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August 3, 2011 / Notmaker

Isn’t it Time for This: Webcam-Converted In-Game Avatars?


Make-up during the end of the world?  Classy.

In light of all the brouhaha (which actually has an officially correct spelling, #thingsyoulearn) and counter-haha over the female version of Shepard being voted on as alternate Mass Effect 3 box art (not sure what was wrong with the original default design, but w/e), there’s something that’s been tickling in the back of head for a while now:

Since so many games, including Mass Effect, offer the option of closely customizing the look of your character (and 80% of Mass Effect players customize their character anyways), I wonder why some enterprising developer hasn’t bother to create an option to take a webcam shot of yourself, and have your PC/console re-render your face into the game? PC webcams have been able to discern facial features for years, and the Xbox 360 Kinect just released a feature which does that almost exactly.

Now, not everyone uses the same philosophy when creating a game avatar, but I suspect many people like creating creators that are at least somewhat based on themselves, and wouldn’t it be a cool option to have?

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