Round Up: Vegas Vision, Virtual American Idol, GAME & My Turf

Today's round-up includes news of the Xbox Live Vision camera to be used by Rainbow Six Vegas, a contest by Konami to find the first virtual 'American Idol' winner, and a partnership between European retailer GAME and child-friendly website My Turf, as well as the latest Game Career Guide updates, Serious Games Source posts, GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings. - French-headquartered Ubisoft announced that the recently released Xbox Live Vision camera will be able to be used in conjunction with the upcoming Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas for the Xbox 360. The game, which represents the fifth title in the popular franchise, will ship in November. According to Ubisoft, once online, a player will be able to put his or her own face on the character using the camera. Once the custom head is completed, the company adds that a player can further customize their online character by choosing weapons, clothing, camouflage and body armor. - Major publisher and developer Konami announced that the company will be taking its upcoming Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol for PlayStation 2 on the tour of malls across the United States to search of the first virtual 'American Idol' winner. The Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Virtual Contest will begin on October 13 - 14 at the Jacob J. Javitz Convention Center in New York City during the Ziff Davis Digital Life event. The contest will then journey to nine other major US markets, including Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago. The grand-prize winner, to be announced on January 2, 2007, will win an all-expense paid trip to a taping of the 'American Idol' show in Hollywood, California. - Major European video game retailer GAME announced a new partnership with children-targeted website My Turf, which will see GAME provide the information for a games section on the site, offering a weekly top 10 chart, trailers and reviews of games. My Turf is a secure online environment incorporating chat rooms for children. Demelza Callen, Online Marketing Manager for GAME said, “We are delighted to be involved in such a great service and are very happy to get 100% behind this venture. The Internet is a relatively unprotected area for children and by only providing access to CitizenCard registered users means making the internet a safer place, giving parents peace of mind when it comes to protecting their children.” - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include an eBay auction for a mint box of 10 Donkey Kong Game & Watches, a look at Adult Swim's call for indie games, and new info on the revival of Cyan's Uru Live. - News on Gamasutra's game education sister site Serious Games Source includes a feature on the challenges facing the medical community from the recent Games for Health conference. - News on Gamasutra's game education sister site Game Career Guide includes a feature on Dead Rising's mixture of gaming and cinematic overlay, and a second printing of Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from Blue Fang Games, Crystal Dynamics, Incredible Technologies, Papaya Studio, Planet Moon Studios, and Vivendi Games.