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An Xbox 360 Peripheral Rundown 64

Posted by Zonk from the where-does-he-get-those-wonderful-toys dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has been talked about its future plans at GameFest in Seattle, and revealed that its Xbox 360 Live Vision camera will ship next month with a free game, TotemBall, which uses gestural technology to control an on-screen avatar, much like Sony's EyeToy games. In addition, the camera will also be used for facemapping technology in Activision's World Series Of Poker game." Gamespot is reporting on other, equally interesting peripherals for the Xbox 360, many of which have come up in recent rumormongering. They discuss the price point for the HD-DVD drive (probably about $200), support for 1080p (likely), a new media jukebox for the console (quite possible), and the likelihood that Microsoft will release a new controller designed specifically for FPSes (would make sense).
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An Xbox 360 Peripheral Rundown More

An Xbox 360 Peripheral Rundown

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  • Earth to Console Makers! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Shut up and deliver.

    Christ, I swear if I see one more concept that is unfinished or "in development" I'm going to wig out.

    You're only pissing me off by showing me what will be release a year or two later. I urge everyone to only purchase a console based on the current released games and peripherals available.
    • I urge everyone to only purchase a console based on the current released games and peripherals available.

      Unless you want to get a console manufactured before the security updates that lock out homebrew.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
        That thing has automated online updates anyway.
    • and Action Replay Max for the 360.

      What ever happened to "I own this console now"? Nowdays it's "you buy this console but WE decide how you use it".

      I'm sure glad they don't do that with cars! Imagine no Toyotas Celicas being allowed to have spoilers..

      Oh wait, bad example.......

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by DeeDob ( 966086 )
        Action Replay is a really bad example.

        The problem with tinkering with the console isn't that you mess around with a MS / Sony / Whatever product. It's that since the console is now online, YOUR tinkering on YOUR console can actually affect the gameplay of OTHERS.

        Action Replay can mess-up online gaming in some games. It is a form of cheating.
        • I never use AR for anything online, I didn't even think that was possible. All my uses of AR or Gameshark are for single player games; I don't ever want to play via X Box Live and have to pay for it. Perhaps AR should regulate themselves better with regards to this?

  • Wait and see (Score:3, Insightful)

    by andrewman327 ( 635952 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @01:51PM (#15921112) Homepage Journal
    I remember all of the predictions about the PS2's accessories and how you would be able to do this and that and use your own face in every game, etc. The EyeToy is nice but I never viewed it as being good for more than about 15 minutes of fun. XBox 360 has more power and a better chance of actually doing something new. Considering how long we have been using the same control pad (or occassionally steering wheel) paradigm on consoles, we are long overdue for a change. I sincerely hope that this latest generation of gaming systems brings a new experience to the table. The Wii [youtube.com] also seems to be trying some new ideas.


    I hate to knitpick, but how can the included game be "free" if you have to buy the camera to use it?

    • Re:Wait and see (Score:2, Insightful)

      by UbuntuDupe ( 970646 )
      The EyeToy is nice but I never viewed it as being good for more than about 15 minutes of fun.

      I introduced my mom (59 at time of introduction to game) to Kinetic [wikipedia.org] for the PS2 (which uses the Eyetoy). It's a program that takes you through a fitness routine. You can match your positions to those of a character on the screen for stretching, and then you do fitness-related games, like reaching for a blue spot while avoiding a bouncing red ball. Ever since, she spends 60+ minutes on it per day, 3-6 da
    • The Eyetoy can be hours and hours of fun. The Fun is multiplyed by the number of shots you take while using it at a party. Members of the opposite sex and mutual nudity on top of the previously mentioned shots increase the fun exponentially.
  • I'm still waiting to see what happens in games when you sneeze. Also, I'll believe an intuitive system for movement is possible with this sort of technology when I see it. I mean, can you picture trying to control Mario or some other platform hopping character with this sort of system? How would you turn around (intuitively, mind you) without losing sight of the TV, but also actually making a 180 degree turn instead of a 90 degree turn? How would you make Luigi run around without running around yourself
    • This is why I think Nintendo's solution is much more workable. Even assuming the video camera processing is able to properly recognize a player's movements in a variety of different non-controlled environments, the problems you pose are exactly what makes it unworkable. At least without full-body VR gear in some kind of roll cage hamster ball. The only real complaints I've read about the Wii demos at E3 were that people would have liked to be able to adjust sensitivity settings. While that was unworkabl

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
        The only real complaints I've read about the Wii demos at E3 were that people would have liked to be able to adjust sensitivity settings. While that was unworkable in an E3 demo setting, I see no reason why it won't be supported on the release version of the console.

        From what I've read that was actually possible in many E3 demos if you took the time to look into the options menu.

