Sony Has Players
Working Up a Sweat
Over Its EyeToy Games
Americans are battling an obesity crisis, and some are pointing a finger at videogames as at least a small part of the problem. The average gamer in action doesn't look a lot different from a glassy-eyed couch potato.
I've been testing a new videogame accessory from Sony that requires you to get out of your chair. It isn't a solution for the nation's weight problem, but it makes you sweat. Even though you look goofy playing it, you interact with games in a natural, fun and social way. And it shows how gamers might be liberated from the traditional hand-held game controller.
EyeToy: Play became a retail hit after its launch in Europe last summer, and arrived in the U.S. last month with a price tag of $49.99. It includes 12 simple games. EyeToy: Groove, a selection of additional dance-related software, minus the camera, is available in Europe for $60. Sony plans to start selling it in the U.S. in the spring.
EyeToy: Play is a small, black device similar to a Webcam. It sits on top of a television set, facing the gamer, and plugs into a Sony PlayStation 2 game console, sold separately for a suggested price of $179.
After putting the EyeToy on my TV and adjusting it, I saw myself pictured from the waist up on the screen. I then stepped back to line up my image with a silhouette guide.
The EyeToy software uses the camera to sense your motion, and you control the games with your hands. To select a game, I put my right hand in the air so it appeared behind an arrow on the screen. Then I waved it rapidly until the software registered my selection, scrolling to the next game title on the menu. Once the game I wanted was highlighted, I waved my hand on the spot marked "select." This setup for controlling your PS2 with the EyeToy works well and is easy to use.
Sony EyeToy for the PlayStation 2 game console.
The dozen games supplied with the EyeToy are pretty elementary. I tested them out over a few weeks with Hadrien, a 10-year-old who lives next door, and some other neighbors and friends. Nearly everyone's favorite was the "Kung Foo" game, where you deliver karate chops to bad guys who emerge from stylized pagodas on the sides of the screen. You have to break a series of wooden boards in two to earn points during the bonus rounds.
"Boxing Chump" was also popular, especially with a friend named Jerome, 31, who worked himself into a lather throwing punches at an on-screen robot character. Sony bills EyeToy as a "party game," and we had a lot of laughs playing with a group of 30-something friends after a dinner at our home.
Hadrien liked "UFO Juggler," a game that involves coaxing flying saucers to the top of the screen. His little brother and my toddler son preferred a window-washing game, "Wishi Washi."
But Hadrien and I agreed that a few of the other games were flops. One requires you to bounce an on-screen soccer ball off your head; it behaves unpredictably, as if it sometimes doesn't sense the top of your head. Another, called "Ghost Catcher," was just plain boring.
When you get a high score, EyeToy: Play takes your picture, and even gives you a warning before snapping it so you can pose. EyeToy: Groove, the dance game package, adds more amusing features. It records video highlights and still images during the game and plays them back to you. Two people can play at the same time.
To underscore the exercise element of EyeToy, Sony added a calorie counter to EyeToy: Groove. I burned eight calories dancing, on the "easy" setting, to "YMCA" by the Village People. The game awards points every time you touch one of the circles scattered around the edges of the screen as it prompts you. On harder settings, it requires you to perform trickier moves, such as sweeping a hand through several of the circles. You can play against other people, or just dance to your own music as the game splashes digital fireworks and other effects around your image.
The game comes with about 25 dance songs, from Sly & the Family Stone's 1968 "Dance to the Music" to The Cheeky Girls' "Hooray, Hooray (It's a Cheeky Holiday)," released this year.
EyeToy is the latest in a genre of add-on devices that try to get videogamers on their feet -- a concept that has its roots in "dance mats," a late-1990s Asian arcade craze that made its way into U.S. and European homes. The mat registers the movements of a dancer's feet, as the videogame machine gives rapid-fire instructions.
Game makers credit dance mats with helping expand the appeal of videogame machines to broader groups, including teenage girls. In a similar vein, Microsoft has released MusicMixer software packaged with a microphone for the Xbox machine, which players can use for karaoke and related games.
I complained in an earlier column that software for little kids sadly confines them to a keyboard and mouse without providing them a freer way to interact. Boxing and kung-fu moves might not be what you had in mind for your three-year-old, but EyeToy is a videogame device that they -- and you -- might enjoy.
