Microsoft's XBox 360 has a camera? According to this article the Xbox 360 does indeed come with a camera. I wonder if it will feature the ability to display the video of the person speaking in an unobtrustive window in the lower-right hand corner? This would help with multi-player gaming and specifically multi-player "team" type games such as Halo2 or the impending Halo3.

If you can see the face of the person speaking it could help identify who is talking. Of course I've played Halo2 online and typically most players only make very short statements like "damn" or "crap" or "I hate snipers" or "I got you sucka". Not long enough to really see a moving video. I suppose seeing multi-party video during the pre-game setup or post-game might be cool. Then you can see who you whupped or got whupped by. According to Microsoft, the camera will do the processing and perform up to 30fps and will perform well under popular low-light gaming conditions.

Microsoft gives an example application of video in gaming stating "imagine controlling a squad of soldiers by silently gesturing where to go, instead of issuing a voice command and alerting nearby guards."

I wonder if the camera will come with all Xboxes or only part of the premium Xbox package Microsoft is offering or if it comes with the Xbox Live package. If it comes with Xbox Live then great, however, if it's an additional accessory purchase, I don't think many Xbox users will opt for it. Microsoft is better of including it with Xbox Live in my opinion and adding the $20 to the cost for the camera hardware, which will then create the largest videoconferencing userbase in the world. Otherwise, the camera will simply be a gimmick used by few Xbox gamers.