Basketball Karate   JumpIn Video Be There

In the Box
• Game Cam CD
• Logitech Home Cam, USB video camera with built in microphone
• 2 self-adhesive mounting bases
• 1 swivel attachment
• Manual

How to play

Clicking on the Realty Fusion GameCam icon starts interactive game play. The camera turns itself on, (be sure to raise the shutter from the lens), and multiple images of the camera view are displayed on the screen as the camera calibrates itself. A program screen appears, the mouse cursor changes into a cow with a wagging tail and the background music plays. The screen choices are Karate, B-Ball, V-Ball, Be There, Jumpin Video and More. The first five choices are the interactive games that each heading suggests. Choosing More opens an additional screen of choices; Snapshot, Internet, Options and Escape. Options allows the user to adjust the Video, Music and Audio Prompts. Internet takes you to the Reality Fusion GameCam Web Site and Snapshot is a picture taker.

Choose a game and start, if necessary the camera will take a snapshot of you to use in the game and then you can start to play. Moving your hands, arms, legs and head, (depending on the game), while in the camera's view, allows the player or players to interact with the computer-generated program.  

The Games

Basketball - Play one-on-one B-Ball in a stadium environment or shoot against the clock. Your arm and hand motion causes the animated basketball to bounce until you drop it through the hoop for TWO.

Horse - The old school yard, multiplayer, basketball game. Match shots with your opponent. Miss your shot and get a letter. The first one to spell HORSE is out.

Karate - Bruce Lee want-to-be's can practice to their heart's content sparring with an opponent who uses true-to-life karate moves. Kick, jab punch and duck until you take this clown out. The player can choose opponents, or even paste a photo onto the animated one. 

VBall - Volleyball on the beach, pits you against an animated opponent for a virtual endless summer of fun. A special mode allows you to record anyone in motion and use that person as your opponent.

JumpIn Video - Lets you create your own 70's style kaleidoscope video that gyrates to the beat of your favorite music CD. Look closely; the pattern in the screen capture is created from a screen shot of a young mother and her baby. You'll need to disable the auto insert function of your CD player to get this program to work correctly.

Be There - Put yourself in the picture, posing in remote and exotic locations or superimpose your face on a variety of other amusing bodies.

Downloadable movie clips are available at: http://www.realityfusion.com/gamecam/movies.html

Conclusion

The Logitech QuickCam Home was dark and grainy in low light levels. Although, I was somewhat disappointed by the camera's performance, I was NOT surprised. Only the best home video cameras perform well in low light levels and this is NOT one of them. Adequate lighting produces an acceptable video.

The Reality GameCam software is the interactive gaming equivalent of PONG, (the very first computer ping-pong game). That said, my family and I spent a weekend enjoying the included games. We had a lot of fun. Be careful in games like Karate; my son broke my desk lamp while dodging an animated leg sweep. 

This is the only computer game package I know of that will leave you physically exhausted when you're done playing. 
If you ever get tired of the games you'll still have the camera to use for other activities, making the Reality Fusion GameCam package a pretty good deal.

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