PS3 Fanboy

With the exception of LittleBigPlanet and The Eye of Judgment, there hasn't been much reason to dust off the Eye. Well, put it to work! Get the camera off its lazy butt and have it become a fully functional PC webcam. The NUI Group is offering detailed instructions on how to get the Eye camera to work on your PC, with easy to install drivers.

[Via N4G; Thanks, Jon K.!]

The PlayStation Eye is looking to get its own minigame compilation, much like the EyeToy's EyeToy Play launch title, if Curve Studio's website is to be believed. On the list of games the developer has made, it shows a title named Play Factory which includes "six individual games developed for the PlayStation Eye." There's no indication on when it's due out, or what sort of games we can expect to find on the disc, but it's nice to know that with this and EyePet Sony isn't just ignoring the PlayStation Eye. Hopefully we'll see something a little more advanced than the downloadable interactive screensavers we've seen so far.

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Do you love puppies and kittens? How about virtual puppies and kitties? If you do you, you might enjoy the new Eyepet game that's just been announced. Check it out in the video above.

It's a virtual pet game that allows gamers to interact with their pet by utilizing the PlayStation Eye peripheral. If you put an object in front of the PS Eye, the pet will interact with it on screen. If you wave your fingers in front of the PS Eye, you can tickle your "loveable, simian-like pet." Eyepet is developed by SCEE and will be available in "late 2009" for PAL regions.

Famitsu is reporting that the PlayStation Eye will soon be heading to Japan. The peripheral is currently only available in a bundle with Eye of Judgment, but come July 24th this new software bundle will be unleashed within the region. The bundle, which will cost 5000 yen, will include the PlayStation Eye camera as well as a blu-ray disc containing a collection of mini games and interactive screensavers.

Before you start filling up with envy, know this: these games are all currently available on the US and EU PSN Store. Once again we are seeing Japan's bizarre dislike of downloadable gaming resulting in a boxed release of games that elsewhere in the world are only available to download. If that's the way they'd rather do it, who are we to argue?

If you're a long-time gamer from America, since we're not quite sure these made it overseas, you may have been to a giant arcade/restaurant called Dave and Busters. At these places, they usually had an area in the arcade that had "virtual reality" rings, where they slapped gloves and a big helmet on players willing to spend the big money so they could "virtually" move around in their own 3D world. It looked really ugly, too. Well, Sony has come up with a way for you to experience a 3D world without sticking anything on your body at all -- except recommending that you keep your head attached.

With the PlayStation Eye, Sony has unveiled the ability to map your head movements in 3D. For example, if you want to look around a corner in a first-person shooter, with this technology you would simply crane your neck around the corner like you really would. And the Eye would catch this and the game would react accordingly. It's neat. Watch the video. End of line.

[via CVG]

A new post on the PlayStation.Blog details two PlayStation Eye "games" that are finally on their way to the American PSN Store. Operation Creature Feature and Aqua Vita have been available on the EU Store for a couple of weeks now, but later today they'll be available to download from the American store too.

Operation Creature Feature will sell for $4.99 and the interactive screensaver Aqua Vita will cost only $1.99. The former is definitely worth a punt, especially for the cost, but Aqua Vita can probably be left unless you're a huge fan of digital fish. No doubt more PS Eye games will be put up in the coming weeks and today's update should also include some other content. We'll let you know what's available once we've found out.

The latest update to the Official PlayStation.blog is one of the best updates we've seen so far. The videos on display showcase some the truly incredible potential of the PlayStation Eye, where drawings come to life in video games. These are simply concepts, and aren't indicative of any games in development ... but we're excited nonetheless. Being able to transform your army men toys (pictured above) into playable characters on the television is certainly a fun way of merging the real world and the virtual one.

It really is like jacking into the Matrix, Kaz! Thanks.

While they may not be available on the US PlayStation Store, a number of PlayStation Eye games have been up on the EU store for a wee while now. A member of the PS3Forums community, Kungfuruss, has recorded a number of video reviews to let you know whether they are worthy of a download or not. All of these reviews are available on his YouTube account.

