I got a chance to try a PlayStation 3 build of Dragon Age yesterday at an EA showcase of its late 2008 and early 2009 games. The single-player party-based role-playing game controlled just fine with a PS3 Dualshock 3. I was using shoulder buttons to swap through my four on-screen party members. I was using face buttons to activate default and special attacks, and holding a trigger to give me access to three more. I was running with the left stick and swiveling the camera with right stick.

I was tilting the right stick back to get a different camera view and then... blocked.

Dragon Age: Origins is being billed by publisher EA and developer BioWare as a spiritual successor to the studio's beloved Baldur's Gate games. But the ability to back the camera out and up, to go from behind-the-back action-gaming perspective to top-down strategic-perspective has been dropped from the console versions of the game. A BioWare rep told me that players who will want to zoom out will need to do so via a mouse scroll wheel. Then they'll get that Baldur's Gate look.

On the console, as far as I could see, the view will be much closer and into the action. It fits the platform, but it's a difference consumers with options should note.

Dragon Age: Origins ships on Xbox 360 and PC on November 3. The PS3 version will be out later in the month.

Denis mentioned something that bothered me in Bioshock. The protagonist survives a plane crash in the ocean and when he surfaces, gasping for breath, water droplets stream down the camera lens. The protagonist is not Samus, a space marine, or a motorcyclist. It is highly unlikely he was wearing a helmet, which would have been an overly conspicuous accessory given that he was about to blow up a plane. Bioshock’s intent was to involve the player deeply and personally in a story about human nature and the very first thing they try and do is impress you with the visual of water droplet streaming down a camera lens.

Am I being too nit-picky? Perhaps. But it’s small details like that which can completely derail any sense of physical presence for me.

The whole series is worth perusing, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of essays dealing with what the future of game cameras is and what techniques could improve the way gameplay and the viewpoint are married.

picture imperfect - schizophrenic camera/eye [Man Bytes Blog]

You will be happy to hear that both the Playstation 2 keyboard by Logitech and the PS2's EyeToy work on the Playstation 3.

The keyboard, and I believe this is true of all USB keyboard, allows you to enter text in any text field and requires no set-up. You can go into the accessory settings on the console to tweak the settings if you'd like to, but you don't need to.

With the EyeToy, I plugged it into a USB port and went to Accessories and then Test Camera on the console's menu. In Test Camera it first said no device found, but a few seconds later a live image from the camera popped up with the words USB Camera next to it. This makes me think that any USB camera might work and that it's not the EyeToy specifically being detected.

I tried using the Xbox 360's Vision Camera and while it detected that a USB device was plugged in, it didn't work. Too bad, that would have been hilarious.

While the EyeToy sends live video to the PS3, I couldn't find anything to do with this ability, so I suppose we'll have to wait and see how they make use of it down the line. According to the online user manual for the PS3, once the network launches we will be able to both voice and video chat, so I suspect the EyeToy or any USB camera will work with that.

It's kinda cool that Sony left it open for gamers to use any USB device for things like the keyboard, camera and headset. I also love that you can use any Bluetooth headset with the console. Very neat. Brian Crecente

A recent poll quizzed Japanese folks about what functions they'd like to see appear on the PSP. What do folks want? A big chunk of those polled wanted 1seg support. Beginning this past April, 1seg is a mobile terrestrial digital audio/video and data broadcasting service in Japan. In short, it lets people view digital TV on portable devices. Talk about an application that's absolutely perfect for the PSP. What do folks not want? Functions like the PSP camera add-on and the GPS receiver weren't that popular, which doesn't bode well for these products when they launch in Japan this fall. Three words: better market research. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [GameSpot]

IT-Media took a nice detail shot of the Playstation Portable Camera during a recent Loco Roco event. It looks like the metal-encased camera will be 1.3 mega-pixels and include a built in microphone. It also looks like, judging by the image, that the thing will jut out in front and behind the portable. I could be wrong about that, it might be that this image is showing some sort of security or display attachment. I sure hope so; I don't need the PSP to be even more awkwardly shaped than it already is. Brian Crecente

PSP Camera—Up Close and Personal [British Gaming Blog]

What is this mystery sphincter below the warm, sweet slit into which you slide your Wii... game? NintendoGossip is wondering that very question.

