PlayStation Eye creator blabs

By Robert Purchese Published 1 May, 2007

Mic is most important feature.

The "father" of EyeToy, Dr. Richard Marks, believes the best new feature of the PlayStation Eye is its microphone.

He reckons its ability to channel out background noise and give players hands-free and headset-free voice input makes it unique and pioneering.

"The hands-free voice input this enables may be the single most important feature of Playstation Eye," Dr. Marks told Level Up. "Previously, the only way to get clean voice data was using a headset worn by the player; now, without wearing a headset, players will be able to talk freely."

"The device is especially good at removing ambient sounds like traffic and wind noises from outside, the whirring of fans, etc. Also, there is special processing to remove the game sounds generated by the PS3 itself."

The PlayStation Eye was revealed late last month and will go on sale sometime this summer. It has four times the resolution, twice the frame-rate and double the sensitivity of its EyeToy predecessor, as well as the all important microphone that can focus on certain audio sources (like you) - blocking out other "exterior" noises.

It will come bundled with the EyeCreate editing suite, with games like Eye of Judgement - a card-battling fantasy game - set to take advantage of its abilities later this year.

The price, however, is still unknown. But Dr. Marks is insistent that it will be affordable and accessible - just like the EyeToy.

"Just as with EyeToy, we wanted to create an affordable device that could be accessible to all players and gain widespread popularity," he added. "I don't know exactly when the price announcement for PlayStation Eye will be, but please note that the model used for the rough cost design was EyeToy."

The EyeToy was released on PlayStation 2 for Europe in 2003. It cost GBP 39.99 at launch.

Pop over to our PlayStation Eye gallery to see what you're up against.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • BM #1 5 years ago

    What about the in-game noise coming from your TV, that will no doubt be close to where you position the Eyetoy?

    I've got a 360, and you still pick up in-game noise from people who have their TV's on too loud via the headset mic.

  • sickpuppysoftware #2 5 years ago

    He reckons its ability to channel out background noise and give players hands-free and headset-free voice input makes it unique and pioneering.

    Nobody tell Creative

  • JediMasterMalik #3 5 years ago

    They should have put the mic below the cam, but otherwise I'm looking forward to this.

  • bushwod #4 5 years ago

    If this works it sounds great. I personally find headset uncomftable and would love to have something more like this for my 360.

  • Moz #5 5 years ago

    @BM

    It says in the article that they have processes that remove the in-game noises.


    EDIT:/ Just read article on Go!Cam for PSP which is costing £34.99 it also has a mic, also small then Playstation Eye, I take it Eye is higher res, but doesn't have to made as small as Go!Cam so I'd PSEye will be at this price point plus or minus £5
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/07 @ 12:41

  • Mr_Whacker #6 5 years ago

    Be interesting to see if its better than the 'alright, if I must wear it' 360 headset.

  • onyxbox #7 5 years ago

    I wonder if the JaPS Eye will be out first?

  • LOLLERS #8 5 years ago

    "Previously, the only way to get clean voice data was using a headset worn by the player; now, without wearing a headset, players will be able to talk freely."

    So what about other people speaking in the room, like your children/wife/family, or does it have next-gen voice recognition techonology? Can you mute the microphone from the controller so you can speak without the world hearing you?


    edit: oh yeah, eye of judgement, I remember that now, I remember it looking pretty pointless. But then the 360 camera is pretty pointless too. More games should just use it's input, rather than trying to contrive some kind of gameplay out of it. I like the way it works as a background to the menus when you have it plugged in...
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/07 @ 13:04

  • AbyssUK #9 5 years ago

    Does this mean you could singstar with 2+ people... without microphones ????

    AbyssUK

  • Moz #10 5 years ago

    AbyssUK, I dout it will be good enough for sing star, plus you need a separate mic per person else it's not going to know who is each player!

  • Foxclose #11 5 years ago

    Hardly crap.

    Looks like another Sony "Father" has created another winner!

  • dr_swin #12 5 years ago

    I must pass on this news to my other eyetoy, bongos and microphones. They will welcome some some new company in the discarded peripherals drawer.

  • Jas315 #13 5 years ago

    I'm only really concerned how the Mic works, not how it looks. So far, I'm happy.

    It's not like I'm going to be focusing my attention from the game to the camera, or bring a couple of people over for lemon tea & talk about how wonderful & delightfully beautiful my PS Eye is.

  • rudedudejude #14 5 years ago

    Headsets look cool man, everyone knows that!

  • Kafeen #15 5 years ago

    "What about the in-game noise coming from your TV, that will no doubt be close to where you position the Eyetoy?

    Like he said:
    "Also, there is special processing to remove the game sounds generated by the PS3 itself."

  • Les #16 5 years ago

    In theory it sounds great. Am curious whether it will meet expectations in real life.

  • kangarootoo #17 5 years ago

    "Headsets look cool man, everyone knows that!"

    [link url= http://hci.ucsd.edu/lab/images/equipment/headset.jpg
    ]http://hc i.ucsd.edu/lab/images/equipment...[/link]

    Right.

  • spongebob #18 5 years ago

    I fixed this comment for you, my fellow commentators:

    The price, however, is still unknown. But Dr. Marks is insistent that it will be affordable and accessible - just like the PlayStation 3.

    Funny Ha Ha.