Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Ever since Microsoft announced it, we all knew the day would come. The day when that squealing 12 year old from UNO would pick up his very own Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera and start broadcasting on Xbox Live. From now on, we have Microsoft to thank for all the horrid images burnt into our retinas as we to decide to bluff with a Wild.

Drop the Wild, my friends…

We can only hope that Microsoft releases a game to make the 360 Cam worthy of a purchase. Until then, I can see it selling to all the “What the Heck!” 360 buyers out there. (You know who they are, they’re the gamers who aren’t buying a Wii at launch because it’s no longer the imaginary $199 they hoped it’d be.) But hey, “What the Heck!” worked for the PS2′s Eye Toy, which overall has to be considered a success even without any killer-app ever being released for it.

Truthfully, a gaming cam really only exists to complement a gaming library, it has yet to be intended as a primary controller for any hardcore video game. The face-mapping technology previously demonstrated by Microsoft was moderately entertaining and if 3rd Party developers decide to spend the money to develop features for the device, it might become something. Microsoft could be adventurous and develop their own YouTube-style video sharing site, fed exclusively from the Live Vision Camera. Although that sounds like a bandwidth cost too steep for even Microsoft’s deep pockets. After all, they are the only company that charges for their online gaming service.

If you’re actually interested in the Live Vision Camera, Buy.com is offering it for $37.99 with free shipping, which sounds like a pretty fair deal to me. If you want more info on the Camera, be sure to check out Richard’s write-up on his own 360 Camera. I also recommend Gamespot’s Jeff Gerstmann’s humorous hands-on video preview of the device, although it looks like he filmed it in a broom closet.

**UPDATE 9/19/2006 4:30pm Eastern**

While I feel far from a visionary, reports have popped up about pornographic video being streamed during UNO with underage children present. I’m normally all about parents regulating what their kids play online but to be totally honest, if I saw my 13 year old child playing UNO online without a headset and voice chat off, I’d be totally cool with it. I’d never expect Microsoft to release a Web Cam for the system months later, completely altering the game experience!