Warlords (400 Microsoft points), like many arcade re-releases comes in both original and fancy form, with the extra room leftover from making the primitive graphics less primitive translated into places you can showcase your face or whatever other sections of your body you wish to share with the group during online multiplayer matches.

Then there's Buku Sudoku (800 Microsoft points), which I am very angry with and don't wish to discuss.

Both games should be available via Xbox Live early Wednesday morning.

This week on Arcade: Buku Sudoku and Warlords [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

As long as this won't slow down gameplay I am so all over this live video in the middle of gameplay. The best part, being able to humiliate the losers after the game is over, in real time. Brian Crecente

Command & Conquer 3: Xbox Live Cam Gameplay Video [1p Start]

"Plus, for the winner, the Spotlight cam gives you an unchallenged ten seconds of fame to let your enemy know exactly how you feel about your victory."

If you do plan on playing C&C 3: TB via the 360, keep your favorite recording medium handy. If there's one thing the internet needs it's more videos of people acting like idiots. Michael Fahey

C&C3 360 to support camera [Eurogamer -

Mostly I made this video to test my new video capture set up, but I also wanted to show people how Rainbow Six Vegas uses the Live Camera to insert your real face onto your multiplayer character.

It's pretty damn cool, though it automatically gave me a crewcut. It would have been nice if the game allowed you to pick between a few generic hairstyles after capturing your face. Oh, well. Brian Crecente

Ubisoft today confirmed that gamers will be able to use the Xbox Live Vision Camera to put their face in Rainbow Six Vegas.

Better still, when you play online, other gamers will be able to see your custom face. Voodoo Extreme 3D reports that the process will involve taking a front and profile shot of your head. Sounds pretty simple. It looks like the key to making the end-result look like you is picking the right head to slap your face onto.Brian Crecente

Put Your Face in Rainbow Six Vegas [VE3D, thanks Jane]

TotemBall has finally arrived,nearly half a month after Microsoft started giving away the game with their Vision Camera.

The version of the the game I played seemed to have some kinks, but that was way back in September and I suspect that might be why it was so very delayed. Hopefully Microsoft and the Arcade crew polished up the game for its release today.

The game, which you'll have to download through Arcade if you have the camera, features six game modes:

TotemBall: Camera-controlled platforming gameplay. Gamers control the characters in the game by moving their hands in the air and gesturing in front of the camera
Juggling: Co-op juggling game with one player using Xbox Live Vision and the other player juggling totems with the controller.
Pinball: Play any of the bonus pinball tables that have been unlocked through regular TotemBall play
Freeplay: Explore the game with no time pressure and infinite lives.
Super Challenge: Play the entire game with one life and a time limit in each level.
TotemJam: Freely mix and match the game's musical totems.

Hit the jump for the full press release and make sure to pop back in here after you've played the game to let us know what you think. Brian Crecente

Playing with your Xbox Live Vision camera just got a little physical now that TotemBall is coming to Xbox Live Arcade. The gesture-based game uses Xbox Live Vision to control the characters in the game. Help Pterry the Pturtel uncover all the musical totems while grooving to your own totem beat. The game is offered for FREE on Xbox Live Arcade, starting Wednesday, October 4 at 0800 GMT (1 am PDT).

GAME FOCUS:

When the ancient Ptolmec tribe simultaneously discovered gunpowder and barbeque, the explosive results scattered their musical totems across the jungle! Now Pterry the Pturtle must roll over mountains, cross islands, scale pyramids, and battle giant pinball games to retrieve the lost totems and bring music back to the party.

GAME MODES & FEATURES:

With high-definition graphics, Xbox Live Vision camera compatibility, Xbox Live Achievements and Leaderboards, this next-gen title provides hours of fun.

TotemBall includes multiple game modes including:

TotemBall Camera-controlled platforming gameplay gamers control the characters in the game by moving their hands in the air and gesturing in front of the camera
Juggling - Co-op juggling game with one player using Xbox Live Vision and the other player juggling totems with the controller
Pinball - Play any of the bonus pinball tables that have been unlocked through regular TotemBall play
Freeplay Explore the game with no time pressure and infinite lives great mode for kids
Super Challenge Play the entire game with one life and a time limit in each level
TotemJam Freely mix and match the game s musical totems another fun exploration game for kids
WHEN CAN I GET IT: Download TotemBall tomorrow, Wednesday, October 4, at 1am PST on Xbox Live Arcade.

