EyeToy Creator Discusses Product's Genesis

Thanks to NewsObserver.com for reprinting an L.A. Times article discussing the genesis of Sony's inventive PlayStation 2 EyeToy USB camera hardware/software. According to the piece, the hardware designer behind the peripheral is Richard Marks, a "...Stanford avionics PhD who built cameras that guide one of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's underwater exploration robots." He comments on low initial expectations: "If there's one thing that's been hammered into my head over and over... it's that peripherals don't sell, and the camera is a peripheral", and explains the early development of the quirky add-on at Sony's Foster City studios, as he "...bought a Web camera and hooked it up to a computer that fed video to a PS2 prototype." Concrete sales figures for the popular, 'mass-market' accessible EyeToy are also revealed: "By the end of 2003, it had sold more than 2 million units in Europe and 400,000 in the United States. Sony estimates it will have shipped 4 million units by March 31, the end of its fiscal year."

Comments

Re:This is really a software story - right?

[FrenZon]

If thats the case, then why don't I see games with camera input for my PC?

Webcams used to come with such games - I remember basketball games and so on, all pretty similar to what the Eyetoy has (although less polished). Problem is, these sorts of games are really dead boring, and it's just not as exciting seeing yourself sitting in a chair in front of a monitor as it is dancing around in front of the telly.

--
http://freelook.org/ - A Free Webcam-based Headtracker for Computer Simulation and Disabled Access.

Was bundling a significant factor for success?

[mpr]

By the end of 2003, it had sold more than 2 million units in Europe and 400,000 in the United States.

Here in the UK the EyeToy was bundled with PS2 consoles at many major retail outlets for a long time. For a new gizmo like this I think bundling is a great idea and could well be how it got so popular.

Many times in the past I've received a bundled game that I wouldn't have bought outright and ended up loving it! e.g. Tetris on GameBoy and ChuChu Rocket on Dreamcast.

All it takes is for the person that gets an EyeToy bundled with their PS2 to get some mates round and show it off, and then they go off & buy their own. Whereas without the bundle none of these imaginary people may have seen/bought it, because as the parent quotes, "peripherals don't sell".

Re:So, can this help with exercise?

[PainKilleR-CE]

I don't let my kids have video games because (my son at least) would spend all his time playing it (or I'd spend all my time fighting with them over playing time).

I hope you don't let them have televisions, then, because at least their brains are active while they're playing a game, whereas brain activity while watching television is lower than while sleeping.

However, if the games made the kids get up and move, I might reconsider. First, because they'd get some exercise, Second, because they'd get tired and do something else, instead of spending hours in trance-land.

It could until they figured out how to cheat it, which would allow them to minimize their effort. Something else to consider would be DDR, as stated in an article sometime last week, though dance pads could get expensive. At the very least, there are features in many of the DDR games geared specifically towards exercise.