Sony files for the spiffy new Eye Toy
by Adams Briscoe 
{ Jul 18th 2006 at 11:30AM }
Remember that neat little "secret component" everyone was talking about last month in regards to some extra hardware? You know... the next-gen Eye Toy? Well here's the return of it as Sony has filed big number 2006-178948, which is the patent for a new camera that "will recognize every move and position of an object and will translate these actions accordingly to an object inside a game." What used to take multiple cameras now takes one, thanks to a patented mapping technique.It's like motion capture for the average Joe. But what ever happened to that Israeli company called Prime Sense? Weren't they supposed to come into the scene with their own interactive device which sounds a lot like this one? Well at any rate, Sony is on the move to get this camera inked in their name. Let's hope they don't step on any toes with this, because they haven't had the best of luck in the patent area lately.
Could the camera also have videoconferencing features added into it as well? Thanks to Avistar and company (and the magic of licensing), this new Eye Toy could be your next long-distance video phone. Yet another testament to Sony's desire to bring the PlayStation brand out of "For gamers only" territory and into a wider audience.
[Thanks, Fan]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jc @ Jul 18th 2006 3:07PM
The old eye toy might as well have been the power glove as well as it did. It wasn't even that useful in games what makes Sony think it will work this time. Give up Sony you pushed blue ray down people's throats. Now people are getting sick of you.
Fan @ Jul 18th 2006 3:57PM
I LOL at you people. So Luke what is so ignorant here?
Also eye toy was a huge success in Europe and it can be used for video chat in and out of game on the PS3.
Again I laugh at you.
jc @ Jul 18th 2006 9:06PM
Wow Europe the eye toy was big there huh? Well it's to bad it couldn't be big in the USA or Japan where Sony hails from. It seems to be doing worse than the gamecube which most people will tell you is a failure. What does that make the eye toy well not really a success.
Kid Muscle @ Jul 18th 2006 11:30PM
Jc how can you even compare a peripheral to a console? Those are not even slightly close?
As for the wand idea, I knew they were going to revive it. It was ineviatable
Fan @ Jul 19th 2006 3:47AM
"Wow Europe the eye toy was big there huh? Well it's to bad it couldn't be big in the USA or Japan where Sony hails from."
Well Europe is a bigger market than the USA so theres more money there. Since it looks like PS is winning in Japan and XBox looks to win the USA, I would speculate that this gens winner will be decided in Europe.
Sony has allready started the market push towards Europe giving out DVD's with exclusive content to pre orders and giving them a guarantee of delivery on release day.
Most of all people in Europe have the impression that all PS games will be zone free and that matters to Europeans since they are used to getting shafted on the release date because of translations and dubbing.
I understand that the PS is looking to be unpopular in the states but its looking to do real good in Europe.