Sony Couldn't Handle EyeToy Kama Sutra

Marshall Honorof

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Sony Couldn't Handle EyeToy Kama Sutra


Sony was in no position to fund a racy PS2 pitch.

The EyeToy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kama_Sutra], a marginally useful camera PS2 add-on, Sony had to say no to a very creative pitch to transform this ancient text into what would undoubtedly have been one of the sexiest games ever made (and you thought Dante's Inferno was a weird adaptation!).

"Seriously, this was a genuine pitch," says Sony Computer Entertainment executive producer Pete Smith of the proposed EyeToy Kama Sutra. "So, the guy is going to me, 'it's like, so there's an outline on the screen with the EyeToy ...' I'm like, I get it, yeah." Smith turned down the pitch because, aside from questions of taste, there would be no practical way to perform QA or market the finished product. Still, the product has been on Smith's mind ever since, and perhaps, in hindsight, not as impossible as he initially thought. "In one sense I think, god, I wish it would have been done. We could have maybe got some celebrity endorsements and stuff like that."

Even though Smith turned down the eager developer, he was happy to hear a pitch with genuine excitement behind it. "What I just find strange is, sometimes you get these pitches and you think, this is just bonkers. But the developers absolutely believe in it, which is great. I'd much rather that than they come along halfhearted." While EyeToy Kama Sutra never saw the light of day, Smith still tries to see the positive side of turning down creative pitches. "[You] have to be willing sometimes to admit defeat, because otherwise it's not a risk ... But if you're going to fail, fail fast and cheap."

For the rest of us, the Kama Sutra is available in the public domain online and at just about every bookstore and library in the Western world. Reading the book is not as interactive as playing a game, but we've heard that it has a pretty compelling cooperative mode.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-11-eyetoy-kama-sutra-the-game-sony-rejected]

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FantomOmega

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"Sony Couldn't Handle EyeToy Kama Sutra"

You serious? the headline should be "Sony Avoids Severe Media Backlash by NOT Making Sex Position Sim"

That idea literately REEKS of trouble on consoles!
Remember that "Hot Coffee" mini game anyone?
 

BehattedWanderer

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Jun 24, 2009
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I see a Kinect freeware future for this. Or maybe a Wii one. Seems like the balance board would get some use again. Improve your form, and your score!
 

McMullen

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Marshall Honorof said:
Smith turned down the pitch because, aside from questions of taste, there would be no practical way to perform QA or market the finished product.
And that is how the best "Tales from the Trenches" article ever went unwritten.
 

Scars Unseen

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FantomOmega said:
"Sony Couldn't Handle EyeToy Kama Sutra"

You serious? the headline should be "Sony Avoids Severe Media Backlash by NOT Making Sex Position Sim"

That idea literately REEKS of trouble on consoles!
Remember that "Hot Coffee" mini game anyone?
The hot coffee mod was only an issue because it made use of on-disc resources that would have put GTAIII in an AO rating had the ESRB known about them. There are plenty of games already rated AO, but most of them are crap. No uproar is made about any of those because they aren't carried by family oriented retailers like Walmart. This would have been the same.
 

Tamrin

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Marshall Honorof said:
For the rest of us, the Kama Sutra is available in the public domain online and at just about every bookstore and library in the Western world. Reading the book is not as interactive as playing a game, but we've heard that it has a pretty compelling cooperative mode.
Meh, I don't know. The last time I played one of these games I took a major beating in the dungeons.
 

Slayer_2

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Scars Unseen said:
The hot coffee mod was only an issue because it made use of on-disc resources that would have put GTAIII in an AO rating had the ESRB known about them. There are plenty of games already rated AO, but most of them are crap. No uproar is made about any of those because they aren't carried by family oriented retailers like Walmart. This would have been the same.
The butthurt from "protective" North American mothers would have still been there, trust me. Blow people up, spill their guts out, crush skulls under your virtual car's tires, just don't show a titty!

Tamrin said:
Meh, I don't know. The last time I played one of these games I took a major beating in the dungeons.
I see what you did there...
 

Scars Unseen

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Slayer_2 said:
Scars Unseen said:
The hot coffee mod was only an issue because it made use of on-disc resources that would have put GTAIII in an AO rating had the ESRB known about them. There are plenty of games already rated AO, but most of them are crap. No uproar is made about any of those because they aren't carried by family oriented retailers like Walmart. This would have been the same.
The butthurt from "protective" North American mothers would have still been there, trust me. Blow people up, spill their guts out, crush skulls under your virtual car's tires, just don't show a titty!
I really, really doubt it. I mean seriously, take a look at this list. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO-rated_products] The only one of those I recall there being any outrage about was Manhunt, due to - drumroll please - excessive violence. The sex related ones went completely beneath the radar of the "think of the children" group because the games had no public visibility. This would have been the same deal.
 

Slayer_2

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Scars Unseen said:
Slayer_2 said:
Scars Unseen said:
The hot coffee mod was only an issue because it made use of on-disc resources that would have put GTAIII in an AO rating had the ESRB known about them. There are plenty of games already rated AO, but most of them are crap. No uproar is made about any of those because they aren't carried by family oriented retailers like Walmart. This would have been the same.
The butthurt from "protective" North American mothers would have still been there, trust me. Blow people up, spill their guts out, crush skulls under your virtual car's tires, just don't show a titty!
I really, really doubt it. I mean seriously, take a look at this list. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO-rated_products] The only one of those I recall there being any outrage about was Manhunt, due to - drumroll please - excessive violence. The sex related ones went completely beneath the radar of the "think of the children" group because the games had no public visibility. This would have been the same deal.
How old are most of those games? Probably so old that gaming wasn't a common hobby, especially for little kids (unlike nowadays). Most American parents are fine with virtual violence, but fear virtual sex like no other.
 

2733

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Tamrin said:
Marshall Honorof said:
For the rest of us, the Kama Sutra is available in the public domain online and at just about every bookstore and library in the Western world. Reading the book is not as interactive as playing a game, but we've heard that it has a pretty compelling cooperative mode.
Meh, I don't know. The last time I played one of these games I took a major beating in the dungeons.
You probably need a higher level sword.
 

Evil Smurf

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Nov 11, 2011
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so sex on camera for the cameras benefit? I knew the machines would be our overlords one day but this......This is scary!
 

Bvenged

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DVS BSTrD said:
Now THAT would have been a good use for motion controls!
<youtube=YxgXHKh2Gjw>
I laughed so hard I forgot what day of the week it was.

The EyeToy was amazing, it was a cheap Kinect that was a tonne more reliable, and didn't sue infra red.
 

Yopaz

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Jun 3, 2009
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Well, Kama Sutra got a decent multiplayer, but the single player is incredibly boring.
 

iseko

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Marshall Honorof said:
If you're going to fail, fail fast and cheap."
This is gonna be my quote of the year!

OT: I don't think I would have bought a game like that... Besides I think it would have pissed off a LOT of soccer moms so it's probably for the best.