TotemBall (Strange Flavour/Freeverse): FREE

To block incoming video hope into Uno's Help & Options screen, then go to Camera Settings and press the Y button to disable your camera. Voila, no more free streaming porn.

You can also change your settings to only allow friends to communicate with you and finally, you can file a complaint against people who flash their frank and two beans at your right after you win a hand of Uno. Brian Crecente

Three Ways to Protect Yourself [Gamerscore Blog]

Punk Band Rise Against will be on Xbox Live via the Vision Camera this Friday playing against gamers in a little World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions for the Xbox 360.

Too bad they aren't just using the Arcade Texas Hold Em, I suspect they would have had a larger audience. If you're up for a little punk poker look out for gamertag GWRiseAgainst from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. EST.

Any money on whether the band gets flashed during their little Live sessions? Brian Crecente

Punk Band Uses New Xbox Live Vision Camera to Challenge Gamers in World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions as Part of the Latest Xbox Live 'Game with Fame' Session

The melodic hardcore band, Rise Against, is calling on all gamers to challenge them in their upcoming Xbox Live 'Game with Fame' session. The group, which includes Tim McIlrath (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Chasse (vocals, guitar), Joe Principe (bass, backing vocals) and Brandon Barnes (drums), continues their North American tour for their latest album, The Sufferer & The Witness, which peaked at #10 on the Billboard 200 Chart.

Fans who are interested in gaming with Rise Against guitarist Chris Chasse should keep an eye out for the Xbox Live gamertag 'GWFRiseAgainst' from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. EST/2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. PST on Friday, October 6 and to have the chance to challenge them in World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions for Xbox 360 .

Rise Against's 2006 single "Ready to Fall" continues to climb the Billboard charts. The track has hit as high as #13 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and #18 on the US Modern Rock chart. The hardcore punk band has released four albums since their first self-produced demo in 2000. Rise Against recently toured in Europe, and Japan and currently performing in the U.S, Canada and Australia.

The Xbox Live Game with Fame program gives Xbox Live subscribers the unique opportunity to meet, chat and play against some of today's hottest stars. Past Game with Fame celebrity players include 30 Seconds to Mars, The Strokes, Hoobastank, Staind, Incubus and Simple Plan. For further information on other Xbox Live events, be sure to visit the "Game with Fame" Web site at http://www.xbox.com/gamewithfame.

The last presentation I attended today from Microsoft was for XBox Live Arcade with the general manager of the Xbox Casual Games Group, Greg Canessa. He was quick to point out the success they've experienced over the past year, with 10 million downloads, 30 games down, and a promise of 50 by years end — which means that the regular 1 release on Wednesday schedule will probably get more crowded in coming weeks.

Next up is Totem Ball, which comes out next week, and will be the first XBL Arcade title to support the just-launched Live Vision camera as far as play goes (Japan release of the camera is set for November 2). Canessa performed a demonstration of the game, which is very Eye-Toy-like, with your hand gestures performing all movement in the game. The camera will be used in retail games as well (a poker game from Konami, and Rainbow Six, both for face mapping in the game), but XBL Arcade is seen as a strategic and important avenue for the device, with many more camera-specific games planned.

They were also touting the strong relationship they've developped with Japanese developers for retro coin-up releases, with Konami (Contra, Super Contra, Track and Field), and SNK (Fatal Fury Special, which may be Asia-only), and especially Namco (Dig-Dug, Ms. Pac-Man), also promoting the recently announced Pac-Man world-wide championships, promising a special twist that has yet to be announced. As far as the whole idea of region-specific releases (like the just-announced Asia-only Yie Ar Kung Fu), they would be receptive, depending on demand, to offer some sort of "import" channel, which could include releases that haven't been localized.

For those still waiting on Lumines, prepare to be disappointed as release is now said to be "in a couple of months," but definitely before the holidays.

