EyePet - Hands On

Over at GamesCom 2009, I was fortunate enough to be given an exclusive hands-on opportunity with Sony's up-coming EyePet. And who better to show me how the virtual pet simulator works than the producer himself - Nicolas Doucet from SCEE.

I initially presumed that EyePet was a nifty little gimmick for the little ones and a testing ground for future EyeToy projects. However I was pleasantly surprised at just how much thought has gone into EyePet and how impressive the interactivity really is.

Firstly, EyePet is a cutesy looking title that allows users to generate a virtual pet (who looks like a cross between a monkey and a cat) on screen. The user can customise it (the pet has no real gender as such), changing its name, fur type, colour, clothes, etc and then interact with it as if it were a real, living breathing animal. The EyeToy camera detects your hand movements allowing you to nudge your pet around the screen or to interact with objects that your pet will chase after or watch curiously. EyePet also comes with a selection of cards which the camera detects and renders as 3d items on screen.

For example you can wash your pet by picking up a card and hovering it over the water icon turning it into a shower head on screen. You can get your pet all wet (the screen fogs up allowing you to wipe it clean with your hand) and then change your showering device into soap by hovering your card over a different icon. Once you have coated your wee fella in soap, you can then put down the card and actually physically scrub him clean by manipulating your fingers around him as if he were sitting on the table in front of you. Once he's sparkling clean, picking up the card again turns it into a hair-dryer to dry his or her's fur off. The cards all have handles on the backs on them too making them feel realistic when holding them up towards the camera. It's sickeningly cute... but very impressive to watch.

EyePet can also detect and memorise your drawings, turning a pad of paper and a pen into a toy for your pet to play with. One example had me drawing balloons on a piece of paper with a felt-tip and placing my page in front of the camera. I made sure that my balloons ranged from simple circles to ridiculously complex pentagrams in order to test it too. Once framed on screen, it indicates green that it is finished scanning it (it only takes a couple of seconds) and then your pet sits down and sticks a pen in his own mouth and begins to draw exactly what you just did. And I mean exactly. The pet is beautifully animated, showing little delays of thought and then looking up at you wanting some praise for its cleverness. You can't help but feel attached to the critter. Once it has drawn your balloons, they then pop into 3d and are rendered as actual metallic balloons that your pet will jump after around the screen. You can use your hands to bop the balloons around too to ensure your pet is staying active. This drawing feature was also demonstrated with an Airplane mini-game that allows the user to draw wings, the body and the propeller of an aircraft.

Again the EyePet memorises and then re-draws your creation, before having it turn into a proper 3d plane with working, rotating propeller. Immediately your pet will hop into it and start hooning around the screen, giving way for another mini-game where you can guide your hand-drawn craft around the skies to catch objects like balloons for points. On top of drawing whatever shapes you want, you can also customise the colour and texture of your plane as well.

The pet has a lot of character and it's safe to say that people are going to get quite obsessive about their furry little pals. For the little ones, parents don't need to worry as their e-pet won't be able to die. It can get sick however and owners will need to give the pet some attention in order to get him or her active and happy again. To do this, you can pick up a card and turn it into an x-ray machine, which scans your pet as you hover over it showing bones and organs. The effect is very cool and highlighted areas of your pet will allow you to diagnose what's wrong with it. For families, EyePet allows for up to 4 profiles as well so everyone can have their own little furry friend. We look forward to trying out all the other little activities in the full game soon! But at this stage it certainly looks like one for the Xmas wish-list.

More updates from Cologne tomorrow including an interview with Arne Meyer about Uncharted 2!

NZGamer.com would like thank Activision, Capcom, Microsoft NZ, SCENZ, SEGA, THQ and Ubisoft for making this trip possible.