PS2 "Eye Toy" - it rocks!

[Vroomfunkel]

I don't think this is coming out in the US, but if you take my advice, you'll import it!! It's a camera that plugs into the USB on the PS2 and you can play various kind of Samba De Amigo type games with it ... by waving your hands around! Basically, you set the camera on top of your TV, and align yourself with the silhoutte on the screen. You then select things, or perform actions in the games by moving your hands etc so that the image of your hand on the screen is over the correct place. Hard to describe, incredibly easy to pick up!

It is decidedly more fun than it ought to be. All the games that come with it are fairly basic, and shouldn't really be so much fun .. but they are!!! There's a Kung Fu game, where you fend off attacking ninjas .. there's a dancing game, there's a very psychedelic game which involves you trying to hit the right corner or the screen, but it keeps inverting various parts of the screen, so what you think is the top left is actually bottom left (that one is quite mind taxing!).

The best thing is that brand new it is £30, which is about $50. That's pretty cheap for a new game here ... especially given that you get the crazy camera peripheral free with it. Oh yeah, and you get to pose for a photo when you get on the high score board :-D

I really hope they develop some more games to go with this .. it's insane! Haha... I hope they make another Minority Report game that is compatible with this .. that woudl be very cool indeed!

Vroomfunkel

[Funk Buddy]

I've read about this somewhere. I'm going to get it for sure, cause' I'm a sucker for those wacky Japanese games!! @_@

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Wow, Ralph Baer's dream come true - wasn't it he who tried to mount a little B&W digital camera in an arcade marquee to let photos identify high scorers, only to have his project trashed when someone mooned the camera?

As it was, the only thing his camera was ever used for was snapping the band members for the Journey coin-op. LOL

[Vroomfunkel]

Well, if you are going to import a copy, I would suggest you import a European one. That way you can get the benefit of everything being in English, and being that much easier to understand ...

... I have to say, even the intro sequence that explains how to play the games is pretty amusing, contrary to my expectations (those sort of things are usually too dull for words)

I am still reeling at the possiblity that we might have a cool video game item in Europe that's not getting released in the US ... that would make a welcome change! (not that I'm bitter ... no no no...)

I really don't understand some of the decisions behind the way certain games are released. For instance, Space Channel 5 Part 2 for the PS2. They made a PAL version, and did all the translations. But did they release it in Europe? No!! Just in Australia!! What the hell was that about?? I'm going to buy a copy sometime anyway, but I'm not happy about having to import it .. it's all there and done, why can't they just release it over here? Hmph!!!

Vroomfunkel