Customer Reviews

Xbox 360 Live Camera Bundle

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This package comes with the Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera, a headset that you probably already have, and codes redeemable on the Xbox Live Marketplace for: UNO (which supports the camera in online play), Robotron 2084 (which is NOT a camera-enabled game), 200 Microsoft points, and finally 12 months of Xbox Live Gold service. Considering the Xbox Live Gold service runs around $50 by itself, this package is a great deal.

Note that the official press releases mentioned Totemball being included. It is NOT included, but you can now download the game for free from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The camera itself is very nice. It's very small and has a focus ring on the front. The quality of video and still pictures is great. It's easy to install, you just plug it into your Xbox in the front or back USB port and you're good to go. You can also use it as a regular webcam with your PC. It currently does not work with Macs but Mac support is promised soon from Microsoft as their press release claims Mac support.

Overall it's a nice little piece of equipment in a good package. It just depends on whether you want a webcam or not! Video chat is a nice feature if you have friends or family with an Xbox 360. Also, future games will support mapping your face onto your on-screen character which will be fun. Games like Totemball will be played by actually moving your arms and body around in front of the camera. So it does open up a lot of opportunities for new experiences with your Xbox 360.

Parents worried about kids: when playing camera-enabled games you will see other people's video whether you have the camera or not, so buying this camera doesn't make any difference to what they will see. You can disable looking at other people's video for all the games.

alright, let's do the math. This thing is only fifteen bucks more than regular xbox live. What do you get for fifteen more dollars?

1.) XBOX Vision Camera (worth around 30-40)
2.) 200 microsoft points (worth $2.50)
3.) 2 Arcade games (worth $20)
4.) XBOX headset (worth $15)

get it.

I got this bundle October 2006 at Best Buy for $50, less an additional $5 for using a Best Buy Gamer Gift Card which has a $5 off coupon applicable toward games and gaming accessories. The price on this is not horrible, but if you watch out for sales you just might get lucky and get a real value.

The camera itself is of fair quality. Be warned - you need to have adequate lighting in the room, preferably in front of you (coming from the same direction as the camera, and who really has lights next to their TV?) in order to get a decent image out of it. For games like TotemBall, which actually use the camera as the game's controller, this is essential. Not enough light means the camera will not do a very good job of reading your movements and translating them to movement in the game.

In my bundle I got the 200 MS points as well as codes to unlock Uno and one other XBLA game (can't remember which). I had already used points to buy Uno, so I gave the code to a friend.

The included headset is fair quality. Good enough, I guess. Since I've got three of them now, I hope that Microsoft realizes that people are probably accumulating a lot of them and replaces them in these XBox Live membership boxes with something more useful. Likewise, I won't be needing another camera (I use the one I have so little as to make me wonder why I had to have it in the first place), so hopefully when October/November rolls around and I'm in need of a new Gold Subscription, they'll have a more compelling bundle on offer.

I completely agree that this is a great deal and a no-brainer if you need to re-up your Xbox Live account, but I wanted to add one additional point that I didn't see mentioned:

I was hoping to use the camera primarily with my Windows Vista computer, but Microsoft Vista doesn't have drivers for the Microsoft Live Camera, surprisingly. Vista gave a message that it could not install the camera, asking me to insert a CD, which wasn't provided in this bundle. I couldn't find the drivers anywhere online either, and Microsoft customer support could not help me. The manual for the camera claims that it is plug-and-play for Windows XP and above, but apparently that doesn't include Vista.

If you are thinking about getting a XBox Live Vision Camera, I highly recommend spending an extra few bucks to get this killer deal. My Live subscription just expired and I was lucky enough to find this combo. Set up was beyond easy, and all the extra bonus stuff was icing on the cake.

When I first opened this package I was surprised at how small the vision camera actually is. It gives better video quality than I expected, even in my poorly lit basement. It is very easy to angle the camera so you have a lot of variety on where you can place it. I really like that it has the green xbox light on the camera that only lights up when the camera is in use. Of course you can use it as a webcam for your PC too. There is one problem with the vision camera. If you're using the USB on the back of the 360 for the wireless adapter than you'll have to plug it in on the front, which looks very messy.

As for how fun the camera is I didn't find it to be very entertaining. If you want to allow fellow players on xbox live to see you then this is the only way to do it, but right now there isn't much for games that support it. You can use it to take pictures including a personalized gamer picture, which I really like. I also tried out the camera on the game totem ball, which is free in xbox live arcade. It was pretty responsive, but the game itself wasn't that much fun. I haven't got to try games that map your face on to your in game character but this feature is available on Rainbow Six Vegas and some other games. You can also video chat with your friends on xbox live. I personally just prefer messages, but it is another option.

Even if you're not too thrilled about the camera, this is still a very nice package to buy. It includes the xbox live arcade games Uno and Robotron:2084. If you don't have Uno already this is great because Uno is one game that does support the xbox live vision. Robotron:2084 is not a very good game and doesn't support the vision camera, but it is included. It also comes with an xbox live headset. If you bought the core system then that should be helpful. This is all in addition to the one year xbox live membership.

I really recommend this package over just buying the one year membership. It is not very much more money and the camera is nice to have although I probably wouldn't buy it on its own. If you don't have a headset then that will be something you'll enjoy as well (xbox live just isn't fun without a headset). If you do already have one then you have a spare. Uno is alright too. All in all it is a much better buy for your money.

If you are considering an xbox live 12 month subscription, this bundle is a steal. Although there really isn't too much you can do with the camera in terms of games (good games anyway), a Gold membership is required to use Video Chat - so these two products tie together nicely.

We purchased this because you get so much stuff in this bundle for a reasonable price. You save money on the Gold Membership and the camera and it's practically like getting the 200 Microsoft points and headset for free. When you price it all out seperately, you find out that it's an excellent deal.

If you don't have a camera for your xbox 360 and are looking to renew or sign up for live this is the way to go. The extra games are a bonus. UNO is fun for a relaxing break from killing aliens on Halo or racing on Forza 2 etc.....Nice deal on this package.I highly recommend!

Not only do you get a year subscription, but a xbox live cam (which is win xp compatible), a couple of games (if you have them you can always sell them online), and 200 ms points =)

I would highly recomend this over the other one w/o a cam or just the year subscription card!