The game will allow players to play a variety of sports mini-games through the EyeToy. Kuju studio head Ed Daly said. "The Play Sports project underlines Kuju's commitment to lifestyle/social gaming, reaching out to parts of the market that other games can't reach."

Currently EyeToy: Play Sports is scheduled to release in Europe at the end of 2006. No word if the game will be making its way stateside.

Nike Motion Works and Sony combined forces to create EyeToy: Kinetic, a new exercise/fitness game that helps you work off those unsightly pounds at home in front of your TV. The game focuses on helping players through a training regiment that works amazingly well with a personal trainer and various interactive workouts. This is easily the best EyeToy release in the two years since the camera came out.

When you first get into the game, you’ll want to place the wide-angle lens on the camera so that you’ll be able to use your entire body in the game. Like in many other EyeToy games, you accomplish workouts by moving your body, hands and legs. 

Jumping into the main menu, players are given four options, including tutorials, options, routine builder and personal trainer. The tutorial section includes various warm-up and stretch routines along with just a viewing of the different workouts you can do. Meanwhile, the options menu enables you to adjust your camera, screen and volume.

The other two is where all the action is in Kinetic. Routine builder enables players to select single workouts to play and add to their regular routine. Players can choose from various zones to work from including cardio, combat, toning and mind and body. This area is wonderful as you can essentially try out all the different exercises.

Most of your time though will be spent in the personal trainer mode which has you put in your name, age, weight, height and more. Then you are put on a 12 week fitness program that has you doing various blends of routines from the options above that get more difficult as time goes by. Most of the games require quick reactions and movements to build muscle, lose weight and free your mind.

Overall there are 22 various activities you’ll shuffle through over the three-month program. As you progress, players take on more workouts a day which includes up to five per day. Styles of workouts include yoga, kickboxing, aerobics, Tai Chi and more. Obviously there is definitely a good amount of variety in the games and tons of replay value as you can play the personal trainer mode over and over again to reap the benefits of the more difficult exercises.

Another very interesting option in Kinetic is that the game actually tracks your results over the three-month course. You get daily and weekly ratings on how you’ve done in your routines and you can even compare your results against other profiles saved on your memory card.

The graphics for the game are also pretty impressive. The digital images of your personal trainers Matt and Anna look and move very fluidly. You even have an option to change various backgrounds that they’ll work out in, including a dojo, garden, toning studio and motion studio. Also featured in the game is a faded blue silhouette of your trainer showing you how to accomplish the activities if you’re lost. This can really be helpful in guiding your play and focusing your efforts even more. None of the graphics in Kinetic will completely wow you, but for an EyeToy title, they are very impressive.

The sound and music in the game is also very well done. Each workout activity features a couple different songs you can have playing in the background and all of the music featured really fits the mood of the exercises. If you’re doing a cardio or combat exercise the music is faster paced; if you’re doing balance and yoga workouts they are much more calming. The personal trainers Anna and Matt are also very good. Thankfully the voiceacting doesn’t get annoying or bothersome and they are very supportive in the game, although at times they do get slightly repetitive. Finally the sound effects in Kinetic are impressive, boasting a solid variety of ambient noises.

Beyond just the interactive camera workouts, your digital trainers also show you various other workouts to do at home including crunches, tricep work and waist rotations amongst others. These are essentially home videos of routines, but are a nice addition to the game as they give you the full array of workout activities.

There are only a couple drawbacks to EyeToy: Kinetic. The most noticeable irritation is when you’re setting up. There are lots of screens you have to go through and fumbling through the menus to select my height, weight, age and more are a real problem and must be done with the controller. With that fact, the developers didn’t allow it to be any easier as your cursor has to scroll all over the screen.

The only other problem with Kinetic is that some of the activities required a lot of precision and for an EyeToy title that’s asking a lot because the camera is still unpredictable. Despite the wide-angle lens, players still have to allow a decent amount of space to exercise in. The other problem with the camera is that you must have perfect lighting in your room. I found that I could play the game best during the day time, but at night the camera wouldn’t respond well to the lighting in my room. The EyeToy still has a real problem as it picks up a lot of reflections off of windows and mirrors. Nonetheless,  when the camera works in Kinetic, it’s amazing.

EyeToy: Kinetic is a wonderful, innovative advancement for Sony’s peripheral. The game has wonderful graphics, sound and options. The only problem with it is that setting up can be irritating and the camera is still imprecise. Despite that, it is hard to find any other problem with the product as this game has everything; it is fun to play, you’ll play it often, it is interesting and you’ll even lose some weight. Hands down, EyeToy: Kinetic is easily the best EyeToy title to date.

The camera works brilliantly and the game does keep you active and busy.

The backgrounds and characters look good for a camera game.

The trainers are great and don’t get irritating. The music fits the different activity moods.

Working out has never been so much fun. This game brilliantly combines gaming and exercise.

A ton of replay value as this is an exercise tool with the 12 week personal trainer.

]]> Mon, 21 Nov 2005 11:31:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_eyetoy_operation_spy_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_eyetoy_operation_spy_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_eyetoy_operation_spy_ps2# This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Brian Mohr.

