Xbox 360 Gets Vision Camera This Fall

GinoMGG writes "During Major Nelson's latest podcast an interviewee let slip the release date for the Xbox Vision camera. According to the Microsoft staffer American and European gamers should expect the Vision camera on September 19th. Coming this holiday season, Vision will be available on three games, including UNO and World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions." You can see the camera in action on a humorous Kotaku post from today.

Comments

Suspicious

[lbmouse]

"When we have the information highway, I'll put it out there. Everybody who wants to pay, I don't know, one cent, can see what movies I'm watching and what books I'm reading and certain other information. If I'm still interesting, I'll rack up dollars as people access that part of the highway." ~ Bill Gates - Source Playboy Magazine Interview, 1994

Looks like Bill is pulling another ol' switcheroo. He wants you to pay him so that he can watch you.

Re:Suspicious

[DrEldarion]

Interestingly, that quote applies to a lot of people online nowadays except for the fact that MySpace is getting paid, not the users themselves.

Re:Suspicious

[antime]

I'll consider sending him something off his Amazon wishlist if he flashes his tits.

No thanks...

[Dr. Eggman]

I think I'll wait on camera games until on-the-fly video enhancement technology catches up. Not that I need it, but there are plenty of people out there that need a little touching up...

Re:No thanks...

[MrSquirrel]

Agreed. Do I really want to see the 16 year old boy in his underoos cry when I'm administering a healthy dose of pain?

Re:No thanks...

[Anonymous Coward]

there are plenty of people out there that need a little "touching up"

Touching, feeling... you name it. I'm not signing up until I can feel boob through my gaming console.

Eyetoy?

[Anonymous Coward]

I really don't see the huge appeal of webcam games. The Eyetoy for the PS2 didn't seem to be that popular, so why bother continuing it for the PS3. And why would MS bother to copy it?

Re:Eyetoy?

[zstlaw]

But... now you play strip poker over the net!

Re:Eyetoy?

[Anonymous Coward]

because they can copy it.

there was talks of one for the Xbox (naturally after the Eyetoy was released and did pretty well) but it was at it's end with that old technology that no longer worked, so they moved it over to the 360 and made it an HD Webcam.

Doesn't matter though, Sony hasn't made any breakthrough games for the eyetoy that made the masses go for it, I don't think any third parties (aside from Konami) even considered it for anything other then to get your picture into the game, so I doubt Microsoft is suddenly going to change this.

if anything it will sell when they announce you can put your face on MC in Halo 3, but then who would want to play it when everyone has pictures of their dicks or asses as MC face?

They both should of waited for Nintendo to release a camera add-on like that, atleast they would make sure the technology worked properly and made really fun and interesting games. Though that might be the new controller for their next system.

Re:EyeToy?

[Rob T Firefly]

Let's see: Nintendo copies Xbox Live Arcade, Sony copies Wiimote's motion sensitivity, and now Microsoft copies PS2's EyeToy, is there any innovation anymore? But what I think is: Sony copies Wiimote's motion sensitivity, Nintendo copies Xbox Live Arcade, and now Microsoft copies PS2's EyeToy, is there any innovation anymore?

Re:EyeToy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Um... yes? You just listed three recent examples: Microsoft's XBox Live Arcade, Nintendo's Wiimote, and Sony's EyeToy. Where's the problem?

Re:EyeToy?

[Sinryc]

Exactly. What did you think is going to happen? People make something good, and then another person copies it, to make it good for them, and then they have to go and make something else that the other company doesnt have... its all innovation... It might not be as fast, but thats because the ind:t8:y has matured. It happens.

Re:EyeToy?

[Anonymous Coward]

To be fair, I'm not sure you can say that Nintendo copied XBox Live Arcade. It seems to me that Nintendo's virtual console is very similar to the iQue service they were running in China.

Essentially, iQue was a system that allowed Chineese gamers to download NES/SNES/N64 games (from a kiosk) to their system for a small fee. The games were DRM filled, and hard to copy, but no one cared because the cost was so low. The iQue predates XBox Live let alone XBox Live Arcade ...

Re:EyeToy?

[ClamIAm]

Let's see... networked game delivery has existed since at least the Genesis/Super NES days, and let's not forget shareware. So really Microsoft was copying these guys.

