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It is rare that I am completely struck speechless by a videogame, but just a few moments into a demo of EyePet at Sony's PAX suite, I noticed my mouth absolutely agape. So many so-called virtual pets and just basic animal simulations with a modest amount of interaction that disguises what are really just canned routines. Nintendogs was the first real virtual pet, as far as I'm concerned. But unless EyePet is seriously derailed before November, this is precisely what I imagined the genre becoming – a real character that responds to physical interaction. Using the EyeToy camera and a special card -- called the Magic Card -- you really do develop a relationship with the furry on-screen animal that shuffles on-screen when you start up the game. After some very basic exercises to get acquainted with the pet and learn how to interact with the screen, you start embarking on a series of "missions" that result in extra customizations for your pet as well as improvements with different activities. For example, you may need to figure out a which kind of treat satisfies the pet. Another mission may task you with taking a photo of the pet making a specific expression. However, what truly entranced me during the demo was the use of the camera to create objects and toys for the pet. You can draw vehicles and objects on a sheet of paper with a marker and then hold it up to the camera. After a few moments, the camera reads the image and then the little pet gets to work with his special crayon and coloring book. He retraces what you drew. If you have a good relationship, the accuracy of the tracing goes up. Then the pieces of the vehicle pop out of the paper and are both translated into 3D and given a color or texture. When it came time to draw a car for the pet, Sony let me go ahead and scribble out the necessary pieces for a car instead of using their provided drawing. All I needed to do was draw a body and two wheels, but make sure that the wheels were separate from the body so the camera could tell them apart. You actually don't need to draw round wheels. If you are feeling ornery, you could draw squares. I made sure to draw the body of my car so it looked different from the Sony doodle -- I wanted to see if this exercise was actually canned. It was not. The pet drew out my Prius-esque body without flaw. Then, the car was assembled, painted in a tiger print, and ready to go. I played a little game of tag with the pet, chasing it around the screen. The result: cuuuuuuuute. The level of interaction with the pet is pretty amazing, but what makes EyePet seem so special to me is not just the basic interactions with the pet via the camera such as swiping my hands under it to watch it jump or tickling it with my fingers to make it smile. It's that within twenty minutes of time with EyePet, I could really get a sense of the pet's personality and how a relationship could be developed. (The therapeutic potential here for kids is off the charts.) This is always where I imagined videogames going when I was a kid: genuinely becoming part of a game and fostering real relationships with characters. This game is available for sale at a good price in my eBay Store: http://stores.ebay.com/Mariio128-GamemateRead full review
This game is so fun for my daughter, we all got into doing things with the eye pet - the only drawback is the setup, which was a little difficult - definitely need an adult to help. The pet is adorable and is eye catching to play with however. Make sure to use in a well lighted area as the camera has some problems picking up in lower light - but all in all very fun!!
How nice is this! There are not to many games for the PS3 that are child friendly. This furry little creature comes alive in your very own home! You and your new pet are on your television (capable with enclosed PS cam) You bath it, pet it, and play with it! Your Eyepet reacts to the movements you make with the wireless controller (enclosed). The wireless controller changes to different objects on the tv screen (shower nozzle, hair dryer, etc...)that you use on your eyepet. It is a gift for my 10 yr old daughter but who could resist (I opened & played with it real quick) The game is very cool. She has been asking for this since before it came out and I can't wait until I give it to her!! The whole package is nice, because it includes what you need for other Move games. She wanted me to buy the Wii because she loves the sports games with the wireless controllers.... PS3 also has a sports game (got that too!!) I cant wait to play with her!!! I would recommend to anyone!!!Read full review
We actually got eyepet & friends, the sequel to this. Not sure why it's showing up here. Anyway, the game is fun, but the controls are really clunky, unresponsive at times, and the game stutters and has long load times. If you can deal with that, there are a lot of fun features to this. You can create your own toys for your EyePets, change their fur color & patterns, make clothes for them, and play lots of games. The more you play, create, or do, the more points you win to unlock other stuff. Neat idea, just not presented as smoothly as one would have hoped. You can play with 2 players, which is a bonus over the old version.
It's a great game for children until 5-6 years old. I bought this game to my daughter. She has 4 years old. The case of this game crashed during the delivering, but it's ok. I recommend the seller. Tks
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