Be sure to check them out if you're still on the fence about downloading the £1.99 titles. Or if you're not in the European territories, then be sure to watch them to see what you're missing. No doubt Kungfuruss will continue to record more video reviews as more PSN titles come out - we'll be keeping our eyes out for them.

The first round of PlayStation Eye titles already put everything on the EyeToy to shame; it's not even a contest. To prove that, check out this new compilation video, which showcases, not only the graphical power of the PS3, but also the potential of the PlayStation Eye.

Europeans who own a PS Eye can already experience Tori Emaki and Mesmerize as they were just released yesterday on the PlayStation Network. Don't worry, though, fellow Americans, our time will come.

The PlayStation Eye is almost here. The Eye of Judgment will be available in Europe and America next week - make sure you check back later this week for our pre-release impressions - and the Eye will be available in the box. If, however, you don't fancy the potentially excellent collectible card video game then the PlayStation Eye will be available on its lonesome on November the 7th. For £24.99 you get the camera itself along with a disc containing EyeCreate (Eye of Judgment purchasers will be able to download EyeCreate for free from the PSN Store).

More content for the PlayStation Eye is also being made available this month, with Operation Creature Feature, Trials of Topoq and Aqua Vita being made available sometime within the next two weeks. Add in the ability to video chat with other PS3 users, that's a ridiculously low price for an already decent amount of content.

We're expecting some pretty good stop motion animation to hit the web when the PlayStation Eye and Eye Create are released by Sony. Eye Create is a free application, downloadable on the PSN, that allows users to edit their captured videos directly on the PS3. A new post on the PlayStation.blog focuses on stop-motion animation, where a series of still images can be strung together to create the illusion of movement. This is similar to PSP's Go!Cam and Go!Edit program (downloadable from PSP Fanboy). PSP fans took the liberty of create their own pieces of animation, and we expect a similar following from PS3 fans.

What we should say before anything else is that EyeCreate isn't a game, necessarily, but an application that will essentially turn your PS3 into a media center that can edit audio, video, and image files so you can sort 'em and send 'em to friends. You will, of course, need the PlayStation Eye peripheral to make use of this application. Don't worry, the PS Eye is available as a standalone peripheral, so you don't have to worry about getting the Eye of Judgment pack if you aren't into that sort of thing.

This is only the beginning of a slew of applications and games that will support the new PS Eye, but the best part of EyeCreate is that it is completely free! Yep, you get some software that'll let you tweak a multitude of files for free. That's pretty awesome. There will be more about this application on the official PlayStation Blog later on, so keep an "eye" on that, or just wait and we'll let you know what's up when we learn more. Yes, that was incredibly lame, but we don't care ... so long as you rolled your eyes.

While LocoRoco Cocoreccho wasn't necessarily the interactive screensaver we were all expecting (it was much more!), it looks like Tori-Emaki will fill its shoes nicely. Additionallly, the screensaver will put the PS3's upcoming PlayStation Eye to use by allowing gamers to control a flock of birds around ancient Asian settings with a wave of their hand.

Developed by PlayLogic, it's hard not to compare the "game's" art direction to Okami – arguably one of the very best PS2 titles of all time. There's no word yet on when it will be available, but we can only cleverly deduce it will be after the PS Eye's Oct. 23 release date.

If, for some reason, you don't want to get addicted to the sexiness that will be Eye of Judgment, Sony's got your back. It's the first we've heard of it, but there's definitely an option to buy just the PlayStation Eye peripheral without all the extra goodies. The price is very easy to swallow for the technology you're getting -- forty bucks. That's really not bad at all, huh? But you have to remember, for just thirty dollars more, you get Eye of Judgment, a stand and some other peripheral trinkets. The choice is yours, ultimately, but why grab the fancy new peripheral without a game to play on it?

Up until recently, details have been sparse in regards to how you'll actually be playing The Eye of Judgment, but just in case you still have some questions, this video should spell everything out for you.

While the game seems to live up to its billing, we could have used some battle music when the game transitions to combat mode. The lovely music is nice for a lonely walk in the woods, but when a flock of dwarves is battling a winged demon astride a three-headed beast, we expect to be blasted with some metal ... or even country music at the very least.