Focus on the PlayStation Eye

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Recently, at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo conference, Sony showed off what they are marketing as the Sony Playstation Eye. Sensing deja vu? You could be thinking back to Sony’s EyeToy, a add-on for the Playstation 2 that utilized the recognition of the real time actions of the gamer. The Eye expands on this feature in certain fantastic functions, but they are not wholly unseen ones. However, it is increasingly hard to fathom just how much this feature will really influence the gaming community, if indeed it will.

For any who missed E3, perhaps the most important uses of Sony Playstation Eye is its motion sensing. How this sensing is accomplished is via the tracking of the glowing orb at the end of the remote designed for the Eye. Sony’s representatives then went on to show a live demonstration of the hardware’s possibilities, using the remote to interact with a 3D interface inside the TV screen and showing exactly how the could be added to genres like first-person shooters, real-time strategy, and also action. Each movement a gamer creates with the remote control is mirrored onscreen with 1:1 accuracy.

But see, doesn’t that sound familiar? At last year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, Nintendo performed the very same presentation using their Wii Motion Plus peripheral. Again it recognises and replicates actions at 1:1 accuracy. The one significant difference between these 2 peripherals is that the Sony Playstation Eye needs an augmented edition of the EyeToy camera to follow the remotes, while Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus attaches to to an unseen sensor bar without cables. If anything, Sony’s newest attempt could be less cutting edge next to last year’s Nintendo technology.

Though trailing in the footsteps of existing ideas, the Eye stays an extraordinary piece of hardware that is sure to please most fans of the PS3. Though it can’t greatly change the world of gaming as a whole, the Sony Playstation Eye does provide a good advance for Sony’s empire, and should possibly assist them gain ground in terms of advancement.

Posted in Games