EyeToy boosted by monkey mini-games, while Konami and Bandai plan other titles

Support for PS2's innovative EyeToy peripheral continues to grow, with the announcement in Japan this week that Sony is working on an Ape Escape-inspired, simian-fuelled mini-game title called Saru EyeToy (screenshots), while Konami is working on the tentatively-titled EyeToy: Sport (due out on July 15th) and Bandai is planning a kids EyeToy game called Kaiketsu Zorori: Mezase! Itazura King (due out April 28th).

Saru EyeToy is probably the most interesting of those, not least of all because of its innovative "monkeys do crazy stuff" angle. Well, perhaps not innovative, but certainly bankable in Japan (and down our way too). Apparently we can expect a collection of around 30 mini-games with monkeys in them, including hurdles, weight lifting and hair-styling competitions for up to four players. There's no official release date for the title yet (and no confirmation of Western plans), but we'll definitely be keeping an eye on it.

Sadly, very little is known about the Konami and Bandai titles, although the Konami EyeToy: Sport title sounds a lot like the rumoured "EyeToy: Sports" project that was mentioned when EyeToy: Groove was first announced. What we do know this week comes to us via Impress Game Watch and Famitsu Weekly magazine, which also reveals that the Japanese EyeToy: Groove will have a completely different song listing and will be called EyeToy Furi Furi Dance Tengoku when it launches on June 24th.

We've already seen Groove here in the UK and the rest of Europe, but we're anticipating that EyeToy: Play 2 will be unveiled imminently (possibly at E3 or even ahead of it) following recent confirmation that the game is in development, while EA has already confirmed that Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban will feature EyeToy support.