NEWS - Thursday, March 23, 2006
The Xbox 360 Camera specs
You know that extra USB port on the back of your 360? That's for the upcoming Xbox 360 camera, a handy little gadget that will rival Sony's innovative EyeToy. We got our hands on a brochure for game developers at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif. today and are excited at what this little baby will do. With a nine-foot cord, the camera will reach around large TVs. You'll be able to video chat over Xbox Live. There was a concept picture showing a game of poker and the pictures of excited gamers laughing and frolicking in their living rooms. There's of course the obligatory video recording. But the biggest and best feature will be gesture recognition. Basically, the camera is going to translate your movements in real life and input them in the game. There was a concept picture of two kids playing a snowboarding game, but we really have no idea what this means except that Microsoft may be taking aim at the Nintendo Revolution as well as the EyeToy. Given the success of Xbox Live Arcade, the 360 Camera could be another strong effort to lure more than just hard-core gamers to Microsoft's next-generation console. According to the brochure: "These features provide developers opportunities for unprecedented levels of innovation and personalization, and enable gamers to customize and socialize in their game worlds in ways they never could before. Additionally, Xbox 360 Camera support is deeply integrated into the Dashboard, making every Xbox 360 console owner a potential customer for the camera and your camera-enabled game." Also, the camera program will include XDK support for streaming video. The three-dimensional "face-in-game" for which the EyeToy is famous will be available "through middleware providers." Here are the specs: USB 2.0 bus-powered device Smooth, near DV quality video: up to VGA 640x480 at 30 FPS High-def images: still photos up to SVGA 1280x980 (1.3 Mp) Manually adjustable variable focus: 2 feet to infinity Field of View: 43 degrees On board image processor Digital zoom, cropping Auto exposure, white balance, gamma correction, sharpness Long (~9 feet) cable to reach around large TVs Includes a headset for great audio.Source: http://www.ign.com
