Microsoft will be releasing its version of Sony,s “Eye Toy” on September 19th in North America and Europe. The game camera will be called Xbox Live Vision. Aaron Greenberg, a marketing lead at Microsoft, said the new device will be ready to run on Xbox Live. He said, “Essentially what we’ve done here is we’ve built this [Xbox Live] update camera-ready. Over half our users are connected to Live today, so the majority of Xbox 360 owners will be able to update this and their Xbox 360 will be ready [when] the camera launches. It will be a ‘plug-and-play’ experience for them.”
What will you be able to do with the new device? The Xbox Live Vision will be supported by Activision,s World Series of Poker and Ubisoft,s Rainbow Six: Vegas title. The two games will allow players to superimpose their facial likenesses upon the characters of the game. Other titles to support this device are on the way.
The idea of scanning the facial likenesses of individuals into the game world may be the next fad in online gaming. Imagine playing a MMORPG in which the characters you meet carry the exact likenesses of their real world counterparts. First person shooters (FPSs) will take on more drama by allowing players to see the facial expressions of their squad or enemies. But perhaps most importantly, you,ll be able to make faces at each other while hurling insults and trash talk.