Being a rather avid boardgamer, I really wanted to bring up the announcements earlier this year of bringing some European-style boardgames to XBL Arcade (currently in development are Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Alhambra, which are all set for release early in 2007). Seems like the whole team is very passionate about boardgaming — with weekly game nights a ritual — and they would love to see even more come to the platform, depending on demand. So a plea to you all from this passionate gamer: try these out, as I want/need to see more! Jean Snow

Good news, starting tomorrow you'll be able to watch live video of your fellow gamers in Bankshot Billiards 2, Hardwood Hearts, Hardwood Spades and Hardwood Backgammon.

According to Microsoft, all four games will receive automatic updates on Xbox Live Aracde making them Xbox Live Vision-enabled.

While I applaud the free updates I'd sure love to know what exactly happened to Totemball. The game is included as a free download with the camera, but free's no good when the game can't be found anywhere.

Free press release after the jump. Free, FREE!!! Brian Crecente

Hello,

We wanted to give you a heads up that the long awaited Xbox Live Vision for Xbox 360 launches today, Tuesday September 19. Xbox Live Vision is an affordable next-generation camera that allows gamers to chat via video in real time with their friends and family, send photo messages, put their own face in a supported game, and customize their gamertag on the Xbox Live network.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 20, four previously released games will receive automatic updates on Xbox Live Arcade, making them Xbox Live Vision-enabled, including:

Bankshot Billiards 2

Hardwood Hearts

Hardwood Spades

Hardwood Backgammon

These games will join UNO!, the classic card game for Xbox Live Arcade that is already compatible with Xbox Live Vision, giving gamers a lineup of popular titles to play with Xbox Live Vision, right out of the box!

We 'also like to remind parents who have young children to enable Family Friendly settings for their kids Xbox Live account, and to configure the settings to the communication level with which they are most comfortable.

She points out that you can limit video chat, in-coming picture messages and potentially offensive personal pictures through the console's already robust family setting. But then she sort of glosses over the biggest potential issue: In-game video.

Her only comment on the fact that games like Uno have built in video that you seemingly can't control is that you should "use the in-game options to control how video displays in games."

Last I looked, which was over the weekend, Uno didn't have a way of turning off incoming video. If they haven't already, Microsoft really needs to patch the game and make turning off video an option in all games that support video streaming.

There have already been reports of people showing off naked body parts and drug use in a game of Uno that was attended by a child. Oh, funny story. I actually messaged the alleged offender of that particular story to see if it was true.

He said that it did indeed happen but that it was a group of particularly rowdy friends who were guilty. They had jumped on his console when he wasn't around and treated everyone to a bit of video spam.

He promised it wouldn't happen again. It sort of cracked me up that he was promising me that it wouldn't happen again. It's like he thought I was a Live vigilante. Brian Crecente

Smile! You're on Xbox Live Vision! [Xbox]

The game is available for trial on Microsoft's Partnernet, the alternative reality Xbox Live for game reviewers. Because this was on a preview site, please keep in mind that I'm not sure if this is the final build or they are still doing some work on it.

While the game is quite cute, I found it a bit hard to control and, at times, more frustrating than fun.

I won't even try to get into the muddled back-story for the game, just know that it involves you tooling around with a rickety looking cart collecting gems and missing totem pieces.

The totem pieces are large discs-shaped carvings that feature the arms of a person playing some musical instrument. When you pick one up, the piece appears on top of the turtle and, after a few seconds, starts to jam. The more of these pieces you pick up the better and more intricate the music.

In the first level, I only found one totem, but by the second I was up to collecting five or so, which included a bass player, a drummer and what looks like a synth keyboard.

The game almost plays a bit like a 3D version of Marble Madness, except instead of taking place in a maze, all of the action occurs outside on islands and such.

The key difference, of course, is that you control this game with the Vision Camera and arm movements.

To move your Totem around you need to hold your arms out to your sides so that your hands can been seen in waterfalls that fill the edge of both sides of the screen.

To move forward you raise both of your hands, to move back you lower both arms, to stand still you keep your arms out even, like you're forming the letter "t". And to turn you move one arm up and the other down.

