Sony’s New ” Playstation Eye”, And What It Means For Gaming
Just recently, at this year’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) conference, Sony unveiled what they call the Playstation Eye. Sound familiar? You are thinking of Sony’s EyeToy, a device for the Playstation 2 that allowed for the tracking of the real time movements of the player. Sony’s Playstation Eye expands on this concept in some very fascinating ways, though they are not entirely original ones. Having said that, it really is hard to tell just how much this product will truly affect the world of gaming, if at all.
For those that missed E3, one of the primary functions of Playstation Eye is it’s motion sensing. How this sensing is accomplished is through the tracking of the glowing orb at the tips of the remote that was designed for the Eye. Sony’s representatives proceeded to show a live demo of the hardware’s capabilities, using the remote to interact with a 3D interface inside the TV screen and showing how the technology could be integrated in categories like first-person shooters, real-time strategy, and also action. Every movement the player makes with the remote is captured onscreen with 1:1 accuracy.
But see, doesn’t that sound familiar? At last year’s E3, Nintendo did the exact same thing with their Wii Motion Plus peripheral. It too captures and replicates movements at 1:1 accuracy. The only major difference between these two peripherals is that Sony’s requires an updated version of their EyeToy camera to follow the remotes, whereas Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus hooks up to an out-of-the-way sensor bar wirelessly. If anything, Sony’s recent approach seems less advanced in contrast to Nintendo’s year-old technology.
Still, though it’s much more of a rip-off than people seem to think, Sony’s Playstation Eye is an impressive piece of hardware that is sure to please most every fan of the PS3. Though it won’t drastically alter the realm of gaming as a whole, it should to a lot for Sony’s world, and perhaps help them catch up in terms of innovation.
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