Thanks to the powers of extremely over priced international shipping (and peabots willingness to pay for it) I am happy to bring you an early look at the Xbox Live Vision Camera (due for NZ release on October 26th) or more importantly, how it performs on NZ broadband connections.
Unfortunately the camera we brought into the country didn’t come with any gesture-based games (Totem Ball is the only one currently/soon to be available) however thanks to our recent trip to Microsoft we have managed to play one/it. Needless to say if you want to look like a jack ass you’re having a religious experience (as Wugga demonstrates below) then gesture based gaming is for you. In spite of looking like a tool it is actually a lot of fun and surprisingly physical! let’s just say that deodorant isn’t optional. While this game was quite fun I did find it quite difficult to control. To be honest the whole time I was playing I thought wouldn’t this be better with a controller in hand?
Despite the gesture based gaming being sub par (well the one I got to play anyway) the camera is still a good investment for your $69.95 and here’s why. Chatting with mates via live is one thing, but playing a game like UNO with video of your friends is like having people to your house. Gaming is always more fun when you can see peoples reactions and the Vision camera really does deliver in that respect.
Yes despite my fears of NZ broadband putting the breaks on quality video chat I’m happy to report that it works surprisingly well; this is apparently due to the very clever compression technology’s employed. The video runs smoothly via the one to one chat in the dashboard, with only minor issues from time to time. The quality of the image can sometime vary with the odd screen artifact appearing, but for the most part the clarity is more than adequate to effectively communicate.
Playing four player UNO also generated similar results with four way video chat producing the familiar faces of geekpulps other bloggers (if you wanted to see them or not). The four way chat in UNO wasn’t as flawless as the one on one, with some players video output sometimes dropping off. I guess this is to be expected, more video after all requires more bandwidth.
UNO Camera play
My personal favorite new feature from the camera is the cool new dashboard effects (dotty, watery, and edgy) which make your dashboard background come alive. You’ll also want to check out the cool lighting effect in music visualizations. The camera actually makes you want to have full screen visuals rather than just turning them off. These features sure are a cool way of showing your mates how bling the Xbox 360 really is.
While it’s still early days for the camera in regards to actual games, the video chat features are alive and well even with crappy NZ broadband. With things set to improve in that department over the next few years video chat will only go from strength to strength. Personally I think for $69.95 the camera is one hell of a bargain for your 360 (oh btw it also works on your PC) and a must have for all live players.
Rating: 8/10
[Update] Totem Ball will be a free download once it’s completed, possibly Oct 7th.