$20 buy-in
Tuesday / 12.14.04 / 01:04AM / Joe
There's a commercial running pushing the EyeToy, where they claim over a dozen PS2 titles support it. That's probably more like "over a dozen titles may use it" since one of the games they show is World Championship Poker, which offers EyeToy support inasmuch as it is totally optional. Mike and I actually just got done playing Texas Hold 'Em tonight. He doesn't have an EyeToy, but I do... here's what it looks like:
I realize it's a lousy shot, but that little picture-in-picture bottom right is my live video feed that pops up in-game. The game itself still runs with normal CG avatars; the EyeToy video is a total luxury. Add in a USB headset and it's not bad at all. Occasionally the audio would go staticky or be stepped on by the game's terrible play-by-play announcer, but you could trust it enough to hold a conversation, for the most part. And I got to mug for the camera for our amusement. As to the video quality... well, remember the first internet video you ever saw? It's a lot like that.
Still, having online play with voice/video chat is pretty cool for a $20 budget title. The game also has a creepy avatar-building mode, where you're supposed to recreate your face by manipulating a mess of effect sliders. Not too bad, although there's only a minimal selection of clothes. I can't find any notice about unlocking more clothes with all that virtual money you're earning - which would have been a natural bonus. So it's a bit anemic in the end. And although there's more poker variants than you've ever heard of before, they didn't sweeten the deal by including Blackjack. Holding that one for the inevitable online casino game, I guess.
We're playing again Wednesday night. Stop on by. The game will probably be titled "Joe."
But speaking of EyeToy games, a month ago we picked up one of the few genuine EyeToy-centric titles, Sega Superstars. The games are better than the ones on the Play disc, and interacting with classic Sega franchises throughout history is cooler than the committee-designed populace of Play any day. But Superstars makes the same asinine mistake Play made: no tournament mode. You can't register 4 players, gun automatically through X games, and see who has the most points at the end. Instead, you choose one game and take turns playing it. Weak. I've mentioned before how much slicker the Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban EyeToy bonus games handled the concept and I'll forward you there again. Once again, a complete afterthought has trounced a disc dedicated to EyeToy games.
Take the quality mini-games from Harry Potter and Sega Superstars, dress it up in a full-service Mario Party-style board game, take it online (optional), and you'll have the most awesome EyeToy disc created. I hope somebody somewhere is working on that. | 