Sony’s EyeToy has been a hit or miss item since its release just over two years ago with EyeToy: Play. Since then we’ve seen various titles release for the product, but none has really stood out and completely taken advantage of the camera’s capabilities. Sadly, EyeToy: Operation Spy might just be the worst camera-based title to date for Sony’s peripheral as it's way too repetitive and frustrating to deal with.

In Operation Spy, players take on the role of a secret agent with the SIA. Your goal, if you choose to accept it, is to take down a handful of criminals by matching IDs, skydiving to their locations, cracking codes and capturing pictures of them.

The first thing you’ll notice when starting up Operation Spy is that the presentation is pretty good. On the screen is a menu with various options including messaging, options, security, database and missions. Once you go to create a file the game will take your picture and scan your face. Surprisingly, the facial security works well; if you change your facial expression it will fail to identify you. You’ll also put in a security code just in case through your controller. The menus are obviously simple, but pull off the look for the game.

The only other thing that saves this iteration of EyeToy is two moderately interesting minigames. One is skydiving and the other is decoding a digital cube. Skydiving looks decent and much like the old Super Nintendo hit Pilot Wings. In this game you hold your hands out to control your character. Angling your arms will cause you to turn and pushing your arms forward or back makes the character move in those directions in mid-air. Later in the game, it becomes more challenging as enemies try to knock you off track. Once you get to the correct parachute release zone, the game will notify you and then you must throw your hands up in the air to release. Overall the skydiving works well for the limitations the EyeToy has. 

The other minigame has players decode a 3D cube and later in the game other shapes. You must move your arms up and down to make the cube turn and when it gets to the correct side and markings you stretch your hands out to select it. This works well, but isn’t quite up to par with the skydiving. It is still interesting and somewhat innovative.

One of the biggest problems for Operation Spy is that the game is mostly single-player oriented while every other EyeToy release to this point has been a party game. The EyeToy in and of itself is a party-oriented peripheral and there really isn’t much in the way of minigames to keep multiple players interested. If that’s not a big enough problem, the single-player experience is bad too, as it is very short with just a few criminal bosses to apprehend.

Many of the minigames hardly utilize the camera and players could have accomplished them quicker and easier with a controller. These minigames include pushing directional buttons on-screen to locate criminals and pushing buttons on-screen to ID criminals through facial matching.

In the single-player experience these mini-games, combined with skydiving and the puzzle solving, are essentially all you get in each mission. The frustrating part of this is that if you fail in one of the more challenging mini-games you have to start over and go through the tedious games again just to get one chance at what you failed at the first time. There aren’t any do-overs here and thus you’ll find yourself playing the same missions over and over again causing the single-player game to be very repetitive and irritating.

Other options in the game including messaging, video recording and alarm are fun for one run through. The problem is that I don’t know anybody that plans to leave their PlayStation 2 on for very long if you’re not playing. This means that these options although slightly interesting become essentially useless. Along with that is the fact that there is really nothing else to do in Operation Spy and so you find hardly any replay value.

Finally, the EyeToy isn’t reactive enough at times for the game. Just because you’re moving in person doesn’t mean items on-screen are reacting to it. I had my camera on the most reactive settings and it worked very well just touching buttons on screen, but some activities required a little too much precision for the imprecise camera.

Overall EyeToy: Operation Spy is an interesting concept, but more time for the developers would have resulted in a far better product. The game lacks new features as some of the security options were available in previous EyeToy releases. Operation Spy is also tedious and boring with very few games and they quickly get repetitive. Some of them hardly even utilize the camera too.

The game still does a couple things right, including the look of the game which is average for an EyeToy title; the skydiving and puzzle solving are also decent. In the end though, EyeToy: Operation Spy doesn’t justify the $30 purchase for the game. If you’re looking to utilize the EyeToy camera you’d be better off playing any of the other releases to date.

The game gets repetitive and dull with the exception of skydiving.

The graphics are pretty simple, but done well for an EyeToy game.

The voice acting is average and relatively repetitive. There’s not much of a soundtrack.

Most of the games are a bore and make you question why you even wanted to play this game.

Few mini-games are present and modes like video, messaging and alarm aren't very useful.

]]> Mon, 21 Nov 2005 11:22:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/eyetoy_operation_spy_announced http://www.gamebump.com/go/eyetoy_operation_spy_announced http://www.gamebump.com/go/eyetoy_operation_spy_announced# EyeToy: Operation Spy offers two unique modes: Gameplay and Surveillance. Gameplay mode allows players to enroll at the SIA and train to master the art of espionage. Surveillance mode is a robust security system that uses the EyeToy USB camera (sold separately) to secretly capture footage of unwanted intruders. New face-recognition technology allows players to create unique profiles that only they can unlock.

Look for more on this title soon.

Chances are pretty good that if you own an EyeToy, you haven’t used it in quite some time. EyeToy Play 2 is the first game in quite awhile to come out for the popular, yet seldom used peripheral. Like the original, Play 2 is a collection of minigames that are primarily geared towards group play, but this time around there’s more depth and a wider variety of things to do. It’s a solid sequel, but in spite of the added depth, Play 2 gets old quickly if you’re playing alone.

