EyePet Comments by Ellie Gibson

Im gonna call my pet Milo

MY girlfriend has gone mental over this and DEMANDED we buy it. It certainly seems to appeal to animal lovers that for sure!

'He holds the paper up to the camera and three exclamation marks appear on-screen to signify the pet recognises the drawing.'

Sounds like the natal tech. In fact, much of it does.

(someone had to get this ball rolling and of course, now it is, I won't be returning to this thread ;)

Probably not aimed at the hardcore eurogamer reader types, but I can see this being a huge hit with kids under 10.

It's on the wrong console.

Im 30 years old and im getting this, people saying it's pathetic can f*** themself.

My Niece is probably going to love this...
shame she hasn't got a PS3 only a DS.

I wonder why Sony overlooked this at the press conference, showing this charming thing off would surely have made more people notice it?

@woodnote: "It's on the wrong console"

Why's that...? Surely this kinda thing is perfect for the Eye Toy...? The 360 can't do it yet and the Wii doesn't have a camera.

It's a Mogwai.

"While they had the game at home it replaced the bedtime story before the kids went to sleep."

Yep, that's the way to persuade the Daily Mail that this is a good idea. Duh.

Still, it looks like a nice app, and does a lot of what Natal seems to be proposing. It'll be interesting to see the response in the market.

It all sounds very clever, but I think this could have fairly bad ramifications for real pet ownership, to be honest. Kids brought up with this might very well start to believe that pets exist solely to entertain their owners and have no independent agency of their own, an attitude that at best will very quickly sour anyone's enjoyment of a real pet, and at worse could lead to abuse. If a child expects a dog to consistently interact with them without regard to consequences of their behaviour or the dog's own wishes, I can forsee unpleasantness.

This case is a bit different from the usual "games influencing realworld behaviour" argument, as 1) this is explicitly designed for young kids and makes a point of taking a real and familiar image of reality and augmenting it, rather than presenting it as fantasy, and 2) unlike most game-simulated activities such as violence or racing or professional sports, pet ownership is commonplace and easy.

I'm currently staying in Japan, and the attitude here towards pets is exactly what I am describing - few people see them as anything other than accessories, and as such most dogs are tiny, lifeless bundles in frilly pink outfits, and most cats are hostile, cowed beasts abused by owners who think cats need to be washed and brushed. It is this attitude to animals that is behind this game, and as such I am roundly against it.

I would have loved this as a kid. I was a sucker for all those corny virtual reality things. Weird Science, TRON etc and I was also a sucker for Ai and robots.

/did that make me sound like a sad and lonely geek?

@Tonka

Not at all :)

@ Negotiator: "and this looks dated as hell compared to Pete's Milo"

Er... except this is real, is working now, and doesn't have to ship with a member of the development team to sit behind a curtain frantically tweaking everytime you want to do something that varies from the pre-defined script... lol.

YourMessageHere: I've noticed that as well, pets that are treated as accessories and dressed up in clothes and carried around in hand bags. And then when it comes to taking care of them it's a nuisance.

That was a surprising comment to read here but you have to agree that the fact that they are going with a fictional creature and not a real one and that they are including aspects of care into the simulation can help with such concerns.


Still, it would be a terrible shame if kids would start to expect that kind of behaviour of their real pets. Even though I think some people already seem to think that.

Nothing will replace bedtime stories.

"While they had the game at home it replaced the bedtime story before the kids went to sleep." - Sony Guy.

but

"In the end, there is no programme or policy that can substitute for a mother or father who will [...] put away the video games, and read to their child" - Persident Obama.

Better watch out Sony Guy, he'll swat you down like a fly...

Edit: Beaten to the point not once but twice! Three times, really, if you count Obama.

@Negotiator

"and this looks dated as hell compared to Pete's Milo"

Well that is the great thing about strictly guided demos of unfinished products. They can look as advanced as you want them to look, because barely anything has to actually work.

WHY IS THERE A PICTURE OF PEE WEE HERMAN PLAYING WITH KIDS?

AAAAAGH!

KILLITWITHFIRE!

@YourMessageHere

I think the risks you describe could easily be avoided by the presence of that old staple "good parenting". It would really take very little parental involvement to make sure a kid playing this still had a proper and balanced view of the world and how to treat real animals. And even in the absence of that, it would probably only be kids with other independant mental health problems that would end up with a distorted view as a result of playing this game.

"I'm currently staying in Japan, and the attitude here towards pets is exactly what I am describing"

But things have been that way for a very long time, far longer than any form of artificial animal has existed. This feels like another incarnation of the "gangsta rap creates ganstas" theory.

"KILLITWITHFIRE!"

Heeheehee, that made me chuckle.

Er... except this is real, is working now, and doesn't have to ship with a member of the development team to sit behind a curtain frantically tweaking everytime you want to do something that varies from the pre-defined script... lol.

Dave52 where in gods name did you get this info from, apart from pulling it out of your ass. Milo was working at E3, just ask anyone who used it and even at that early stage was far more advanced than this Nintendogs rip off.

I for one love the looks of this and I don't care what you think of me because of that. It's cute, probably a bit shallow, but I will buy it nonetheless. :)

What a load of crap, this is a carbon copy of Nintendogs, and this looks dated as hell compared to Pete's Milo, a full AI controlled child that reacts to your emotions, from your tone of voice to facial expressions. I've seen the future, the future is Milo.

