Sega Superstars

[Madbury]

Got this one out at the meet and the general impressions were quite positive. Most of the games are well thought out and there are some very neat concepts on display. Re. Puyo Puyo, which has the player using their body to catch and funnel the little loveable blobs of jelly into their corresponding coloured homes. Fantastic.

Generally I'm liking this more than eyetoy play, but it remains to be seen if there is enough here for extended play. In most cases the transition to eyetoy has been very successful and in some cases the slight change in gameplay has produced a new and refreshing twist on some of segas more unusual candidates. Notably, Chu Chu Rocket has been implemented in a very ingenious fashion.

If I was to pick a the weakest of the games then I think it would have to be 'House of the Dead', which plays almost identically to eyetoys kungfu and seems equally as pointless.

[Rushy]

I also have had great fun over the weekend with this title. Much better than the original Play title is most areas nearly all of the mini games are fun and have some hidden depth to them.

The only game which I have not enjoyed is Crazy Taxi, which either I don't quite understand or it is just awful as I suspect (wave and shout like a madman seems to be the jist of it).

[PeteJ]

Yeah I enjoyed this, especially Puyo Puyo which was very well implimented. I expect that if they really tried, Sega could produce a cracking game using Eyetoy; the way the camera could pick up your movement in the Puyo Puyo game was ingenius, and it'd be great if they made a full title using this feature alone.

HOTD was a bit naff, though the woman who gives you a slap if you smack her was pretty amusing. Sonic was poor (I thought I could pick up the rings with my hands, ok?!), Monkey Ball was cool (though impossible) and Virtua Fighter wasn't so bad.

This was the first time I've played on Eye Toy and I was quite surprised. I still wouldn't buy it mind

[Madbury]

The only game which I have not enjoyed is Crazy Taxi, which either I don't quite understand or it is just awful as I suspect (wave and shout like a madman seems to be the jist of it).

Yes that really needs a few pints beforehand. It's a very silly game and clearly little thought was put into it. Although the fact the eyetoy has a mic excited me.

[Papercut]

I really enjoyed this.

Super Monkey Ball and NiGHTS are fantastic, and Space Channel 5 had me hooked just because it is so damned difficult.

[JibberX]

I'd probably destroy my house quite quickly if I had this "EyeToy".

[Papercut]

Samba was a little disappointing though.

Unlike the original, you have no tactile feedback on the beat, which is a lot less enjoyable. There is a greater delay in the eyetoy noticing movement over a hit point, compared to the maracas detecting a shake, so the timing feels strange. You find yourself making more allowances for the camera than you would with the more immediate technology of the maracas.

Having said all that, Sega have done as much as they can to provide a decent version of Samba for the Eyetoy

I just wished they'd tried to do something slightly different instead, as the perfect version of Samba already exists, and requires plastic maracas...

[Rushy]

I just wished they'd tried to do something slightly different instead, as the perfect version of Samba already exists, and requires plastic maracas...

To true. Although the sega superstars version is great fun, it doesn't require anywhere near as much rythem as the DC version which consequently makes it all to easy, I mean beating ultra hard first time around was dissapointing.

Anyone have any problems controlling nights btw? I was able to control monkey ball which is virtually the same system but for some reason the nights one is very fussy and has pretty much made it unplayable for me

And regards to puyo puyo it is very clever how it calibrates the game so that it takes an image of the background into memory and anything new after the calibration (you) remains a solid object. Very well worked.

[Madbury]

Yes the Puyo Puyo game although basic really does show the potential for eyetoy. Just watching people play it brought a huge grin across my face.

[Papercut]

what frustrates me about this is the dreameye.

the dreameye was shown really early in prototype form for the Dreamcast, and games were mentioned as one of the reasons it would exist.

it took a long time for the dreameye to be released, so late in fact that no games took advantage of it (only the included video messaging software and the dreamkara use it).

makes me wonder what would have happened had Sega Superstars been a launch title for the Dreamcast, what with it pissing all over eyetoy play and all.

oh yeah; people would have just ignored it while they creamed themselves over the PS2

[Papercut]

Yes the Puyo Puyo game although basic really does show the potential for eyetoy. Just watching people play it brought a huge grin across my face.

[Darwock]

"Television is your God"

[Madbury]

Papercut your point about the dreameye is a valid one.

Looking across the current crop of consoles (incl. the DC) the PS2 has shown practically no innovation in terms of first party input interfaces available for it. (Although arguably the XBox is even more boring). What shocks me about the Eye Toy is, it's just so not Sony. Even the name of it (Toy) is at odds with Sonys branding for the PS2.

I just hope that in the long run Eye Toy is perceived to be a success and makes money for Sony. Perhaps we might get to see even more innovation from the market leader in the future (maybe even 4 joystick ports for PS3).

[Papercut]

I think the Eyetoy is part of a slight rebranding of 'Playstation', in Europe at least. The brand is now more overtly 'entertainment'.

The Eyetoy launched at the same time as Sony's new 'Fun, Anyone?' marketing campaign, and was promoted heavily at the Playstation Experience.

[charlesr]

I couldn't help but use my head to try and nudge the puyos over towards the correct side. It felt like they were really there.