  • How long will it be (Score:5, Funny)

    by antifoidulus ( 807088 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @02:07PM (#15921267) Homepage Journal
    till genitals start showing up? I give about a week before someone's "poker face" mysteriously only has 1 eye...
    • Or Major Privates reporting for active booty duty in squad combat games...
    • What? A whole week? More like less than a day. I recall an arcade game, may have been the Journey one, that had planned to have a camera to allow players to put their face in the game along with the band. Well, this idea was very quickly squelched once they realized what was likely to happen if the players were given that kind of freedom. I suppose, aggressive policing could help, but it would only take one incident before the likes of Jack Thompson launched a lawsuit.
    • My guess is that they completely understand that and it's pure marketing.

      There's this set of "obvious applications" that comes up in marketing, but mysteriously never materializes in the real world because it's either really hard to create, really hard to make useful, or completely uninteresting in real life. Classic examples include:
      • "Mom using the computer to store recipes." Never happened; the web makes it easy to get *other* recipes but Mom never put a computer in the kitchen and typed all her recipes i
      • I've got a Motorola SLVR, that acts as both a cell phone and as a mini-iPod. It's got a tiny removable 512mb card which holds around 100 songs in mp3 format. The speaker built into it is far superior than any speaker of it's size i've ever heard; you can listen to it without headphones and it's just fine. It runs iTunes and uses basicly the same interface.

        Link: http://www.cingular.com/SLVR_iTunes/ [cingular.com]

        I would consider it a "cell phone + good MP3 player". Quality is excellent, and even though the trans-f

      • I'm still waiting for the oft-promised "internet appliances," such as:
        • "The refridgerator that automatically orders groceries for you when you're running low"--begging the questions "Who would have time to inventory their entire refridgerator but be too lazy to do a shopping list?" and "Where the Hell does it order gorceries FROM, anyway?" If anyone can tell me a grocery store that takes orders over a network connection AND delivers them straight to your fridge, I'd sure like to know about it.
        • "The dishw
    • till genitals start showing up? I give about a week before someone's "poker face" mysteriously only has 1 eye...
      Reading an early article about the Xbox Vision IIRC they have methods to detect wether or not what you took a picture of was your face or something else. They used the example that you couldn't take a picture of your hand because the system was unable to find your eyes, nose, mouth, etc and thus wouldn't let you use it.

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by BenBenBen ( 249969 )
        Did anyone else get an image in their head of Mr Potatohead eyes and a fake mustache attached to genitals just now? Just me? OK.
  • The only console peripherals/accessories I remember taking off at all were the rumble pack and memory expansion for the N64. Everything else was either bundled with a certain game (and generally only used with that specific game) or was sold with the intent of being useful in lots of games, but never really was any good with any game. Hell, even the lightguns were only useful for a few games, and usually didn't work quite right.

    Accessories are rarely ever successful because game developers rarely ever wan

  • Video Game Poker == Lame (Score:3, Insightful)

    by brunes69 ( 86786 ) <[slashdot] [at] [keirstead.org]> on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @02:33PM (#15921477)

    In addition, the camera will also be used for facemapping technology in Activision's World Series Of Poker game.

    It's really too bad, because this sounds like an excellent use of technology and will make for a great poker game. Too bad no one will play it, because there is almost guarenteed no realmoney involved.

    If Activision wanted to make a mint off this, they would allow you to deposit real money into an account associated with your Live account, so you could play in tournaments online for real cash. This would put them into the same space as Party Poker etc, except the Activision software would be way more advanced and would draw in more players probably.

    Of course, they would never do this since it would be illegal in the US. Maybe a European only version of the game?

  • 1080p comments do not add up (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @02:44PM (#15921557)
    They claim the support for 1080p is "likley" with a special cable - but then say there is no HDMI in sight.

    1080P does not require a special cable, it could use the existing component output of the 360. If the 360 could support 1080p, why would it not have done so before now? If 1080p is to be supported at all, it would seem to be soley by the HD-DVD drive althoguh there they run into the problem that the AACS standard used by both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD mandates no video signal greater than 1080i for analog output of signals - possibly they may drop that aspect of the standard though just as ICT has dropped out of sight from titles put out by movie publishers.

    Even at $200, it still seems to me that uptake of the external HD-DVD drives would be low unless some games (or at least game content) makes use of the drive.
  • 1. so you can see up close the pimply teenagers trash talking you while you're playing Live

    2. so you can see the not dressed over 40 guys playing WoW as skimpily clad young women with breasts defying gravity and basic physics

    3. so you can see pics of your second cousin twice removed (you know, the really ugly side of the family) from the birthday party your mom made you watch.

    Um, no thanks. I mean, I'm glad this is a Seattle story and all, but really, no interest at all here on my side.

  • Ob. Penny Arcade (Score:3, Funny)

    by jackbird ( 721605 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @03:59PM (#15922072)
    In addition, the camera will also be used for facemapping technology [penny-arcade.com] in Activision's World Series Of Poker game.

  • I would soooo buy one, just so I can stop sucking so bad at Halo 2. It's embarrassing. I don't even have an Xbox and I would seriously consider buying one. I hate playing FPSes on the console...
  • ... and the likelihood that Microsoft will release a new controller designed specifically for FPSes.
    Keyboard and mouse?

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