One of the PlayStation 2’s key accessories, credited for opening the console up to a more mainstream audience, as well as opening up all sorts of gaming possibilities generally involving getting gamers off their sofas and waving their arms around, was the Eye Toy. Like many ground-breaking inventions, there was genius in its simplicity – although a mere video/stills camera, clever software allowed it to supplant the traditional controller as an input mechanism. Now, its successor has arrived. Called the PlayStation Eye, it offers few surprises but, in keeping with the PlayStation 3 to which it is designed to be attached, it adds a whole next-gen level of sophistication.
A handsome and classily designed object, the first thing you notice about PlayStation Eye is what appears to be a large microphone running across its entire width. Concealed behind the grille are actually four microphones, which can do some pretty flashy things. Such as background noise cancellation – handy if you’re in a hectic family room and you’re trying to voice-chat with someone over the PlayStation Network. It can even track the direction from whence your voice is coming.
Optically, PlayStation Eye is way better than its predecessor. It has been engineered to operate in low-light conditions – sensibly, since sitting in darkened rooms, as we’re all aware, can be a great atmosphere-enhancer when we play games. It has two settings (Marked 1 and 2 – you simply twist the lens) for normal and zoom, although focus is otherwise fixed. The idea being that you would zoom in to a head-and-shoulders view for intimate video-chat, and zoom out for full-body gameplay.
The PlayStation Eye’s final next-gen feature is an improved frame-rate for super-smooth video capture (and therefore more accurate tracking when it’s detecting your gestures and so on). In its normal, 640×480 resolution video-capture mode, it can operate at an already impressive 60 frames per second, but if its software downgrades the resolution to 320×240, it can operate at a whacking 120fps.
It can pump out uncompressed video or JPEG-encoded stills (fear not if you’re worried about your PS3’s hard disk getting clogged – the PS3’s Cell processor is seriously good at the sort of number-crunching required to compress and decompress all forms of media). And it comes with software called EyeCreate, which lets you mess around extensively with any video, audio or stills that you save to your hard disk. As well as a library of mad visual effects, EyeCreate contains a pretty powerful editing program.
That’s it for now. Once we get the chance to hook our PlayStation Eye up to some games that support it, and to explore its video-chat capabilities, we’ll report back.
By Steve Boxer
I’m sure it’s going to be a huge success! Looking forward to the BT wifi-phone application
If anyone’s interested, one of our members got one a day early, and posted his thoughts and a short demo vid here: http://www.gamesey.com/page.php?t=1047
Comment by Timeless — May 26, 2007 @ 2:16 pm
old news really, lets see it in action.
Comment by KatanaKing — May 26, 2007 @ 2:22 pm
Timeless, that’s the PSP’s Go!Cam, this article is specifically talking about the PS3’s PSEye
Comment by zetsurin — May 26, 2007 @ 2:53 pm
Zetsurin - oops *blush*, I guess ThreeSpeech have got their hands on one very early then lol
Comment by Timeless — May 26, 2007 @ 3:15 pm
ps, I skimmed through the article, was too busy wanting to get first post in *rolls eyes* + *Slaps wrists!*
Comment by Timeless — May 26, 2007 @ 3:18 pm
Timeless, they didnt get one very early, this camera in Europe is for this summer ^^ its just one month before the release.
Comment by Jenny — May 26, 2007 @ 4:05 pm
I’ll get it, as long as they make good use of it. Judging by a demo video I’ve seen, if implemented properly it could compete with the motion sensing of the Wii.
Comment by Tom Eccles — May 26, 2007 @ 11:08 pm
I love this part
“The idea being that you would zoom in to a head-and-shoulders view for intimate video-chat, and zoom out for full-body gameplay.”
Anyways, I plan to get the Playstation Eye when it’s available. Price would be great ;D
Comment by Mr. Dark E — May 27, 2007 @ 7:05 am
give us in-game xmb before this comes out Sony!~
Comment by kris — May 27, 2007 @ 3:15 pm
Would of been nice to keep it high-def… would that have been asking to much?
Comment by spyd4r — May 27, 2007 @ 9:49 pm
That sounds awesome. I can’t wait!!! ~_~
Comment by Kittonwy — May 28, 2007 @ 12:17 am
Can I get an answer on whether The Eye of Judgement pack (which includes, obviously, the Eye camera) will also include the EyeCreate software that’s already been announced to be with the standalone camera? That’s still unclear.
Or, perhaps buyers of the EoJ pack, will download the EyeCreate software straight from the PS Store?
Comment by Machetazo — May 28, 2007 @ 10:14 am
sounds like a gr8 toy but where are the games for it?
Comment by phil — May 29, 2007 @ 8:07 am
Also do we have a uk release date yet?
Comment by phil — May 29, 2007 @ 11:05 am
Eye of Destruction looks awesome, for anyone that doesnt know, you put cards down on a play mat and the eye camera can recognise the cards you play and act accordingly, looks superb.
Threespeech, does the uk get calling all cars this friday?
Comment by Mal — May 29, 2007 @ 2:00 pm
This sounds like a great gadget and all…but Sony needs to be focusing on the area of games, not gadgets…
…especially since it appears that MGS4 just went over to the XBox 360, the only differential between a PS3, XBox 360, and a Wii are the 1st party exclusive titles–a category that Sony finds themselves woefully behind in.
Comment by Matt — May 29, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
lol MSG4 will never go to the 360 lol
Comment by Aaron — May 29, 2007 @ 3:48 pm
‘…especially since it appears that MGS4 just went over to the XBox 360′
Where exactly did you read that Matt? or are you just hoping to wind up a bunch of die hard PS3 fanboys in to a flaming frenzy?
We all know the rumors but until theres some solid fact, why bother?
This whole my console is better than your console argument is getting really tired.
Comment by RaulZ — May 29, 2007 @ 4:28 pm
The day these get released in the US I will have 2 with me trackside shooting drag races LIVE with my customers watching the feed on their PSP’s
Comment by ps3photographer — May 31, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
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