Microsoft stole the show at the E3 videogame convention with its Project Natal motion-sensing camera. But now Kotaku is reporting new details on Sony's answer for the Playstation 3:  an enhanced version of the "Eye" camera.
Sony is taking a hybrid approach, using both a cam and up to four motion-sensing contollers, each with force feedback (vibrations in sync with on-screen action). In addition to head and face tracking, there will be voice recognition too.Â
Sony made the first big splash into the motion-sensing pool with the EyeToy camera in 2003. The peripheral came bundled with a game called EyeToy:  Play, which was pretty cool and breakthrough at the time.  The games were pre-Wii casual and intuitive challenges - wiping bubbles, kicking balls, etc. There were a few other games made later, including one from Harmonix - future makers of Guitar Hero and Rock Band - called Antigrav, and also a trading card game called the Eye of Judgment.  But despite showing early promise, the EyeToy basically seemed to fade away - a lost opportunity if ever there was one. And now, after losing its lead to Nintendo and Microsoft, Sony won't have an easy time clawing back.Â
My advice/hope:Â get Media Molecule (makers of LittleBigPlanet, the best Sony title in eons) to make the flagship Eye game.
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David Kushner is the author of many books, including Masters of Doom, Jonny Magic & the Card Shark Kids, Levittown, The Bones of Marianna, and Alligator Candy. A contributing editor of Rolling Stone, he has written for publications including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, and The New York Times Magazine.
