The Future Of EyeToy - Spells, GUIs, Grooves?

Thanks to the New York Times for their article investigating future possibilities for Sony's EyeToy PlayStation 2 camera. The writer has a chance to see Sony R+D's experimental prototypes using the just-released USB camera add-on, which include manipulating Harry Potter-style onscreen spells with a wand "...made from parts of a hotel clothes hanger [that] has a brightly colored ball on one end", and an onscreen interface replicating "...the futuristic computer operated by Tom Cruise's detective character in the movie 'Minority Report'." Production has been ramping up quickly on the camera for the US, and Sony hope to replicate the success of the peripheral in the UK, where EyeToy: Groove, a rhythm-based game, is the first piece of expansion software released.

Comments

Imagine...

[Zarf]

...imagine a Desktop UI built around this. Yeah, it could happen.

Re:Imagine...

[sahala]

...imagine a Desktop UI built around this. Yeah, it could happen.

Maybe not a desktop UI per se, but it definitely has a future in providing deeper user interactions. One problem with current generations of computers is that they're stupid in the sense that they haven't a clue what's going on in the real world. For a start I think it would be nice for computers to know when people are around their computers, or whether the user is paying attention, or even (by sight)who is currently using the computer. This is all basic stuff that a 4-year old does better than a computer.

Then again I'm sure this is the wrong place to discuss this. After all, who needs anything more than a command-line?

DIY

[FrenZon]

Last year I completed a similar project using a standard webcam and some cheap LEDs. It was no great suprise to find that using the computer by waving your arms around in the air was a pain in the rear.

Kinda Fun

[Murrow]

I picked one of these up yesterday with next month's office Christmas party in mind. Last year people enjoyed DDR and I think this might be just as much fun (we're NASA contractors, go figure).

My limited experience with it is that it works really well. The motion detection is accurate and its fairly easy to get good results with the gadget. Lighting and any motion in the background can be an issue. I had to play a bit to give it enough contrast to be happy. It also seemed facinated with a ceiling fan that was in the background. Once I reaimed it a little it paid more attention to the player.

Crappy Website

[fuzzybunny]

It sounds like a great idea. No, really, it does. It's cute, and has some hilarious potential.

However, someone should take their flash programmers and marketing droids out and shoot them, then shoot the survivors again, then force whoever lives through the previous multiple shootings (captured on EyeToy!) to try and actually find out any useful information about how the goddamm thing works and what it does from their webpage. Choose a channel! Christ, I hope their presentation isn't representative of the product itself.

Something new?

[Naffer]

A friend of mine bought an Intel webcam a few years back that came with several motion games. (hit the bouncing ball with your hand, scrub the screen clean etc) They were pretty shallow, but from what I hear, Sony's is too. Why is this such a big deal? Do they expect us to run out and buy this thing just because Sony tells us we should?

Re:Something new?

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

"A friend of mine bought an Intel webcam a few years back that came with several motion games. (hit the bouncing ball with your hand, scrub the screen clean etc) They were pretty shallow, but from what I hear, Sony's is too."

There is a market out there for games which do not require 5-10 hours to get "into" the game, you know? The "party game" has become a more successful genre by offering simple round-based games that people can swap in and out of playing. They offer enjoyable multiplayer experiences for groups of people who are hanging out for reasons other than having an intense video game session. A game does not have to be deep in order to be a success.

"Why is this such a big deal?"

No one ever said the release of the Eye Toy was going to change the face of video gaming as we know it. It's a neat peripheral that Sony has released. It offers a control scheme that may draw in people who are not accustomed to having a controller in their hands and may get some couch potatoes up off the couch for some time.

"Do they expect us to run out and buy this thing just because Sony tells us we should?"

I think the marketing of the Eye Toy has been a bit more substantial than, 'Hey, look at this thing. It's made by Sony. Go buy it!' In fact, I know it has because I've seen some print advertisements. Granted, the advertisements do note that the product is manufactured by Sony but there is more to it than that. Honestly, your type of uppity consumerism is so annoying - I assume you live in some type of capitalist society. One of the backbones of capitalism is the idea of free choice. You may choose whether you want to buy products or not. If you don't want to buy the Eye Toy, don't.

Re:Something new?

[Anonymous Coward]

It offers a control scheme that may draw in people who are not accustomed to having a controller in their hands and may get some couch potatoes up off the couch for some time.
You think even these people would be entertained for more than 5 minutes with the motion games?

The eyetoy rocks

[dew-genen-ny]

Bought one about a month ago...

Every time people are round at our house it is always on. The point is that there are a lot of people out there that are uncomfortable with learning how to use a console controller and because with this there is virtually no learning it is a big hit.

Not your typical geek game though because it does actually raise your level of fitness...the first few times I played the kung-foo game or the boxing game the next day I ached so badly...

Can't wait to see what they can do with this - it's the future I'm sure!

Re:The eyetoy rocks

[DrEldarion]

Not your typical geek game though because it does actually raise your level of fitness...the first few times I played the kung-foo game or the boxing game the next day I ached so badly...

That's what people said about Dance Dance Revolution, but it's hard to find a DDR machine around here that doesn't have a crowd of geeks around it.

We don't mind fitness, as long as it's in video game format!

Re:The eyetoy rocks

[mattACK]

I see your eye-toy and raise you Samba De Amigo!

God I wish that they would remake this game for current systems...

The rear?

[lowmagnet]

Or in the arms? I couldn't figure how one would control a computer with one's backside.

Samba!

[wikthemighty]

I've yet to have a party game surpass this one. One Christmas party we had no less that 42 people playing this game round-robin!

It's the game that scares everybody a little bit when you bring it out and set it up but once people start playing they're hooked.

Of course it doesn't hurt to get everybody a little liquored up first... :)

Eye Toy... please meet the Power Glove

[Man In Black]

... I hope the two of you get along, because you'll be spending a lot of time together in that closet once the novelty wears off. Don't mine U-Force, he's just sulking in the corner.

Sexy no Jutsu!

[cryptochrome]

I can just imagine a Naruto game where you actually have to make the hand seals to use a jutsu. That'd totally rock. Too late for the PS2 fighter though.

These things are still around?

[sideshow]

I saw these things at E3 this year and I thought it was the lamest product shown there. Ok, the N-Gage was worse. If someone asks me back then where the eyeToy would be at Christmas time I would have replied: "In hell, or at the very least the trash."