The Playstation 3 can be used for video conferencing for up to 8(?) people. Obviously, you need a webcam and a microphone to make it work. I used a Logitech Quickcam Pro for Notebooks (the Quickcam Pro 9000 can also be used) to do video conferencing. The users you want to video conference with should be added to your friends list as well.
This is a really useful feature in the Playstation 3. You can use the console as a communications tool as well. Not bad for a “toy”.