Sony Wants You to Touch the Monkey

[Susan Arendt]

Sony Wants You to Touch the Monkey

Sony unveiled EyePet for the PlayStation 3, which lets you play with a tiny virtual monkey using the Eye camera, during the Games Convention in Leipzig. Touch him! Love him!

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If you can tear your eyes away from the hyper-adorable, dragon-costume wearing monkey, consider the toy-drawing demonstration for a moment. Will it really work as smoothly as this video would have us believe? Probably not, but if it comes even close, it'll still be quite impressive.

I'm also mildly surprised that Sony went with a monkey, and not a more obvious choice like a puppy or kitten. Given the success of Nintendogs, and the lack of a decent cat counterpart, the appeal of a virtual kitten game seems obvious.

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[Johnn Johnston]

Touch him! Love him!

If it works anything like that trailer, I'd be more than happy to.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Sony didn't need to ask me that.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

Sony didn't need to ask me that.

Take it out of context, and it sounds like something you could probably be arrested for.

 

[Hey Joe]

Touching the monkey looks like a lot of fun. Seriously!

 

[Susan Arendt]

That actually does look really nice. Another of Sonys calming-but-fun games, like Afrika or Flower. If it works I'll need to get a Playstation Eye.

Two games I desperately want. I was also hoping that Shiki-Tei (the garden game) would get localized, but no such luck as of yet.

 

[Alex_P]

Liebe meine abst-monkey!

-- Alex

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I'm impressed I must say. I think it'll be a great product.

 

[Shadowtek]

looks nice.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Seems pretty awesome despite the extremely strange looking monkey. Then again, the whole thing seems more like an idea than an execution, as already mentioned about the toy concept.

 

[Jamash]

I'm also mildly surprised that Sony went with a monkey, and not a more obvious choice like a puppy or kitten. Given the success of Nintendogs, and the lack of a decent cat counterpart, the appeal of a virtual kitten game seems obvious.

Could it be because in Japanese/Asian culture the monkey holds a higher status than the cat?

There's a mythical monkey god, Monkey the TV series, Donkey Kong, the Chinese year of the Monkey. As far as I know there are no "kitten" equivalents, the only feline equilents are Tigers which are more ferocious than cute.

Maybe Sony are catering towards home market first, and even if there was a choice between kitten & monkey, they may have projected that overall sales would be less affected by giving the North American & European markets a monkey than by giving the Japanese & Asian markets a kitten.

After all you can't really go wrong with a cute monkey, no matter who you're selling it too.

 

[Vilhelm]

If he's bad, do you spank him?

 

[snuffler]

Thats actually pretty cool looking...
I would draw donkey kong and have them battle.

 

[wordsmith]

spank the monkey comes to PS3?

 

[ike_luv]

Sony didn't need to ask me that.

Take it out of context, and it sounds like something you could probably be arrested for.

Haha!! Don't tell anyone...

 

[HomeAliveIn45]

Neo pets anyone?

 

[HobbesMkii]

Could it be because in Japanese/Asian culture the monkey holds a higher status than the cat?

There's a mythical monkey god, Monkey the TV series, Donkey Kong, the Chinese year of the Monkey. As far as I know there are no "kitten" equivalents, the only feline equilents are Tigers which are more ferocious than cute.

Maybe Sony are catering towards home market first, and even if there was a choice between kitten & monkey, they may have projected that overall sales would be less affected by giving the North American & European markets a monkey than by giving the Japanese & Asian markets a kitten.

Dude, two words: "Hello Kitty"


ANYHOW, what happens if I just leave the game on but don't give him any attention? Maybe walk through the living room every once and a while? Also, that toy thing has got to broken a few times. I'll bet it only works with like 5 drawings.