Another excellent Sony accessory with limited support (Sony Playstation Eye Camera)

Member Name: illogicology

Product:	Sony Playstation Eye Camera
Date:	08/07/09 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great quality, plug and play, free bonus software, great mic built in

Disadvantages: Limited range of games and use

The Playstation Eye is the successor to the EyeToy camera for the Playstation 2. Sony have improved on the EyeToy in several ways. The lens has a two way switch to flick between two degrees of zoom. The lens itself is a of a much higher quality and the overall resolution is far higher. The Eye also has an excellent, 4 way array microphone built in. This mic has a good sensitivity that can pick up a normal conversation at a reasonable distance. As the mic is 4-way it can cancel out background noise, it can also pick out direction well. This allows you to keep the mic in front of the TV or on a desk, somewhere sensible. This is advantageous because often a sensible place for a mic and a sensible place for a camera aren't the same place.

The pack I bought came with the camera and EyeCreate software, if the camera is bought separately this software can be downloaded from the Playstation Store for free. This software is a very simple application that will record from the camera and will edit clips together into longer projects. While this has potential for being creative, it isn't incredibly flexible and as the camera has to be connected to work there isn't much you can film beyond your home. It's nice to be included but honestly it's not the most useful bonus feature.

While I haven't played any of the few games you can find in store that use the Eye, there are a few cheap downloadable titles that can be downloaded from the online store. I bought and played with a few, most are little more than interactive screensavers but the few little puzzle games were clever and engaging. Unfortunately the selection is still nothing to be enthralled by, if you were planning on buying this to enjoy innovative camera games then you'll probably be disappointed. At some point in the future Sony will be releasing the very entertaining looking EyePet that will be worth a play but for now it's just not much of a game accessory.

Where the Playstation Eye really become useful is in chatting with your contacts. Sony do offer a bluetooth headset but for people like me who find headsets for chat a bit too distracting, the microphone built into this camera provides a comfortable way to chat with your friends.

Overall recommending the Playstation Eye depends very much on its use. As an accessory to chat to your friends it's a great addition. It is also available in the £20-£25 price region at the moment making it reasonable for the price. If there is a specific Eye game you want to play then obviously the camera is required but if you're buying just to open yourself up to the genre of cam games then you'll probably be let down.

From a hardware perspective the Eye is excellent, the construction is solid and works exactly as it was intended. The camera's ability to record normal conversation without much noise is well lived up to and being able to record and edit together clips with the added software is nice if not particularly useful.

Summary: Really high quality but only of use to people who've already found a use for it

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