Xbox 360 Camera

Ehomeupgrade has a killer scoop on the Xbox 360 camera. 

Specs (from the article) are:

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 1280x980 (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 (~9 feet) cable to reach around large TVs

Includes a headset for great audio.

The potential for gaming on this device is exciting.  Sony's Eyetoy is a ton of fun, imagine all the cool live games that publishers could write to use this peripheral.  What is more interesting though, is the potential for non gaming applications.  The article mentions Voip, Security, and Video Conferencing.  If this is done well, Microsoft may be able to seriously corner a "dream hardware" segment of the home entertainment market.  I think I could sell my parents on buying a 360 if they knew that they would be able to video teleconference to me from their TV with ease.  The potential for setting up an IP camera for monitoring a room is also interesting since many people have their 360s wired to HDTVs, a prized posession for many of us (my lcd tv is one of the most valuable things I own).

We'll have to see where this goes as the potential applications are very interesting.  Definately one step closer to Neal Stevenson's metaverse -- the online social gaming paradigm that J Allard had in mind when he designed the 360.  Now let's just hope that the product gets released soon because I can't wait to see the look on noobs faces after a slick head shot in Perfect Dark Zero or see people wince during knockout replays in Fight Night 3.