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[Kleegamefan]

We talk exclusively with Dr. Richard Marks (the genius behind EyeToy) and creative director Ron Festejo about the power of PLAYSTATION 3.

So PLAYSTATION 3 was unveiled on Monday. What do you think of it?

Richard: Well I know quite a bit about it and... it's a monster! It's amazing. For a programmer, it's an absolute dream.

Ron: I agree with Rick; it's really, really amazing. Programmers may complain that PlayStation 2 is not quite there yet [in terms of ease of programming], but I was sitting with programmers at the unveiling, and they were like, "Oh my God! Sony have finally done it - they've given us something we can work with". So I'm very excited about its potential.

At the SCEI/SCEA conference you were using a standard PS2 EyeToy. What opportunities are there for using the current PS2 EyeToy with the power of PS3 behind it?

Richard: The PS3 has got so much more power than PS2. We could handle a lot more video [information] than the EyeToy has to give. The EyeToy puts no loads on PS3's system whatsoever, so you can imagine there could be more camera... er, stuff coming [laughs].

Ah, a careful political answer! So with the PS3's multiple USB slots, is it possible to utilise more than one EyeToy?

Richard: Yeah, there's already potential to use two EyeToys on PS2 already, so you could use multiple cameras on PS3.

Ron: All six of them?

Richard: You could use six! [laughs]

You could set up your own Big Brother house!

Ron: [To Richard] We'll have a chat later about what concepts we could come up with using multiple cameras!

Are you looking into creating a next-gen version of EyeToy?

Richard: EyeToy has been sufficiently successful on PS2 that we are definitely looking at its successor.

The EyeToy PS3 demonstration at the conference showed, among other things, a real use of depth of field. What do you think you could do with that in the future?

Richard: We were just using a regular EyeToy for that demo, and we can already know how far away objects are by how big they are, so we could definitely use that in the future.

Ron: We've already used it in EyeToy: Play 2 with the characters stood on the floating balls.

So do you think it's true Minority Report territory?

Richard: I think we can do what they did in Minority Report, for sure.

 

[McFly]

Richard: I think we can do what they did in Minority Report, for sure.

Minority Report Interface - check!
Precog Ability - damn!

Fredi

 

[vissione]

.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

INNOVATE!

Give me an Antigrav sequel, bitches!

I'd like more games like Antigrav. Hell, it would validate a new game to challenge the Tony Hawk series.

I always thought it would be cool if you could navigate the system options and your stored game data Minority Report style. Then I wouldn't need any games. I'd just sit there playing with the menus.

 

[Drek]

If they could find a way to make a real eyetoy keyboard interface it could totally change how every online component of the console, from chatting to web browsing, could be different.

What I'm really hoping to see though is RTS games making use of eyetoy as a mouse replacement. Finally we could see quality RTS games on consoles!

 

[gofreak]

If they could find a way to make a real eyetoy keyboard interface it could totally change how every online component of the console, from chatting to web browsing, could be different.

I would have thought this would be fairly easy (well, you know, relatively). It should definitely be done.

 

[karasu]

Where can I download the Eyetoy demo?

 

[black_13]

Impressive but I'd like to see the eyetoy PS3 demo as well.

 

[StRaNgE]

pretty sure gamespot has it.


with all this talk it's sounding like this next generation is gunna belong to the people who own all 3 consoles. gunna be hard not to .

 

[hukasmokincaterpillar]

I thought the water cup exchange with the Eye Toy was the coolest thing demoed at E3, just for the fact that it had my imagination going in all sorts of directions over the way it could be integrated not only in new games dedicated to the Eye Toy, but it could also help enhance interactivity with current genres in conjunction with a gamepad. My fear is most developers probably wont even think about it though, it'll remain a niche thing with 4 or 5 games supporting it every year.

 

[MadOdorMachine]

Hmmm. I wonder if Sony will have some type of virtual reality incorporated w/PS3. The idea of having several cameras track your movement ala Minority Report along with dual monitor display seems like everythings in place for it. It would be so bad ass if they did that.

 

[sonycowboy]

Impressive but I'd like to see the eyetoy PS3 demo as well.

It was incredibly cool. A really good tech demo for what the CELL can do realtime, with real life objects interacting with a game with physics calculations.

 

[Lionheart]

IGN has the Eyetoy PS3 tech-demo for download here:

http://media.ps3.ign.com/articles/615/615000/vids_1.html

It's at the end of the Rubber Duckies demo.

 

[karasu]

ack! Insider.

 

[Laurent]

Eyedentity is definitively on my "to buy" list for PlayStation 3. The concept seems cool, even thought Sony haven't demonstrate clearly what the game is...

 

[pcostabel]

Eyedentity is definitively on my "to buy" list for PlayStation 3. The concept seems cool, even thought Sony haven't demonstrate clearly what the game is...

I second that. Funnily enough, I'm much more interested in this game than in any other shown at the PC.

 

[Lionheart]

ack! Insider.

It's not insider. Just click on the 'View now' link under the 320 x 240 version. Then in the pop-up window, view the movie or click on the link under it to download.

 

[karasu]

That's amazing!

 

[Gek54]

Does the eyetoy use IR like the TrackIR system?

 

[Laurent]

I second that. Funnily enough, I'm much more interested in this game than in any other shown at the PC.

If the interactivity is as decent as showed, this could means so much in the multiple ending story era for future games...

 

[kaching]

Does the eyetoy use IR like the TrackIR system?

Not the current Eyetoy and it's not confirmed for a next-gen Eyetoy yet. Dr. Marks (man behind Eyetoy) did some demos at the DICE conference a few months ago that include IR, so hopefully PS3 Eyetoy includes this work.

 

[Suikoguy]

IMO, this is the true next generation.
Getting rid of the controller and controlling the game with your hands or objects.

The person with the idea for RTS has it right. Being able to orchastrate varius units, plan attacks using your hands could rival mouse and keyboard if intiuative enough.

Unfortunatly the PS2 never really used it for much, but having to process video did limit this. If this is correct, and using the eyetoy really puts no strain on the system, it certainly opens up very many avenues.

Make it happen sony!

 

[Guenther]

Who did the interview?

 

[Ruzbeh]

Ron: I agree with Rick; it's really, really amazing. Programmers may complain that PlayStation 2 is not quite there yet [in terms of ease of programming], but I was sitting with programmers at the unveiling, and they were like, "Oh my God! Sony have finally done it - they've given us something we can work with". So I'm very excited about its potential.

Wtf? :lol Are they implying that the PS2 was an unworkable piece of shit?

 

[gofreak]

Wtf? :lol Are they implying that the PS2 was an unworkable piece of shit?

They were very limited on PS2, not by the camera, but the horsepower behind it to process the image coming in. Cell is ideal for image processing, it's really a prime workload for it. They should be able to do a lot more, even with just a standard eyetoy on PS3.

 

[Yusaku]

Imagine a Wario Ware game using this technology.