There are a couple of problems with this form of control. First, the game seemed to keep losing track of my arms. So when I would try to go forward, I would turn or sometimes I would get stuck going forward or backwards.

I tried playing with and without my game room's overhead lights on and also tried playing with my palms out, but nothing seemed to help this. Moving a little bit forward helped a touch, but I think essentially the controls are just very finicky.

The other issue is that your arms get damn tired holding them out to your sides or moving them up and down. Controlling a game for like a minute or two is fine, but it gets downright painful after ten minutes or so and soon you have to just pause the game.

The developers tried to compensate for this by placing special pieces in the game that look like little beds and let your rest for 10 seconds, but I found them to be spread apart too infrequently and the break not to be quite long enough.

If you can master the controls and have arms of steel, the game itself is sorta fun. I played a lot with the various offerings that Sony has for the Eye Toy, but aside from AntiGrav, I always thought the games were very empty things meant to really just show off the camera.

It's obvious that Totemball's developers put some thought into level design, making it a light puzzle, platformer and adding enough funkiness to be fun... if you can tolerate the pain.

For a freebie, Totemball is worth the time, though I don't think it will convince anyone, on it's own, to run out and buy the camera. Brian Crecente

Reader Aaron sends word of a disturbing run-in he and his young nephew had during a game of Xbox 360 Uno.

Aaron says he allowed his nephew to play Uno while visiting, because the child's mother told him specifically to allow him to "play a game that wouldn't make him hyper or want to have bad dreams."

Things were going well, Aaron says, until he joined a room using one of the new Uno card skins. One of the four players had a camera and everyone was asking the guy about it.

The player said he couldn't say how he got the camera and then added "check this out" and proceeds to light up a blunt and smoke it, blowing the smoke into the camera.

And wouldn't you know it, the nephew's mother walked into the room just in time to see that.

Aaron goes on to say he also ran into a woman who was apparently streaking Uno games. While Aaron sent me the name of the weed smoker, he didn't send the name of the woman which I wanted... um... for research purposes.

Aaron emailed a complaint to Microsoft support and to the ESRB, pointing out that a game rated for everyone maybe needs to be looked at again when people can add their own streaming content to it live.

I hit up Microsoft for a response and the best they could do was send me a general statement about the safety of Xbox Live.

Xbox 360 and Xbox Live offer some of the most advanced family setting features in the entertainment industry. Xbox Live Vision was developed to fully leverage those features so that parents and kids can use it and feel safe while interacting with others. For example the personalized gamer picture is only viewable by people on your friends list. As you already know the friends list has some very advanced safety and security features built into it.

I haven't been able to figure out how to turn off the camera view of another Uno player and they still can't tell me if this is possible.

Just think what it's going to be like when the camera is actually available for sale. I sense a patch coming. Brian Crecente

Short and relatively boring video showing the Vision Camera in action during a game of Uno. Kinda not the most exciting pairing, but still sorta neat. Check out my full early impressions of the Vision Camera here. Brian Crecente

Microsoft was kind enough to send me an Xbox 360 Vision Camera on Friday. It's a cute little thing that plugs into the USB port of your Xbox 360. I had a chance to mess around with it over the weekend, though I'm still waiting for Totemball to come out so I can really put this thing through the wringer.

The camera's design matches the sleek vanilla look of the console and even has a green ring of light to show when it's transmitting a signal over the Intertube.

I still haven't figured out where to put the camera in my entertainment center, but fortunately it has a fairly long cable, so I should be able to put it just about anywhere in my set-up.

After plugging the camera into the console I hopped over to the setting's blade where I was able to adjust for the type of room and the lighting. After you set up the camera, you can manually fine tune the focus by twisting a ring around the camera lens.

Next, I hopped over to my Gamertag settings where I was able to take a picture to use as my personal Gamer photo. Again, the process was fairly straightforward. The camera supports two levels of zoom, though by the second one the image is pretty grainy. Instead of just zooming automatically, the software lets you drag a box around the screen to highlight what you want to zoom in on.

After taking the picture, you can add effects to the image. The end result was a fairly grainy image of me. Even after I tried walking up to the camera and taking the picture without the zoom, I found it to be a bit on the grainy side.

