EyeToy team questions format rivals
Reckons You're in the Movies won't work.
Sony's EyeToy team has told GamesIndustry.biz that Microsoft and Nintendo will run into problems with their entirely distinct and not at all rippy-offy camera games.
"I think that [with You're In the Movies] they're probably going to have some technical difficulties to wrestle with," said Sandy Spangler, designer for EyeToy.
"They're using some technical elements that are not reliable, at least not according to our experience. They're using background subtraction to put you in the movie, and it's not very robust, that's why we haven't done it in any of our games. If the white shifts in the room or something, it can stop working."
"Good luck to them," she added.
You're in the Movies launches on Xbox 360 this Friday, but Spangler has been shocked by the lack of Xbox Live Vision camera support for the console across the board.
"It's surprising - the camera came out a while ago and they came out with the one download game, Totem Ball, and then that was it," she said.
The EyeToy team were much more receptive to Nintendo, however, offering the company praise for attracting a wider casual audience to videogames.
"I think it's just great, it's just making that many more people out there who maybe would never have thought about buying a videogame system or playing videogames - suddenly they're interested," said Spangler.
But the applause was short-lived, as Spangler and team believe - perhaps unsurprisingly - that EyeToy controls are superior to the Wiimote.
"It's more intuitive, it's very clear, as opposed to trying to figure out how to... use the Wii remote in ways that maybe naturally don't make sense. You wave it a lot to do activities where you wouldn't be waving in real life.
"Whereas what we always try and do with our games is make a direct correlation between the motion that you're doing and the action on screen, the effect you're having on the game."
Point your limbs at GamesIndustry.biz for the full interview with the EyeToy team, in which they talk about the future of the camera and the PS3's PlayStation Eye.