or reflect the picture, as well as many more.
When i purchased this item, it comes with a one month free gold membership on xbox live, an extra headset for online chatting (worth about £14.99 at the time), and a code to download UNO full xbox live arcade game. Great if you have friends over with the headset, so you can all talk to different people, and UNO isn't a bad way to boost your gamerscore.
Similar to the Sony Eyetoy, on playstation 2, you can use it to control characters. However there is few games this is compatible with. TotemBall, (a free arcade game that requires the camera) is not the greatest of games, but, for the younger generation it can be fun. Basically you control a ball rolling around a level, by moving your arms up and down in fountains to control the speed and direction. Doesn't sound great, because basically it isn't, specially when you already have perfectly good games to play on.
You can also have video conversations and calls with other xbox live members but they must have a gold membership to view and send their own (if they have the cam), or they can just watch, (with gold).
Another great feature that the visioncam can be used for is 'Gameface' technology. Despite only being in one game, this shows great potential for personalising characters. The only game supporting this so far is Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas. I don't own this game but I would say - aswell as many other people - that it's possible one of the greatest shooters on xbox 360 so far. In multiplayer you create your own characeter, when the camera is connected, you set up to take a photo, line up your face in good lighting in the box shown on screen, then take a photo, repeat it again from the side. After quite a long wait, that, providing it works, is worth it, a photo appears on your soldier that doesn't look identical, but looks quite good. Unfortunately, I don't think you can arm your character with various headgear, like scars, balaclavas and goggles but you unlock an achievement worth 20 or 30 gamerpoints which is a highish benefit if you have a low score like me :)
Despite a high asking price, with all the extras and potential included it is worth buying. However it's also worth waiting for to hope the price lowers and more games include the gameface technology.
Hope this review was helpful to anyone considering buying this item.
Great FUN, as Totemball is FREE!
A great piece of kit. You can have so much fun creating your own custom head by adding stupid masks, etc, (on Rainbow Six Vegasthat is). It can also be used in a lot of other games, either as an essential piece of kit (Totemball) or as a fun extra (Uno).
Uno code (to download it for free) is included with it, as well as a 1 month xbox live gold subscription and a wired headset (they can break easily as mine did). Also, although the code is not included in the pack, you can download Totemball, as a "FREE OFFER" when plugging in the camera. So it does come with the camera, sort of; Totemball is actually quite entertaining too. Uno is also a great addition to the kit.
No regrets in buying it, great fun, and enjoy.
P.S. This link shows list of all the games that make use of the camera plus much more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Live_Vision_Camera
All you Xbox Live Owners really need to get this!!
This probably is the best accessory out for the Xbox360 at the moment, bar the wireless controller. The Vision camera really is tiny, it has to be seen to be believed..it looks a hell of a lot nicer than the Eyetoy ever did on the PS2. For the price, the camera comes bundled with the Xbox Live headset,(which i do find uncomfortable however), and the Xbox Live Arcade game, UNO. This probably is the most addictive game I have played from the Arcade games, its so easy to pick up, and its brillant when played online through Xbox Live, as you can see and hear your opponents through the Vision camera.
The killer feature however, is the ability to use the camera with PCs, im using it right now on MSN Messenger. Its easy to set-up too, as Windows automatically finds the necessary driver. The only downside however, is the lack of options available, and I havent yet figured out how to take the 1.3MP photos as the box suggests (maybe thats only on XBox Live).
But to sum up, Xbox Live is the killer app that the PS3 never will have anything like, and with Microsoft churning out accessories like the Xbox Live Vision camera, its easy to see why theres only one Next-Gen console worth investing in....
About Xbox LIVE Vision Camera with Headset and Xbox LIVE Gold 1-Month Membership Card (Xbox 360) detail
- Amazon Sales Rank: #3337 in Computer & Video Games
- Brand: Microsoft
- Released on: 2006-10-05
- Platform: Xbox 360
- Original language: German
- Dimensions: .39" h x .39" w x .39" l, .75 pounds
Features
- Sprache: D