EyeToy - Chat Turns PS2 Into Videophone

Thanks to GameSpot for its coverage of Sony Europe's announcement of Eye Toy: Chat for PlayStation 2, a piece of software that works with Sony's Eye Toy USB camera and "allows users to communicate with each other in four different ways, namely text, voice, video mail, and one-to-one video chat." It's also explained: "While engaging in a one-on-one video chat, users will have the option to play games against each other, including chess, checkers, and naval war." The article has further clarification on potential worries for parents: "SCEE is eager to point out that that it has been working very closely with several children's charities in order to ensure that EyeToy: Chat is safe for even the youngest PS2 fans to enjoy."

Quote:

[Poster Nutbag]

SCEE is eager to point out that that it has been working very closely with several children's charities in order to ensure that EyeToy: Chat is safe for even the youngest PS2 fans to enjoy. New Chat users will be required to register and verify their details at PlayStation Net. There will be a number of strict safety measures and chat room moderators in place when the service launches this summer.

In other words, it won't be any fun, and nobody over the age of 12 is going to buy this.

Re:Quote:

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

"There will be a number of strict safety measures and chat room moderators in place when the service launches this summer."

"In other words, it won't be any fun, and nobody over the age of 12 is going to buy this."

Anyone over 12 who wants to use video chat wants to do so for genital exposing and/or foul mouthed reasons? That's odd, I wasn't aware our age group was so easily categorized.

Re:Quote:

[Quobobo]

It all depends on what you read into it. If "strict safety measures" means I can't have a private conversation with a friend, it seems like a waste of money to me. But, then again, the article was pretty light on details.

One-on-one privacy/safety

[RotJ]

How will they keep the private chats between two people safe for kids? Will moderators invisibly jump from place to place, peeking into the conversations?

Now we can SEE the ugly people we play games with!

[Nakamiya]

Man, those are some ugly people in the screenshots... except for the skinny light-haired person, who I'm not sure weither is a chick or a guy...

Right....

[MMaestro]

"SCEE is eager to point out that that it has been working very closely with several children's charities in order to ensure that EyeToy: Chat is safe for even the youngest PS2 fans to enjoy."

That is until the public gets ahold of it and begins televising pr0n shows online to anyone careless enough to call them. It'll be the ultimate prank call....

Re:Read the article...

[MMaestro]

There will be a number of strict safety measures and chat room moderators in place when the service launches this summer.

You do realize that ISPs, closed server MMORPGs, and and other public online communities have been parading that same type of warning in their Terms of Agreements right? Yahoo Groups does it (they'll actually close a group no warning if some idiot posts pr0n in it and the group isn't designated as adult), MSN Groups does it (again see Yahoo Groups), Geocities does it (to an extent), Fin

More and better board games

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope they have some more board games than the typical handful like chess, checkers, backgammon, and such. It would be nice to get some advanced German board games like Settlers of Catan [boardgamegeek.com], Puerto Rico [boardgamegeek.com], any of Reiner Knizia's games [boardgamegeek.com] or El Grande [boardgamegeek.com] since this is coming from Sony Europe. I know Capcom released a network version of Settlers for PS2 [gamespot.com] in Japan that they gave away. Surely SCEE can arrange to give them a buck or two each copy to include something a little more interesting that can be played with more t

Re:More and better board games

[bigben7187]

Yeah, Knizia all the way!!! w00t!!! Seriously, it could create a ps2 brettspielwelt universe, and that would be awesome.

I can see it know

[cyrax777]

Mommy why does that man have no pants on.

The best part about the eye-toy

[Mike Hawk]

The best thing is that there is no way to use the eye-toy without appearing utterly insane. You make a bunch of gestures at the TV!!11 Please always use the eye-toy with your shades open so your neighbors can laugh at you appropriately.

You know how someone looks driving and talking into a hands-free cell phone? Picture that, but talking at the TV. OMFG.