I sure hope you get a decent cut for your repeated attempts in viral marketing.

It's a bit creepy innit?

@Negotiator
you might want to read some of those e3 milo reports again... its been stated in a few that there was a person behind a curtain controlling it. And by all accounts it could only answer the predefined questions in the predefined order, anything else stumped it and was left nodding or shaking its head.

I ONLY HAVE ONE SPACE IN MY HEART FOR A DIGITAL PHANTOM AND HIS NAME IS MILO

LONG LIVE MILO, MAY HIS REIGN LAST FOREVER

There's not a great deal of depth here and there's no challenge; EyePet isn't a game in the traditional sense, more of a 21st century Tamagotchi.

The major difference between this and Milo and Kate, is that Molyneux's project is intended to be a game, with a storyline. Eyepet is a more advanced Nintendogs with the augmented-relatity tech from Eye of Judgment.

I am skeptical about Eyepet's potential for success, though, mostly due to the market penetration of PS3 with their target audience. This had nowhere near the prominence of the Natal demos, or even Sony's own glow-phallus demo at E3, and Eye of Judgement didn't eactly take over the world like Pokemon cards.

Thinking about it, they might have been able to build more of a platform for success for this if they'd made a PS2 version as well, or even instead. The success of Nintendogs would indiate that the target market won't care if the pet is made up of less that 100 polygons.

Nintendogs was a game though. You had to train your puppy, take him to dog shows and move him up classes.

More to the point, why does Ellie keep asking about nobs? Does she think we are all 14 or something?

If only the creature didn't look so tacky, like a cheap Hong Kong toy for fun fairs. Should have let Team Ico, or the LBP guys, design it.

Hmm choose between a creepy virtual child and a cute virtual mogwai...
The little cute pet is gonna romp this all the way to the bank.
The only thing stopping this being a massive cash cow,
is the demographic for PS3 owners isn't really youngsters especially not young girls.
(who would love this).
If this was out on the wii or DSi then it would sell gazzilions.

wow, laziest article style for a long time... is the hayfever getting to Ms Gibson?

"While they had the game at home it replaced the bedtime story before the kids went to sleep."

Mr Sony, you have just made me sad.

@ Negotiator:
oh, bow down before the Great Peter.

TEH POWER OF THE MILO.

P.S. Nice negotiating skills, by the way. Are you popular?

@Negotiator

Dude, whilst what was demonstrated might have "worked", what was demsontrated was simply not a finished product.

Is that what Milo is going to be? 5 mins spent following a script asking some kind about his homework, putting on goggles and then disturbing some water? Wow, where do I sign up?


You are clearly either in the employ of MS, or just a bit nuts. Either way, here is a question. If your absolute lack of objectivity is clearly and utterly visible to everyone, what exactly do you achieve? If your mission is to convince everyone that Milo is awesome, you are doing more harm than good.

Mr Sony, you have just made me sad.

”I’m so sad. Reading bedtime stories is a father’s job. I don’t want to be replaced by a teddy bear.”

You've made Duncan Bannatyne sad, too.

Mingster that's exactly what I thought. Whether the tech behind it is impressive or not, this thing's going to flop like a mother fucker! :/
From what I see at work every bloody day, just like the majority of 360 owners, PS3 owners all want to know when the latest Call Of Duty game is out, or ask even more simple things like ''Can you tell me where all of your gory and violent games are?''
Never have I been asked, ''I'm looking for a game where I get to molest and bathe a cute and furry creature on screen, can you point me in the right direction?''

@kangarootoo : Well said, sir!

PS3 owners all want to know when the latest Call Of Duty game is out

Indeed, and what's crazy is that Sony have a ready-made audience of millions of younger and casual gamers with PS2s and the original eyetoy. The people keeping Sony Europe in profit by buying Singstar and Buzz expansions.

@DaemonB: considering your profile picture is a pair of bouncing tits, you can hardly blame her.

So NATAL then? ;) Just without the tiny person frantically working away behind the scenes.

"What a load of crap, this is a carbon copy of Nintendogs, and this looks dated as hell compared to Pete's Milo, a full AI controlled child that reacts to your emotions, from your tone of voice to facial expressions. I've seen the future, the future is Milo."

I've seen the future and it will be. I've seen the future and it works. And if there's life after, we will see.

God I'm old.

That picture on the frontpage burns into your soul

To those saying the PS/3 userbase won't go for this - isn't that the point.

Or rather to develop for PS/3 a range of propositions that will attract a wider userbase. Like kids going nuts for a virtual pet.

Vidzone is a similar thing.

Widening appeal.

It's like wot businesses do to make more money.

@captainrentboy

the problem with that stament is you are *i bet* talking about blokes, what about their partners?

Most of my friends (who own a ps3) partners love to break out singstar or puzzle games like echochrome etc, this appeals to them.

My GF is case in point. As mentioned in the post above, when she looked over my shoulder and saw me watching a tech demo of the Eye Pet she went nuts, and its the question i get asked ALOT "when is that EYE PET thing out?"

The question has already driven me nuts, the game no doubt will too, its not my taste at all, but it has its market and its targeting it well.

i'm quite interested in this. have been into the idea of AR for ages now and have even gone so far as to investigate it a little bit. plus my currently 11 month old daughter would no doubt love it. she plays nobi nobi , flower and locoroco... now if only i could get her up to my standard on SFIV