It's an oldie, but a goodie.  The Xbox Live Vision Camera, Vision Cam for short, came out sometime ago and was set to change the way people interacted message wise with each other on the Xbox 360.  Instead of just leaving typed messages you could now send pictures and perhaps most importantly  video chat.  I had maybe used the video chat client once before but I don't even remember doing it.  Fast forward to the present and now I have a reason why. 

I have an older sister and brother in law, a couple nieces and now a cousin living in Kentucky and I hardly get to see them except holidays.  My cousin Mike moved this summer from his hometown in Wisconsin to live with my sister and his dad for the summer and senior year of high school and he brought his Xbox 360 with him.  I was in voice chat with him last night and the topic of the Vision Cam. came up.  Mike had mentioned he had one as did I so an hour later we were to have our first family video chat over Live.  It was an absolute blast to see my family in Kentucky.  It felt as if they were just a few blocks away instead of a few states.  I got to see how much my nieces have grown and they got to see my other niece and nephew and my parents.  So after about an hour of talking and the nieces showing each other their toys, we called it a night.  I have to admit I got a little choked up and emotionally overwhelmed on how cool and how easy it was to video chat and see my family again.  So now instead of calling each other every so often over the phone, we're planning on having regular video chats.  It's also my understanding that the Playstation 3 has a pretty sweet vision cam as well.  I urge you PS3 owners, if it hasn't been done already, urge Sony to make video chat possible.  It's a service that's been available for some time but is made so much easier through your console onto your television. 

**You can find the Xbox Live Vision Camera at any local electronic store or Target store for around $39.99