Taking an Existing Product and Making it Better – LOOT™ Active Camera
by Terra_Cide, HSM Editor
Human beings love convenience; the more functionality an object has built into it, the fewer other objects we have to buy.
Take a Leatherman tool for example. I own one, and not only can it tighten loose screw on one of my son’s toys, I can also use it to cut down and tame the rosebush that grows along the edge of my porch. And then I can use it to crack me open a cold one after I’ve slapped Band Aids over all the thorn scratches I received clearing away the cuttings.
Technological gadgetry is no different. Thanks to Hurricane Irene, I was without power here on the East coast for a few days. This meant my son and I stayed with my parents, since I kind of like bathing after work in warm water, as well as having lights after the sun goes down. However, they lack internet, and their knowledge of technology is so minimal, that to them, even someone like Norse would sound like Cubehouse.
If it were not for my phone – and the ability to keep it charged – I would have been up to my eyeballs in backlogged magazine emails by the time my power came back on. When Research In Motion added wireless email functionality to their BlackBerry smartphone in 2002 – which, until that point, only had PDA and two-way pager functionality – they created the first must-have, all-in-one phone for the person on the perpetual go. This craze has now bled into the common masses, and even as I’m typing this, there’s someone’s eight-year-old – somewhere – who has just added an iPhone to their Christmas list. It’s probably even your eight-year-old.
And don’t even get me started on Kindles and tablets. As an advocate for making books cool again, I’ve got some radical ideas on that topic, and I’ve already made one person blush over them.
So with that said, why should our virtual items be an exception to the rule? Known Home videographers, such as HearItWow and DIRECTOR_ON_DUTY, love the tools developers like LOOT have graced Home with, and use them much in the same manner Michelangelo wielded a chisel or a paintbrush. They – and others – have clamored for more, more, MORE!
Apparently, the folks at LOOT have heard the meering of the Machinima masses and are providing a tasty little upgrade to their existing Active Camera. Here’s what they have to say about it:
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Now recording to your PlayStation 3™ harddrive and uploading to YouTube™!
The LOOT™ Active Camera provides the opportunity to shout “lights, camera, action!” while collaborating with your friends to bring new movies and television shows to life. The new video recording functionality, combined with the PlayStation®Home game engine, enables talented PlayStation 3™ owners to become movie makers, telling their stories using videogame artwork, a technique known as Machinima.
All PlayStation®Home Avatar Items, furniture and private spaces can be used on your next movie production! PlayStation®Home assets, combined with more than 100+ LOOT™ items and tools related to Machinima creation, enables an unprecedented control over the scene location. The users (actors) have great control over each avatar customization, such as clothing, color, size, hair style and so on, while communicating in real-time via text or voice chat (requires USB or Bluetooth headset). Let the fun begin! Bring all your friends and make your own movies and TV shows.
When recording from PlayStation Home to the PlayStation 3™ harddrive, the recorded takes will be available under the VIDEO section of the PS3 XMB. From there users can copy the files, using a USB thumb drive (not included) to a computer for full editing and special effects control of your choice.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfC-PM0gHyo
Please note all PlayStation 3 owners, since System Software Update v.3.40 (link here), have an embedded free Video Editor & Uploader.
Video Editor & Uploader: Video Editor and Uploader is a new function found on the XrossMediaBar (XMB), which enables you to edit, save and upload video files stored on the PS3 system to sites such as Facebook or YouTube. since editing system is also capable of direct upload to YouTube™.
The LOOT™ Active Camera is coming soon to PlayStation®Home in North America and Europe regions this Thursday, September 29th. This upgrade is provided free of charge. The LOOT™ Active Camera is available alone priced as $2.99 or as part of the Ultimate Machinima Bundle, which includes the LOOT™ Modular Stage Set 3 private space, the LOOT™ Active Light and the LOOT™ Active Camera for only $4.99.
Make It, Record It and Share It, on YouTube™.
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Now here is what I have to say about it.
I admire those who have the patience and imagination to create videos – any videos – in Home. I firmly believe that you make your own fun in Home, and those in the Machinima community exemplify that statement. There’s quite a few members of that community who write for us here at HSM and they are all enormously talented individuals.
However, nearly all of them who also already own the Active Camera in its current incarnation have voiced criticism about its limited functionality. Nevermind the fact that not everyone has the means to go out and drop money on a Hauppauge, or can justify the cost even if they do.
Real vampires *don't* do sparkles
So does this upgrade completely free the budding videographer of the restrictions of the prior version of the camera? Well, I hate to say it, but no. If you’re looking to capture high-definition video, Hauppauge is still your best bet, as what you have available on the XMB only works in 360p. That doesn’t mean you can’t get creative with it or will be doomed to forever produce an inferior product. Nosferatu doesn’t even have sound – not to mention it’s almost a century old – and I’ll contend that it is the best vampire/horror movie ever made. And if you are a frequent viewer of YouTube videos, you can easily see some genuinely beautiful works done with nothing but an 8mm handycam that, quality-wise, beat out videos done with a million megapixel digital camera.
At $2.99 (or just shy of five bucks if you want to spring for the bundle), it’s a great entry-level way for those who want to test the waters and see if they got what it takes to create a compelling story in Home that makes the masses wanting more. It’s kind of like baby steps, really. If you find you enjoy making videos with the combination tools of the Active Camera and the XMB video editor and uploader and have a talent for making them, you can start looking to upgrade your setup over time. Of course, this is not to say that down the road, we may see LOOT build more functionality into the camera, which of course, will be the cause of much rejoicing.
On the whole, seeing a developer going back to a product and giving it more features is always a pleasant thing to see. Far too often, you hear people whinging about how they buy product “x” and due to Moore’s Law, have to turn around about a year later and buy basically the same product, just with added capabilities. Here in Home, this happens too.
With virtual products, enhancing the capabilities of an existing item is good business sense – it tempts potential customers who weren’t a part of the original wave of purchasers to reconsider, and it doesn’t alienate existing customers who feel that they have to go out and buy yet another, nearly completely identical item. Strengthening an established customer relationship is how you get continued sales, as those people will buy more of your products and likely recommend your products to a friend; word of mouth is probably the most powerful sales tool – and it’s free.
Here’s to LOOT for giving them something to talk about.
September 29th, 2011 by Terra_Cide | 5 comments
Terra _Cide is the former Community Manager for Lockwood Publishing and Editor Emeritus for HomeStation Magazine.
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Well I have a Loot camera, mostly because some of my friends are filmmakers and have used my spaces to do this. But now that they are adding this capability I may play around a bit with it just for fun. This kind of thing just proves they they are listening to our wants and also that anyone who says there is nothing to do in Home is clueless. It is just another dynamic tool that they have given us to play with, and one i am looking forward to using to do just that. Kudos Loot!
Boy am I gonna have fun with this new feature!
As the Joker said in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman Movie ‘Wait until they get a load of me’
NIce article, it’s nice to see products evolving for a better Home experience. I will say the video recorded is pretty grainy. You can actually get a better image just shooting off the screen. I also wish Loot would have made finished videos to play off the Home Theater screens that would have been awesome.
Sorry, I’m catching up on my HSM reading. Nice article Terra. Even though the quality for the camera is not hi-def, at least people can PS Home videos without additional equipment and not bad for just $2.99. Thank you Loot for this and ty again Terra for the information. ^__^
I enjoyed reading your article Terra_Cide thanks for your help.
I’d like to hear your ideas on making books cool again,especially the one that made someone blush?Sounds juicy!