Re:EyeToy?

[bunbuntheminilop]

Apparently everyone copies nintendo. Gameboy camera anyone?

Re:EyeToy?

[Trogre]

Well if you believe half the foks around here you'd think Sony copied the eyeToy, light gun, Buzz controls, Singstar microphones and Guitar hero from Nintendo.

Re:EyeToy?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think Eyetoy and the Vision Camera are the same thing. The Vision Camera allows you to see your opponents when playing against Live opponents, while the Eyetoy is kind of a Powerglove (Ninendo) knockoff that tracks your movements to play games interactively.

Re:EyeToy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Dreamcast had a microphone, e.g. for Seaman.
Sony didn't invent the lightgun (and I doubt Nintendo did either, but they did popularise it as a home console accessory).
Buzz - isn't that just a button?
Guitar controller - that was Red Octane. Sony did approve it I guess...

Big Sony credit for EyeToy though. Maybe it was done before (not too hard when you have a PC and a webcam) but they had the balls to release games for it.

Re:EyeToy?

[antin]

I know you are just trying to make a joke, but you are being deliberately obtuse.

Copying:
Microsoft copies the EyeToy
Sony copies the Wii-mote
Sony copies Xbox Live

Innovation:
Nintendo invent the Wii-mote

As to xbox live Nintendo haven't copied anything, in fact I wish they did. Their online service is very limited and doesn't even begin to offer what Microsoft do. I see where they are coming from (ease of use and protecting kids from unsavory types) but it would be nice if it was a lockable feature that parents could enable.

I realize you were specifically talking about live arcade (the downloadable content) but that doesn't count as innovation by anyone (not recently at least). Nintendo announced they would allow downloadable games well before the xbox released so being first doesn't make it Microsoft's idea. But downloadable games and content well predates this generation of consoles - computers have been offering that for as long as I can remember.

The "is there any innovation" question definitely applies to Microsoft and Sony but honestly I don't think anyone can put up an argument that Nintendo failed us this generation. Like it or hate it, at least they are trying something different.

Hygene...

[BecomingLumberg]

Perhaps this will inspire gamers to concern themselves with excercise and hygene more....

/ducks

Penny Arcade, March, 2005

[billwake]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/03/14

Pictures of the twins!

Re:Penny Arcade, March, 2005

[CerebusUS]

That's the first thing I thought of, too.

Ohh, I should run out and buy the Xbox360 Now!!!

[TheSkepticalOptimist]

Was waiting for a poker card game to come out for it. Add a camera and it sounds like LOADS of fun! Good thing there exists a powerful high performing next generation game platform to render those cards in unprecedented resolution. I might have to buy an HDTV too!

Honestly, maybe they might use all that extra wasted processing power to implement a bluff detector in the game based on biometric feedback from the camera.

Come on! I mean, a freakin card game is the biggest thing Xbox360 will offer for a camera accessory? Anybody else still not impressed by the Xbox360? I would expect this gimmick to come out for a Nintendo product. Of course, with the Revolution, I can deal the cards by throwing my wiimote around the room. Nitendo would love this as it would be an excuse for a customer to buy 52 extra wiimotes.

-
- Don't mod me down for speaking the truth!

EyeToy?

[tepples]

Let's see: Nintendo copies Xbox Live Arcade, Sony copies Wiimote's motion sensitivity, and now Microsoft copies PS2's EyeToy, is there any innovation anymore?

Re:Ohh, I should run out and buy the Xbox360 Now!!

[Anonymous Coward]

add voicechat to the card game. add avatars that look like you (due to the camera). add betting with microsoft points or a non-realmoney based pointsystem just for the poker game (could be done easily through xbox live). add matched gaming due to gamer scores (play with evenly ranked opponents). add a ladder system (xbox live rankings). and it seems like the high def pokergame you hate turns into a nicely full featured cheap (purchased through xbox live or included with the camera) game. maybe none of this is cool to you, but i havent seen anything like that done on a console card game before.

It's going to be 100% penis 100% of the time.

[LordJezo]

The kiddies can hardly play a game with out swearing every other word and trying to get you angry by insulting your mother.