Apparently, quite a few game companies received an E3 CD from Nintendo largely focussing on the Wii. The cover of the CD is the image to the right, showing the secret Wii slot open. As you can see, it looks like there's a secure digital slot there, as well as a strange oculus.

No one's quite sure what the latter is: microphone? Infrared eye? Headphone port? Built-in camera? Right now, it's a mystery, but it's fun to fantasize! Why not join us in the comment section and do just that. Florian Eckhardt

Wii secret slot picture [NintendoGossip]

Xbox 360 Gets Vision Camera This Fall [Slashdot]

UNO Will Support Xbox 360 Camera [Playfeed]

Xbox 360 Galaxy got their hands on a spec sheet for the Xbox 360 Camera. The hand-out lists the specs for the (hopefully) soon to be released next-gen add-on.

Camera Specs:
USB 2.0 bus-powered device
Smooth, near DV quality video up to VGA 640x480 at 30 FPS
High-def images; still photos up to SVGA 1280x960 (1.3 Mp)
Manually adjustable variable focus 2 feet to infinity
Field of View 43 degrees
On board image processor
Digital zoom, cropping
Auto exposure, white balance , gamma correction, sharpness
Long cable to reach around large TVs
Includes a headset for great audio.

The lead-in to the specs mentions gesture recognition and says that the camera is "deeply integrated into the Dashboard." Sounds an awful lot like the EyeToy.

Xbox 360 Camera [Xbox 360 Galaxy]

Alex McLain, over at the official Xbox 360 site, had a chance to sit down with Kumar Banerjee, the man behind the Xbox 360s wireless adapter and upcoming video camera.

McLain came away from the meeting with a much better idea of the devices capabilities and some of the cool things gamers will be able to do with it. The two features he mentions are video chat and gesture gaming.

Video chat will incorporate a special microphone that plugs into the controller and will allow for group video and voice chats.

More interesting is Gesture Gaming which will use the camera to let you interact directly with games. Yes, it sounds like a direct knock-off of the Eye Toy, but it's still neat to think a similar technology is coming to the Xbox 360.

Hit the jump for some technical details.

In-Camera Video Processing
The camera itself is capable of not only receiving the information, but also processing it. It's no mean feat in something so small, and it allows the console to run unfettered, as the image processing doesn't suck up all its bandwidth.

Thirty Frames per Second
The camera is capable of capturing 30 frames per second. If you need a standard for comparison, think about this: Television is displayed at 30 frames per second, most video games are displayed at 30 frames per second (though developers are striving to make 60 the norm), and film is captured and displayed at 27 frames per second.

Stills
Like any good video camera, the camera is also capable of taking still images (with 1.3 megapixels of memory) as well. Your faces can be imported into games or accompany your name on leader boards for even more recognition and fame.

Low Light Performance
We gamers love playing in the dark most gaming environments have very low illumination, and the camera is designed specifically with that in mind.

Camera and Microphone [Xbox]

And you thought Tinker Toys were just for kids. Forkchop writes on Xalaga that he was trying to do get some video of game play from Ossu! Tatakae! Ouendan! on his DS. Of course it's next to impossible to play a game and video tape up close and personal at the same time. Enter the Tinker Toys.

With the help of a sack of the wooden widgets and stubs he was able to create a "camera holding thingie" that allows you to play and record at the same time.

Excellent, now he needs to get to work on a Tinker Toy chest camera mount for playing Guitar Hero and taping at the same time. Heck, why stop there, I want a full Tinker Toy exoskeleton so I can scale buildings and frighten small children.

The Tinker Toy DS Camera [Xalaga]

Xbox 360 Camera Prepares to Say Cheese [Computer and Video Games]