I've been playing around with the new Xbox 360 camera - Xbox Live Vision - and while it's hard to get too worked up about a webcam I've been quite impressed. It's easy to use - simply stick the Vision in a spare USB port on your 360 (or PC) - and it works well, especially for video conferencing. The quality is good - a headset is bundled with the camera - and you can zoom in if you wish to see exactly what sort of sofa your mate is slumped in. Tweaking the settings adds more light or other visual effects but Vision is very easy to use and well worth a punt if you fancy video calling. Where it currently falls down is the games, unless you get particular excited about "appearing" in UNO or Texas Hold 'em.
The next Rainbow Six game will allow players to stick their heads onto their in-game character - the original N64 Perfect Dark once promised this - which should be amusing in multiplayer. The one playable game currently available is Totem Ball, a cartoony platform game controlled by moving your arms around - both up to go forward, down to go backwards and somewhere in the middle to turn. Frustrating, fiddly and tiring? You betcha. At least the price is right - it's free - but Totem Ball is a poor showcase of what could be done with the camera. Still, by integrating tightly with online - unlike Sony's innovative EyeToy - Vision has a massive amount of potential. Get it now if you fancy some decent video calling but otherwise hang on until they sort the gaming side out.
