Re: XBox 360 - Official Thread
MICROSOFT PUTS 360 CAMERA IN THE FRAME
It's laying down the gauntlet to EyeToy with 'Gesture Gaming' - and it does other stuff too, like taking pictures
16:26 Xbox 360's camera has proved an elusive peripheral beast, but after missing launch it recently re-emerged at Microsoft's Xfest event in London to reveal a snapshot of its wares to attendees. So, having previously been tugging on beards while pondering exactly what the company might be planning for the device, we're now poring over an article that's appeared on Xbox.com that gets the full Xbox Live Camera briefing from Microsoft's man-in-the-know, Kumar Banerjee.
Xbox.com's article is broken down into a number of sections that look at the key functions of the Xbox Live Camera, from our point of view the most interesting of these being 'Gesture Gaming'.
However, details have also been given on in-camera video processing, how the camera is capable of capturing 30 frames per second, its ability to take still images, video chat (the camera comes with a microphone that plugs into a controller and allows for group chat) and its ability to function in low light levels.
'Gesture Gaming' sounds very much like what we've seen from the capabilities of Sony's EyeToy, and although it seems more a feature quietly bubbling away in the background at this stage Banerjee reckons that "It will open the door for the future of gesture gaming". It's all pretty obvious stuff really, but in a nutshell it means that players will be able to use motion as a control device in games, with the camera also potentially directly intertwined with gameplay. Here's the example given: ordering a squad of soldiers with hand movements as opposed to voice commands to avoid alerting nearby enemies.
Further insight into what to expect from the Xbox Live Camera in games-playing terms was offered by Epic Games' vice president Mark Rein when we cornered him for a chat the other day. He was one of attendees at Xfest and told us about how he saw "an impressive demo of Microsoft's camera for Xbox 360 and there was a game playing with two players, and even while this guy was driving he could see a video of his buddy he was playing against superimposed on the screen."
Rein highlighted this as an example of the ways "we'll get more people interested in gaming".
All being well, when developer's grab hold of Xbox Live Camera they'll be hit by flashes of gameplay inspiration and won't shutter it away in a cupboard. And we'll stop with the bad puns now...
cant wait to see the 360 version I hope Konami release some concrete proper info soon.