How long until this is used by them to just make their in game avatars and on screen camera shots be nothing but penis? You just wait and see..

Re:It's going to be 100% penis 100% of the time.

[Babbster]

How long until this is used by them to just make their in game avatars and on screen camera shots be nothing but penis? You just wait and see..

I hope so, at least for the online poker game. A penis would be far easier to read than a face when it comes to bluffing...

Re:It's going to be 100% penis 100% of the time.

[westlake]

The kiddies can hardly play a game with out swearing every other word

Which is why you begin with a game the kiddies can't play worth a damn, like poker.
Sell the webcam gaming experience like you would a Casino: Adults Only. But leave the sex trade to the suckers prowling the adult book stores on Nineteeth Street.

Re:It's going to be 100% penis 100% of the time.

[ClamIAm]

Let's look at an example of how this will work out:

3:00 PM - Kiddie gets out of school
3:30 PM - Kiddie gets new XKam-Xtreme (come on, you know it's going to have a dumb name.)
3:45 PM - Kiddie jizzes all over the place taking it out of the box
3:46 PM - First ball shot taken
3:50 PM - Banned from Xbox Live for life

Problem solved.

Re:It's going to be 100% penis 100% of the time.

[Anonymous Coward]

oh so gay.

Re:It's going to be 100% penis 100% of the time.

[Anonymous Coward]

All these comments, and no one has stated the obvious truth. Online strip poker! Adolescent boys, lonely men, the emerging MSN payment network. We have the resurgance of a lucrative industry!

I am sure they are a few girls with xbox as well, but they aready have thier niche sealed.

But honestly and seriously, it seems that the first thing all this tech is used for is to allow teens to send naked pictures to each other. I don't see how this would be any different. I don't know why any parent would let a kid have a camera like this. I don't know why parents don't demand that phones come without cameras. For that matter I never understood my Apple built in cameras on the iBooks. But then I am getting old.

Re:Ohh, I should run out and buy the Xbox360 Now!!

[westlake]

Was waiting for a poker card game to come out for it. Add a camera and it sounds like LOADS of fun! Good thing there exists a powerful high performing next generation game platform to render those cards in unprecedented resolution. I might have to buy an HDTV too!

There is nothing quite like sitting across the table from your opponents, seeing and hearing their reactons.
Socializing is a big part of the casual gaming experience off-line, whether it is Bingo Night at the Catholic church or Monopoly played on the kitchen table.

Re:Ohh, I should run out and buy the Xbox360 Now!!

[JonathanBoyd]

Honestly, maybe they might use all that extra wasted processing power to implement a bluff detector in the game based on biometric feedback from the camera.

Maybe you'd like to tell them how to write a program like that.

Come on! I mean, a freakin card game is the biggest thing Xbox360 will offer for a camera accessory?

You can see the future and know this is the biggest thing they will offer? My, I am impressed.

The Wii Controller

[westlake]

He said a pinball game could make use of arms as bumpers, though it could get tiring.

This quote caught my attention because it exposes the doubts I have about any sort of VR controller, including the Wii.

It's called business...

[Iscariot_]

Of course they are going to do that. Look at operating systems, or cars, or almost any other business. The innovation only happens once, after that a business has to continue to innovate whilst "catching up" with innovations created by their competitors. Would you rather only one car manufaturer have air conditioning whilst the others focus solely on innovation, or them all have A/C and all continue innovating? Would you rather only Nintendo have the analog stick on their controller, or all 3 console makers? etc...

Re:Ohh, I should run out and buy the Xbox360 Now!!

[ClamIAm]

Yeah, Nintendo's the only game company to ever use gimmicks. Ever. The Eyetoy, VMU, and Sega CD/32x hybrid games never even existed.

Re:Eyetoy strip poker?

[Mysterious Stranger]

*cut to Peter with the Justice League*
Peter Griffin: Sorry, Wonder Woman, I got three kings. Now let's see your pair.
*Wonder Woman sighs, then removes her bustier*
Peter Griffin: *laughs* All right!
*looks offscreen*
Peter Griffin: Robin, what are you looking at me for? Look at her.

wtf

[TCaM]

how dod you know the porn theater was on nineteenth?