EyeToy and Gestural Interfaces

[MiceHead]

Cheap techology is great -- make digital cameras inexpensive, offer an SDK to grab their output [logitech.com], and folks will come up with wonderful ideas for how to abuse them [indiegamejam.com]. Devices like EyeToy are mostly just oddities now, but I'd like to see them used to popularize gestural interfaces [man.ac.uk].

Arkane Studios' [arkane-studios.com] RPG, Arx Fatalis [wanadoo.fr] is one of a handful of titles that offers gestural input, with its mouse-gesture-based spells. But this was more a novelty than a boon for usability -- it would have been easier to cast a spell by clicking icons. Perhaps a sequel will allow you to embellish your runes with serifs to achieve subtle variations on an incantation?

Avant Browser [avantbrowser.com] offers up a more useful gestural interface -- and I like it because it allows me to execute common tasks more easily. Rather than having to hit a smallish "new window" icon, I can rudely right-click anywhere on a window and sloppily drag my mouse upwards to open a new window.

EyeToy takes this a step further and does away with the mouse altogether; and though I had modest luck with the thing when I played against the noisy backdrop at Toys "R" Us, here's hoping that it's the first among many such interfaces. Perhaps five years down the road, a) gestures will be common, b) we'll laugh at what Minority Report got wrong, and c) we'll thank goofy gadgets like this one for paving the way.

After all, it was pretty silly to have a "Rat" [backntime.net] for the Atari 800.
________________________________________________
The Inago Rage [dejobaan.com] website is now up.
Critiques welcome and appreciated!

Black and White, too

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget Black and White which allowed you to cast spells with gestures before Arx Fatalis.

Re:EyeToy and Metal Gear Solid

[nicky_d]

Yeah, and then combine it with what Rockstar have already done in Manhunt - use a USB headset to hear instructions, and then if you accidentally speak out loud or make any noise, it alerts the characters in the game (you can also use it as a deliberate decoy tactic). That approach with the Eyetoy thrown in could be a real winner, though you'd really need to have it as an optional feature to have any commercial success - e.g. you don't NEED a headset for Manhunt, but it can add a lot to the experience.

Re:EyeToy and Gestural Interfaces

[nicky_d]

I picked up an EyeToy last week, and it's pretty impressive. The key to getting good results is lighting - there's a game with Play that has you cleaning suds off a window (the whole screen, basically). Our front room is lit by an eco-friendly bulb, which is a fairly soft light, and as you 'wipe' the screen the remaining suds clearly cling to shadowy areas that aren't picking up movement so well. Play with a bright light, however, and the system is good enough to allow for some fast and accurate gaming. Pla

Re:EyeToy and Gestural Interfaces

[droleary]

. . . there's a game with Play that has you cleaning suds off a window . . . I'm given to stepping back every once in a while and trying to calculate how violently this would have blown my 12-year-old mind...

I agree that the idea of paying $50 to wash windows would have really blown my mind at 12, too. In fact, I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around it today!

Re:EyeToy and Gestural Interfaces

[nicky_d]

Yeah, and even worse, this is just *virtual* cleaning, nothing's actually any cleaner at the end. In fact, things are probably dirtier. Depends how you do it...

Re:EyeToy and Gestural Interfaces

[YOU LIKEWISE FAIL IT]

Perhaps they'll release an Americana expansion pack where you have to whitewash a fence...

I've got to hand it to Sony on this one.

[josh glaser]

When the Eye Toy first shipped, I thought that would be the last time we'd really see it. Sure, they demoed video chat and the like, but lets face it, Sony isn't exactly the best and keeping their promises. The Eye Toy shipped with Play, a series of quirky minigames, and I figured that'd be the end of it. An novelty - an interesting novelty, nonetheless, but a novelty.

And here we stand, a few months later. While it is arguably still a novelty, we've seen Groove, the "real" game the Eye Toy needed, an