PlayStation Eye: It's the mic that matters

Dr. Richard Marks, the man behind the PS3's upcoming Eye camera, says that the device's most important feature is its background noise-reducing microphone.

Speaking to Level Up the good doctor said, "The hands-free voice input this enables may be the single most important feature of PlayStation Eye. Previously, the only way to get clean voice data was using a headset worn by the player; now, without wearing a headset, players will be able to talk freely.

"The device is especially good at removing ambient sounds like traffic and wind noises from outside, the whirring of fans, etc. Also, there is special processing to remove the game sounds generated by the PS3 itself."

The Eye camera was officially announced by SCEE last week, sporting a two-position zoom lens, various capture modes and improved tracking and responsiveness with a stupidly-quick frame rate up to 120fps.

It'll be in the shops this summer for an unknown price - though according to Marks it'll be quite affordable: "I don't know exactly when the price announcement for PlayStation Eye will be, but please note that the model used for the rough cost design was EyeToy."

May 1, 2007