mini-games they could control with waves of their hands.PlayStation camera games seemed like efforts to find new ways for players to touch games.Years ago, I interviewed Sony's chief developer behind the company's PlayStation cameras, IWC Richard Marks.It was clear from our conversation that he was interested in augmented reality, the kind of camera tricks that can make virtual items and beings appear to be in the real world when seen through the viewfinder of a video screen attached to a camera.
He told me about a PSP camera application that, based on what you'd see on you PSP screen, would make it seem like there were little men standing on your coffee table.Later, PS3 gamers got Eye of Judgment, which used that system's add-on camera to put little monsters on a playing mat.EyePet felt like the next step of that, with the novelty Audemars Piguet that the creature seemed almost touchable.It lept and ran across a coffee table in reaction to my hand movements.Milo seems like a grander idea.It's trying to simulate a human being, after all.And it is not nearly as far along as EyePet.
Sony's software is attempting to render as if alive a creature that doesn't exist, a make-believe animal for which we have no real-world expectations.That's a lower bar, but still a high one.Milo could see the color of my shirt but might seem like a slow-witted boy if, by the time he's released, he can't understand the tone of my voice.EyePet can A Lange & Sohne hop over my hand and sit for a good brushing, but I don't know if he'll ever express any care about me.As with a dog or even a cat, I think affection for him will be more of a one-way street.