Xbox Live Video Chat to arrive first in Japan

Microsoft Japan has demonstrated the Xbox Live Video Chat system, revealing that the new video-conferencing package will support up to five simultaneous users and will launch in the Far East at the end of the year - with no US or European date mentioned as yet.

The Video Chat system was originally unveiled at E3 last month, but this is the first time that it's been shown in operation - with the hardware (thought to be a rebranded Logitech webcam) effectively a small spherical camera in the Xbox colours, while the software supports a range of video conferencing functions.

Five users can talk at once on the service, and the user can set up backgrounds or music for their conversations - or, interestingly, activate the vibration function on another user's joypad. The mind boggles...

The system is due to cost around the equivalent of UKP 35 when it arrives in Japan late this year - so about the same as a standard Xbox game. According to Microsoft, the prevalence of broadband in Japanese homes is the reason for Video Chat being launched there ahead of the USA and Europe.

No launch date for the system has been announced for Europe or North America as yet, but it seems unlikely that it will appear before 2005 in either territory.