Eye Pet

Eye Pet

Fussy but fascinating, Sony’s clever little bundle of fur is just about worth the asking price of around £20.

Quite predictably the fun aspect of Eye Pet is partly spoiled by technology handicaps, but we think you’ll find it fascinating nonetheless. It’s a very casual affair, clearly aimed at young girls or even younger kids in general whose playtime is still guided by adults. The basic idea is that – by the wonders of motion sensing and depth sensing – the PS3 camera creates the illusion of a cute animal playing in your living room.

If you’re familiar with Nintendo’s “Nintendogs” on DS, or Ubisoft’s “Petz” series, you will already know what to expect: Lots of mini-games involving party games, feeding times, exercise and grooming.

It is genuinely surprising to see Eye Pet appear on your living room carpet for the first time… although only in the world inside your TV. He is first ‘summoned’ by placing a Magic Card on the floor in view of the camera, and can be stroked, gently pushed, made to jump around or grow dizzy by following his master’s hands. The Magic Card has other uses too, becoming a shower head at bath time, a trampoline at play time, or a container for cookies for meals among many other ideas.

We certainly had fun initially, marvelling at how ‘EP’ would munch cookies we’d poured into a bowl, checking his health status by scanning the Magic Card over his body to reveal a comedy X-Ray, giving him a funky hairstyle plus coloured tint, having him chase up and down after our waving fingers, then a good old shower complete with the need to rub his fur into a lather. Coats, Hats and who knows what else eventually are available to dress him up from the wardrobe – Sony has an Eye Pet store lined up on PlayStation Network where additional items can be bought for a small fee.

Although there is no pressure to get things exactly right, and we’re quite sure he’s never going to starve after neglect, the troublesome thing is that EP doesn’t always respond the way you’d expect instinctively. There is a bowling game, for example, that we have no clue at all how to make work. Generally speaking, the Magic Card when doubling up as an on-screen gadget has an annoying tendency to vanish if the camera isn’t seeing it precisely. Lighting could be the problem, although we were putting EP through his paces at midday in a bright and uncluttered room.

It’s also more confusing than necessary to have menu navigation split between hand gestures and the standard PS3 controller – you’re constantly juggling between Magic Card, hands, and controller to activate EP’s activities. Perhaps this could add to the giddiness of getting it all to work for busy young minds? Adults could run out of patience much sooner.

If you don’t yet own a PlayStation Eye (USB camera), but intend to very soon, Eye Pet is certainly good value adding only a fiver or so to the price of a standalone camera. At around £20 for the Eye Pet software on its own, however, you might want to try it out with the intended kiddie-wink beforehand.

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