Millions purchased Nintendogs, but let's face it, Nintendo failed to release a sequel with improved technology. Thankfully, Sony's stepping up to the plate with EyePet, an impressive game that delivers a furry friend to your living room. Just don't mistake it for one of the lame pet games littering store shelves. If the game's makers pull this off, they'll forever change the way we interact with the virtual world.
EyePet allows you to care for an animal that's a cross between a kitten and a monkey (don't worry, it's cute). To do this, you connect the PlayStation Eye camera to the PS3 (smile, you're on TV), point it in your direction and watch as the creature "magically" appears on screen along with you. From there, you can interact with your pet simply using your hands. No stylus or buttons required. If you want to pet him or her, just place your hand over its head and make a scratching motion; you can even tickle it.
Here's where things get crazy. If, for example, you roll a virtual ball towards your pet, it'll recognize the ball and leap over it/dodge to avoid contact. Or, you can drop a trampoline onto the table and watch as the animal bounces all over the place. Even better, you can draw shapes on a piece of paper, scan them by holding said paper in front of the camera and your pet will draw those shapes in its world. From there, the game will assemble the shapes into the desired object (in today's demo, the shapes formed an airplane). Once complete, the creature hopped inside, took off into the clouds and attempted to pop at least 70 balloons to complete a challenge.
In addition, you have a wealth of options to toy with, from dressing up your pet (clothes include a bomber's jacket, sweaters, Viking helmet and a jester's cap, among others) to giving it a haircut/changing the color of its fur or the fur pattern; you do all this stuff with the PS3 controller. If you're one of those people who love shoving dogs into tight clothes, this game's for you.
What really blew our minds, though, is the x-ray vision. When a pet becomes ill, the player can hold up a card, the camera reads it and the game puts an x-ray machine into his or her hand. That lets them see inside their pet (skeleton, brain, heart) to identify the problem. Not sure what you do from there, but it looks amazing.
That, fortunately, seems to be a trend with Sony's games. God or War III looks incredible, Uncharted 2 makes us drool and now we have EyePet. Sure, it lacks the other games' graphical punch, but using the camera to make the owner/pet experience more intimate is a phenomenal concept. Look for it in stores this winter.
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