索尼开辟游戏新天地
美国人正在与一场肥胖危机做斗争，而有些人认为视频游戏是导致这场危机的原因之一。那些典型的游戏者们看上去与目光呆滞、终日躺在沙发上看电视的人没什么两样。
我最近对索尼公司(Sony,又称新力公司)新推的一款游戏外设进行了测试，这个软件会让你动起来。虽然它不能解决美国的肥胖问题，但它会让你出汗。尽管你看上去很可笑，但你与游戏之间的交流是自然、有趣和互动的。这款软件表明游戏者可以从传统的游戏手柄中解脱出来。
EyeToy:Play于去年夏天在欧洲推出，并畅销一时，后于上个月进入美国市场，售价为49.99美元。该外设包括了12个简单的游戏。EyeToy:Groove包含了其他一些与舞蹈相关的软件，但不含摄像机，目前在欧洲的售价为60美元。索尼公司打算于明年春天在美国推出该产品。
黑色的EyeToy:Play外观小巧，类似于一台网络摄影机。把它放在电视机顶上，面对著游戏者，再接上一台索尼公司的PlayStation 2游戏机。这种游戏机的售价约为179美元。
我先把EyeToy放在电视机顶上，并进行了相关调试，然后我在电视屏幕上看了自己的上半身图像。接著我朝后退，利用影像调节功能键对自己的图像进行调整。
EyeToy软件通过摄影机来感知游戏者的动作，而游戏者通过手来控制游戏。如果要选择游戏，我只要举右手，使它对著荧幕箭头，然后我快速挥动右手，直到该软件接受我的选择，在菜单上跳出下一个游戏。一旦我想玩的游戏出现时，我就对著荧幕上的“选择”一词挥动右手。用EyeToy来控制PlayStation 2很有效，而且一学就会。
EyeToy里的12个游戏非常简单。我与十岁的邻家男孩哈德里恩(Hadrien)，以及其他一些邻居和朋友对这个软件进行了几个星期的测试。几乎每个人的最爱都是“Kung Foo”，在这个游戏里，你用空手道对付那些从荧幕两侧的程式化的宝塔中冒出的坏蛋。你必须把一些木版劈成两半，才能在加分轮中赢得积分。
“Boxing Chump”也很受欢迎，一个名叫杰罗姆(Jerome)的现年31岁的朋友特别喜欢这个游戏：对著荧幕上一个机器人拳打脚踢使他满头大汗。索尼称EyeToy是“集体游戏”。我与三十多名朋友在家里吃完晚饭后开始玩EyeToy, 结果是一片欢声笑语。
哈德里恩喜欢“UFO Juggler”，这个游戏要把飞碟引到荧幕的上端。而他的小弟弟和我那刚学步的儿子都喜欢一个名为“Wishi Washi”的擦窗游戏。
但哈德里恩和我都认为有些游戏实在很没劲。其中一个游戏要你用头顶荧幕上的足球，但球路难以预测，有时对你的动作没反应。另一个名叫“Ghost Catcher“的游戏非常乏味。
如果你取得了高分，EyeToy:Play会为你拍照，甚至事先提醒你，以便让你摆姿势。舞蹈软件EyeToy:Groove还会加上一些有趣的点缀。它会记录下游戏过程中的精彩片段和静止图像，然后重放给你看。两个人可同时玩这个游戏。
为了突出EyeToy的运动特点，索尼公司给EyeToy:Groove添加了一个卡路里计数器。在“轻松级”设置中，我从Village People到YMCA消耗了8卡路里。每当你触到荧幕四周冒出的圆圈，你就会得分。在难度较高的设置中，你的动作难度加大了，如用手划过几个圆圈等。你可与他人同时玩，或者自己跟著音乐跳，此时你的身影周围会出现四射的焰火或其他图案。
EyeToy:Groove包含了约25首舞曲，既有Sly & the Family Stone在1968年推出的《随著音乐起舞》(Dance to the Music)，也有Cheeky Girls于今年推出的《欢乐时光》(Hooray, Hooray)。
EyeToy是最新问世的旨在让视频游戏者动起来的附加设备。这种让游戏者动起来的理念源于“跳舞毯”--一种在九十年代晚期风靡亚洲，后传入欧洲和美国家庭的娱乐形式。当游戏机发出快速指令时，这种毯子会记录下跳舞者脚部的运动。
游戏机制造商们认为跳舞毯让更多的人领略了游戏机的魅力，包括那些十几岁的女孩子们。微软公司(Microsoft)也推出了用在Xbox游戏机上的MusicMixer软件，该软件还附带了一个能唱卡拉OK，或进行相关娱乐的麦克风。
我曾在早些的栏目中抱怨说，那些为孩子们设计的游戏软件让他们被键盘和鼠标限制住了，却没能给孩子们提供自由的交流方式。也许你不想让三岁的孩子接触拳击和中国功夫，不过EyeToy却是个不错的而且老少皆宜的替代选择。
