Xbox Live Vision

Ever since the debut of Xbox Live, Microsoft has focused in on perfecting its online service and providing gamers with as many features as possible. It launched in 2002 as one of the first centralized online services for a video-game platform. Over the course of the two years, Microsoft would introduce gamers to the Xbox Live Arcade and integration between Xbox.com and Xbox Live. Hundreds of games were released in the span of 2002-2004 that revolutionized online gaming. Halo 2 and Bungie.net still, to this day, dominate online play for Xbox Live. Other titles such as Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Dead or Alive: Ultimate would be released over this time frame that created a sense of direction where Xbox Live was heading.

In 2005, Microsoft released their Xbox 360, and with the move came an overhaul of Xbox Live. New features such as the Xbox Live Marketplace, Gamercard, Gamerpoints, and Achievements were launched. Even outside of actually playing Xbox Live, Microsoft put into action the Xbox Live Diamond card in North America for discounts at retailers nationwide. So, it came to no surprise that when Microsoft announced Xbox Live Vision Microsoft was ready again to take Xbox Live in a whole new direction - the direction of video chat and picture messaging.

Currently, gamers are able to text message and send voice messages to their friends. Xbox Live Vision now brings forth the most addicting form of chit-chatter on Xbox Live, Video Chat. Forget about joining a voice chat room, the video chat rooms are the way to go… as long as you don’t have any creepy friends that like to play video games naked. The video chat ran smooth for me I’d say 95% of the time. I had a chance to talk to another journalist that received his Xbox Live Vision for over two hours. There were only about four slowdowns throughout this period as we talked about all the insane ideas developers could implement into their games with Xbox Live Vision. 

As we conversed in this session, my controller dropped and one of the bumpers was hit. To our astonishment, different filters can be applied to the video chat to spruce up the conversations. One effect changed colors to their opposite – an example would be that we focused in the Xbox 360 controller and the Y button, normally yellow, was turned to blue. The same could be said for B button being changed to the green color. Also within the video chat, you can pull the triggers to have your friend’s controller rumble.

Outside of the effects in the video chat, you are able to go to the options menu to adjust the lighting and room shadows. There were only three selections at this point for each option. Within the room preference, Microsoft allows you to select if you have a light wall or dark wall in the background. The lighting selection varies between daylight, fluorescent, and incandescent lighting. If you have no clue what you are doing with the settings, there’s always the Auto (Default) selection. Within the video chat, you can also pause the chat, which in turn cuts the feed of the camera.

There’s more to the Xbox Live Vision besides video chat. You can now send messages with photos included as an attachment to your friends. When you are taking a picture, you have three seconds to get ready before the camera actually snaps the picture. After the picture is taken, you have the choice to add effects or take the picture all over again. As of right now, there is over 20 effects to choose from such as: black & white, a night camera effect, and my personal favorite, the double vision effect. I recently took the movie Bambi and took a picture to send to everyone on my friends list. With the double vision, it created two Bambis on the cover and changed the title from “Bambi” to “Bamab”. Yeah, not the most creative idea by all standards, but this little gadget sure is fun to play around with.

One option I have forgotten to mention is the ability to zoom in – both the video chat and photo messaging support this feature. There’s only one zoom provided at this moment, though you can move the window around to pick the section you want to zoom in on. After zooming in, you will want to refocus the camera by twisting the lens on the camera. The camera comes built with a focus attribute, but after a couple of hours of playing around with the camera, I wish there was a preference to alter the focus from the Xbox 360 controller.

What could turn out to be the best feature of the Xbox Live Vision is the ability to snap your own pictures for your gamertags. No longer will you have to have a boring Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion picture, but your own custom photo of your liking. I have no doubts that this will turn out to be the most popular addition to Xbox Live. If you are wondering about creating your own background themes, well you can’t do so as of yet. What you can do is insert your image over the background with subtle effects such as a watery, dotty, and edgy overlay. The image isn’t an overly aggressive portrayal – you can barely see yourself on the background theme.

At this present time, only a select amount of games use Xbox Live Vision. Later on this year, Rainbow Six: Las Vegas will release this holiday season with elements of photomapping your face onto your character.  Other games, such as TotemBall, will take full advantage of the camera and play out similar to many Eyetoy games. Xbox Live Vision is set to release nationwide on September 19, 2006.

Pros:

• PC and Mac ready (just have to download a quick upgrade to use it).

• Small and petite to fit almost anywhere.

• Balances well to almost place on any hard object.

• USB cord is long enough to position it any way you want.

• Sending pictures is addicting.

• Video Chat runs smooth.

Cons:

• Camera will become mildly hot after 15 minutes of use

• Can’t create your own background themes

• Not too many games use the service yet.

Verdict: 9.0
I believe that Xbox Live Vision is the next big step for Xbox Live that needed to happen. Video chat is bound to catch on with gamers – the chance to mingle with their friends via streaming video couldn’t be any more entertaining. I must express my doubts though. It took a year for the Xbox Live Arcade to actually be put into full motion and look at where it is now. I’ll repeat it again, Xbox Live Vision is the next big step for Microsoft to take for their Xbox Live service - I just question when they plan to introduce players to video messaging and customizing their own themes. Currently, there are only a handful of titles that support Xbox Live Vision at this point, so it’s slim pickings and it looks to be that way for awhile.