Is the PS4 camera worth the money?

Most people who got the PS4 last year didn't think twice and got the PS4 camera with it. Gamers were excited by the kinect-like possibilities and convinced the camera would be a great accessory for the PS4.

One year later, is the device worth it?

[Neonridr]

If you plan on doing Twitch streams then absolutely it's worth it.

But if you don't plan on doing any streaming or video chats, then to be honest it just sits there.

Great that in Alien Isolation I can use the camera to lean around corners. But we all know that 99% of the people would rather use a button for that.

[SpiralTear]

Yeah, it's the streaming and video chats that sell the thing. If you dig those, go for it. If not...wait for a price drop.

[Volkama]

Is the facial recognition account sign-in pretty much the same as the Xbox One?

For me one of the best things about Kinect is the fact that I can let my kids at the console, and the account sign ins and parental controls are seemlessly applied. This stuff is important in the real world.

I haven't explored the PS4 parental control options yet, I'm just not telling the kids that there is a PS4 :)

[Neonridr]

I have to figure it's very similar. It makes you go through some scanning process where you have to tilt your head all around. I never really think about it, I mean I turn the console on and it logs me in. I assume it's using facial recognition, but there aren't any other accounts linked to my PS4... so hard to say ;)

[Volkama]

Mine always comes up asking me to select which profile to log in as, even though I'm the only profile on it. That may be configurable, I haven't really explored.

Curious about how granular the parental controls are though, and whether it all ties together to make the console child-safe.

Though I'm not sure I want 2 cameras set up. Maybe I'll just keep the PS4 secret, they don't need access to everything.

[filchron]

i would love it if all games had accurate 3D headtracking

[Gamerbeyond]

ps camera + Twitch.tv = totally worth it.

[Bathyj]

"Most people who got the PS4 last year didn't think twice and got the PS4 camera with it."

We did?

"Gamers were excited by the kinect-like possibilities."

We were?

Rhetorical questions aside, anyone who really wanted Kinect like abilities would have got a Kinect, which was not many.

I would have thought most people that got the Playstation camera bought it for broadcasting and for that its doing its job fine (I assume).

[uth11]

no! Because the camera was even rarer than the PS4 itself earlier this year

[refocusedman]

I have one and tbo, not really. I thought I would be able to record things directly to my ps4. The ps3 had an app for that.I havent nor am I going to use it for twitch streaming so its been pretty useless for me. Although I do use the voice commands :-/

[uth11]

I have one, It's fun with playroom, but it doesn't work very well with Just Dance 2014. I always forget you can do voice commands with it.

[pkb79]

My kids have lots of fun with.

[hkgamer]

price for camera? not bad

what you can use it for?
video chat
playroom
twitch
move or ds4 light thing
nba game having that facial capture to put yourself in game.

to me its pointless. i mean, if i see it one day in shops and i have spare cash i may buy it.

[rivencleft]

I still haven't picked up a camera yet, still have my PS3 camera though and move controllers since I kept those eagerly awaiting Project Morpheus, Amazon usually has the PS4 cameras for around $42 which is an awesome price so I will definitely have to pick one up before too long to use with Morpheus.

[MasterCornholio]

Its great for streaming and the price is fine for that. But if you dont stream then the camera isn't worth it. Its the main reason why I dont have one yet however Morpheus might change that.

[toddybad]

I have it. I like it.

[ps5fanboy]

I'm glad I got mine, it is way better to voice chat through camera than the single ear pieced mic that plugs into pad , though the drawback is incoming voices from other players pass through your TV or main speakers instead of head mic(obviously).

I Would like to see more incorporation into games , maybe face scanning your head onto digital character, and, voice activation on games, for instance , driveclub ,sun in face , you could say shades and activate sun glasses, if it offered it of course ha.