I didn't get a chance to video chat with anybody, but I did play a few games of Uno with the camera on. What this did was replace my normal gamertag picture with a live video stream. While this did make the image a bit bigger, it was still way too small to really see any sort of emotions or such. I mention this because there's no way you could use the camera as a way of judging if someone is bluffing in Uno. I hope when it's introduced for poker they manage to clean up the stream and make the image much larger.

The people I was playing with in Uno did say that the video seemed relatively lagless, which was nice, but I'm still unclear why you'd want to have video streaming in a game of Uno.

While I think it will be neat to check out some of the games that Microsoft is going to be releasing specifically for the camera, I sorta had my fill of those with the Playstation 2. What I'm really excited about is the in-game face technology. I didn't really mess around with that much on the few games that did that with the Eye Toy and I'm assuming the technology has improved a bit since then.

I'm not sure if I would rush out a buy this camera when it hits on Sept. 19 (Oct. 6 in Europe). I think I'd likely wait until a good shooter came along that supported it and perhaps a few of my friends or family got the camera.

The camera is going to come in two flavors: For $40 you get the camera, one-month of Live Gold, a 360 headset and Uno and TotemBall. For $80 you get the same thing plus q year of Gold membership, a copy of Robotron and 200 Microsoft points.

What do you think, are you planning on buying the camera when it hits? I'll slap up a short video a bit later today showing me annoying people by inability to video myself and play Uno at the same time. Brian Crecente

Major Nelson — pictured above or maybe to the right limboing and insanely waving while screaming into a Mr. Microphone — dropped an exciting, electrifying, arousing, possibly titillating feature of the Xbox Live Vision Camera whilst demonstrating it at Microsoft's GC06 Tiki Tent: remote-controlled genital stimulation.

"When you press the trigger button, it makes the controller of the person you're talking to vibrate," said Nelson. "So two people... well, I'll let you fill in the blanks!"

I did. I became intrigued. I raised my hand to ask him if he'd ever tried this vibrating feature with anyone, and if so, with whom? Major Nelson pretended not to see my raised hand. Then I remembered that this was "journalism", and I wasn't asking Major Nelson for permission to evacuate my bladder. Sheepishly, I put my hand down.

He then handed over the Live headset to the crowd so they could try out the camera and talk to some random but dollsome Microsoft employee, code-named E. I immediately saw my opportunity.

Before I continue, I would really like to stress the fact that it is not that I am, in fact, a pervert. Rather, I'm a journalist. My job is to leap at the slimmest opportunities for a hot, sexy "scoop". This is what my journalistic ethics, my journalistic morals, my entire journalistic code of journalism demands!

So stealing the headset from some fan boys, I spent a requisite thirty seconds exchanging mundane pleasantries with E before demanding that she help me demonstrate this new feature.

"Hey, yeah, nice dog. No, I don't care about that Xbox magnet. What's the weather like there? Okay... uh huh. Yeah, look, I don't care. Let's just get down to the vibrating, shall we?"

This, gentlemen, is called seduction. But E was having none of it. And, needless to say, I am no longer welcome at any Microsoft parties. But Eliza and I will be testing this feature soon... and when we do, expect a full review! Florian Eckhardt

EDIT: Apparently, E's a dude. So I guess I wasn't talking to E, but one of his house guests. So who was she? Is she also a Microsoft employee? And will my entire body ever stop going sick with passion when I think of her adorable giggle and puritan moral values, demanding to be corrupted via 360 proxy?

Over at the CheapAssGamer Forums, CAG vet KJ Auburn stumbled across the Xbox Live Vision Camera at a Toys R Us in Georgia. The street date was broken, and the camera won't officially go on sale until the end of next month. KJ writes:

After spending some time with the camera for the past day I am impressed with it overall. I was surprised by the image quality considering all the problems I had in the same room with the eyetoy... By far the Video Chat was the most impressive feature, but I personally don't have a real use for it.

Impressive, but useless? Uh, neat. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [CAG]

Xbox 360 Gets Vision Camera This Fall [Slashdot]