EyeToy Play 2 improves upon the original in every way. There are more things to do, the motion-sensing is better, and most games have more than one gameplay element, making the whole experience more enjoyable. The playroom is back, and there are several fun diversions for anyone that doesn’t feel like playing a game – it’s a great place for non-gamers who are intrigued by the EyeToy. You can control a submarine with your voice, color with your hands, cast spells, and even tour the solar system. There’s even a demo of the futuristic sky-boarding game, Anti-Grav, included.

Play 2 has a mode called “SpyToy” that essentially turns your PS2 into a home surveillance device. This feature is primarily for kids, but that doesn’t mean it’s not cool. You can set the camera up to secretly take pictures if someone comes into view, take time lapse shots for a whole day, or if you want to scare people, you can leave the TV on so messages are displayed and an alarm goes off if your area is breached. One can only imagine the incriminating evidence that could have been gathered on nosy siblings back in the day.

Twelve new games are included, though several of them, like Kung 2, are new and improved versions of previous EyeToy games. The games that aren’t new feature new levels, bosses, and tasks, so they end up feeling fresh. Table Tennis, HomeRun, Goal Attack, Air Guitar, and Mr. Chef are some of the new games, and they’re all a blast. HomeRun requires you to swing at a pitch and then wave your arms in a running motion to round the bases. Your picture actually moves around the bases while you run, and while it looks goofy, it’s quite fun. Air Guitar is a simplistic music game where you move your hands up and down the next of a virtual guitar in time with the falling icons. It’s fun for a while, but it’s pacing is poor so it gets old quickly.

Goal Attack is neat because it shows your body in front of a soccer goal, and you’ve got to stretch and move to block shots – not just wave your hands. It’s still not terribly complex, but it’s an example of how the gameplay has evolved. Table Tennis is surprisingly fun because it’s legitimately challenging, and not just hard to master because of the controls. Here you hold your hands up and use them as paddles while playing a virtual opponent. Yelling as you hit the ball adds speed to your shot, though doing so makes you look more than a little insane. The bottom line is the new games are great, especially if you’ve got people to play with.

There’s very little to dislike about EyeToy Play 2. One complaint is you have to be in a well-lit room, and that lighting needs to be in front of you, or the camera has a hard time following your movements. It’s also difficult to shuffle people in and out of the camera’s view, and the selection button is quite sensitive, making accidentally canceling games a frequent occurrence. These are obviously hardware problems and not Play 2’s fault, but you can’t play the game without the camera, so it must be mentioned.

Another issue is that even though there are more things to do, the game still doesn’t lend itself to extended play sessions. You might play a few minutes here and there, but the games get old quickly, and once you’ve mastered them there’s little incentive to replay.

I also had the game crash on me a few times, and while trying to create my noggin in the cameo feature, it often quit recognizing the camera, only showing a previous still picture of my head. Hopefully these were isolated incidents, but they were severe enough that they warranted mentioning.

If you loved the first EyeToy Play, then there’s little doubt that you’ll enjoy the sequel. Nearly everything has been improved and there are tons of things to do that even non-gamers will enjoy. If you’ve got friends to play with, you’ll get more out of it, but even if you plan on playing alone, Play 2 is worth checking out.

It’s more refined than the original, and the new games are very entertaining.

I guess if you’re really hot you can add another point here.

The little announcer dude is cool and the music is light and fits the game nicely.

The more people that are playing, the more fun it is.

Again, if you have lots of friends to play with, you’ll get tons of mileage from the game.

]]> Mon, 12 Sep 2005 13:39:00 -0500 Tim Grube http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_eyetoy_chat_ps21 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_eyetoy_chat_ps21 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_eyetoy_chat_ps21# This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Another unique game has hit the videogame industry. It’s called, EyeToy Chat that is being developed by Sony Computer Entertainment London Studios. EyeToy Chat isn’t a game, but rather a neat “option” for the PlayStation 2. Chat uses the standard EyeToy and you will be able to conduct live video and audio conversations with anybody across the world.

Each user will have a unique name with an address book that can hold up to 255 names at once. You’ll need to know the name or jump into the available chat rooms and ask to be added to their list if you want to talk to them. You can send video, audio, and text messages to people as well.

Chat will contain several chat rooms that you will be able to join. For example, Sony plans to implement a general chat room, sports chat room, videogame chat room, and many other unannounced ones. These chat rooms will not have video enabled, but you will still be able to use audio and text. A keyboard can also be hooked up VIA USB.

Video streaming can only be conducted with one other person. So don’t expect to do video with three or four people. Although, audio and text conferences can hold up to sixteen people in one room. The quality of the video is quite well. It isn’t top of the line, but it does show the other feed in some clear fashion. There are also mini games that you can play with your friends. Chess, battleship, checkers, and several other classic games will be integrated.

Sony seems to be doing the right job here. I’ve always wanted to chat with others VIA PlayStation 2 on camera, so if you were in the same boat as me—then this is the title you need to buy in fall of this year. ]]> Wed, 18 May 2005 18:08:39 -0500