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Techtite's Playstation-2 Reviews! |
"Each and every one of the 12 Eye Toy games is actually pretty cool, as far as 'seeing your face in the game' is concerned. Every niece and nephew of mine under the age of 9 loved it!" ---from the review
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Eye Toy
Click picture to order this Playstation-2 accessory. A Techtite ReviewI think the biggest surprise when playing with the Eye Toy is that it really works. Yes, someone was able to make a device that requires not even a single shred of input from the typical Playstation gamepad; everything is done through the movement of your own body, right on screen! This is a cool item to play with. If older kids disagree; they will eventually. They'll see younger kids having too much of a ball to not want to join right in.
Upon starting the unit you'll get a video of the basics of game play. You need a location about 5 feet from the Eye Toy, that is not too bright nor too dark. If it's too dark, a red light will shine in front of the camera; if it's too bright, little will happen, although the effectiveness of the Eye Toy (not to mention quality of your picture on screen) will degrade. Being someone who's worked with "affordable" camera options in the past, I was actually very impressed with how well the camera worked, in even standard light conditions. I've worked with cameras even slightly more expensive than this one, which practically needed their own small sun to operate. Eye Toy will work in pretty rudimentary lighting conditions, even if some people may want to have a desk lamp or flashlight aimed at or near them during game play, for the best picture possible. Before gaming, each player is asked to type in their initials (or any three letter word), then pose for three photos to be used during gaming: a happy face (for when you win), a sad face (when you lose), and a silly face (I'll leave that one up to your imagination). These photos, and all your personal save game data, are stored on your memory card. While you can have as many player stats saved as you have memory card space to allow them, each game is single-player only, so they will have to take turns, and not play together. Bummer. The games itself all have the underlying theme, of seeing "you" on screen as you play said game. There's a boxing game where you can sort of "shadow box" to the side, and fight the opponent on screen. Another game has you stand in place and make karate moves at the various small opponents that pop in, from at least 6 compass directions. One game has you playing tunes with the instruments on screen; yet another game has you play "soccer" by trying to hit the ball on screen with your head. Each and every one of the 12 Eye Toy games is actually pretty cool, as far as "seeing your face in the game" is concerned. Every niece and nephew of mine under the age of 9 loved it! You may wonder how this thing even works. Well, after trying to figure that out for myself, I've discovered it has to do with any change of pixels on screen. The presumption here is that you're playing in an environment with a static background indoors, and not, say, playing on a train or in a car. The game keeps track of whenever (and wherever) a change in the picture occurs, and sees that as "movement" on your part, making the appropriate action. While this works very well it also means that any change in picture can trigger Eye Toy. So if you're playing with a friend make sure they are out of the way of whatever light source you're using; any shadow or change in the environment could be seen as "you" making a choice on screen when you didn't want to. Other than that mild glitch possibility, there's little else to say against Eye Toy. It's actually quite surprising how well this little "toy" works. I particularly like the need to "press" any onscreen button for 5 seconds before an action is made; a nice asset, whenever your friends shift positions for the next person who wants to play the game. Since each button needs to be pressed for 5 seconds, Eye Toy doesn't see such sudden movement as a "menu press" onscreen. Admittedly, this means you have to press a button by "waving" at it for 5 seconds (to continue movement at that part of the screen), though this is easy to get used to. There are a few setbacks; ones that don't detract from the party-toy that this is, yet are worth correcting in the inevitable "Eye Toy 2," whenever one comes out. For one, I repeat; there are no two-player games offered, nor is there any viable way for Eye Toy to offer one at this time. One thought: they could release software for two friends who each own an Eye Toy. The Playstation 2 has dual USB ports, so it is possible that they could connect two Eye Toys to one PS-2 for a two-player game, at once! However, as it stands now, Eye Toy is decidedly one player. Overall, this is a cute game "toy." True, the core reason they call it a toy is because that's exactly what it is. Older kids might lose interest very quickly, and there are no games here with the longevity of, say, Soul Calibur 2 or Final Fantasy IX, compared to simple parlor-type "quickie" games. This may change in time, but will people still be interested in Eye Toy by then...? Only time will tell, though looking at my family's kids while playing this game, they've certainly got their attention now...
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The
Eye Toy is for all intent and purpose a USB camera for your Playstation-2,
which connects to the USB port in the front of your system. Connection is
easy as pie, and unlike a computer, requires no drivers to install, nor
any additional power cable (the mild power source from the USB cable
itself, is all the camera needs). The only other thing you'll need,
really, is the obligatory memory card for game saves, as always.