It has been a couple of years since the Microsoft Live Vision Camera for the Xbox 360 landed on consumer shelves. It wasnt a totally horrible idea but for what was essentially a modified LifeCam for your Xbox, it was somewhat expensive and woefully underutilized. With a handful of exceptions hardly any popular games have used it effectively. This peice of hardware is nothing without software to take advantage of it and the unit is still struggling to justify it’s existence and relatively high price tag.
Codemasters has just published a new Zoë Mode developed game exclusively bundled with new Live Vision Cameras, seemingly in an attempt to popularize the peripheral by justifying the purchase with the addition of some casually fun software for added value. This might actually work to drive this hardware into more households and thus encourage software developers to make use of it more. With any luck Microsoft and Codemasters can use this title to push the Live Vision Camera past it’s tipping point – something video game console peripherals have always struggled with since Nintendo’s Power Glove.
We first saw this game in action at X08 in Toronto and it was less than playable. We were told this situation was a result of the less than optimal lighting conditions. This was pretty plausible though since the event was held in a discotheque and lit accordingly – probably not what the game’s or the camera’s designers had in mind. So we cut the game some slack. We then saw the game again at another subsequent press event where again it wasn’t as functional as we’d hope though playable enough to get us curious and see how – if working – it could be somewhat fun.
Well finally we have got our hands on the game so it can be tried out in a real world setting (aka a living room). The good news is that it works. It actually works a lot better than we’ve seen in the past. It still isn’t ideal and requires some fine tuning but the game actually does a good job of guiding you through that as it introduces players to the game.
Now that we can see it working (within reason) it seems somewhat fun. Okay, sure, it’s no Gears of War 2 but its not boring and if you’re willing to act the fool in front of others, it can be a silly way to pass some time with friends. Gameplay has players perform various actions in front of the camera, sometimes in the guise of a mini-game, and other times dropping all pretence for simple raw instruction from the director. At the end it compiles recorded footage – madlibs style – in to a cheesy movie trailer.
Is this game worth the money? Well if you already have a Live Vision Camera, then no. It retails for MSRP $69.99 and comes with the camera. If you don’t have the camera already, this could be worth a look though. You’re In The Movies actually gives you something to do with the camera and both the camera and this game justify their existence by being bundled with the other, adding enough value to make it worth it.
The game was developed by Zoë Mode who, while not mentioning You’re In The Movies on their website, is already known for developing numerous titles for the Playstation EyeToy which is effectively the same thing as the Live Vision Camera except for a different platform. They know what they’re doing with casual camera based games and it’s evident here. The game is easy and silly enough to be an amusing novelty for a party though the problem is that it’s not engaging enough to be entertaining in it’s own right – at least not for anything beyond your initial 15 minutes of fame.
Conclusions
Don’t take that criticism too harshly though because, hey, the game comes with a Live Vision camera so if you pay seventy dollars for the bundle and feel like the game is only a thirty dollar value, well you still get that camera out of the deal, which is quite possibly worth it. You might not purchase the camera alone at MSRP, because you wouldn’t have too much to do with it to justify the expense. You might not purchase this game alone if it didn’t come with the camera because while it’s fun, you can get other fun games for less. You, however, might be very likely to purchase both together in this bundle. Its fun for the family or in any social situation – especially if you want to get people to loosen up and start getting goofy. It works better than I expected and while the novelty should be taken in short bursts so that gameplay doesn’t transform in to a chore, it can be a good time with the right group of people in the right context.
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