The vision of the future has finally hit Xbox Live and console gaming!
Microsoft today announced the release of Xbox Live Vision, a camera peripheral for the system that allows you to video chat with other players via Xbox Live! Although a paid Xbox Live Gold membership is required to take advantage of the video chat and video messaging functionality. Future games released for the Xbox 360 or Arcade may also now include support for the camera. While being able to see the player you are facing off against is an obvious use for the camera for multiplayer, single-player uses (such as having your actual face mapped to an in-game created character) may also be included and hopefully the camera will be used in some fun and unique ways like with Sony‘s Eye-Toy games.
The camera ships as part of two different bundles. One for $39 that includes: the camera, an Xbox 360 headset, and the games UNO and TotemBall; And the other for $79 called the “Xbox Live Vision Gold Pack“, which includes a yearlong Xbox Live Gold subscription, 200 Microsoft Points that can be spent on Xbox Live Marketplace, and Robotron 2084, in addition to the headset and other two titles.
Furthermore, Microsoft announced that on September 20, four Xbox Live Arcade titles will be automatically be updated to include support for the new camera. These include Bankshot Billiards 2, Hardwood Hearts, Hardwood Spades, and Hardwood Backgammon. Up till now, the Xbox Live Arcade version of UNO was the only game to include camera support.