EyePet, this cute little monkey type furby thing with big ears… You know, I have absolutely no idea what it’s meant to be, but even with the risk of shattering my non-existent tough guy image I have to say that it’s still really cute. Anyway, as I was saying… What? Now it’s hopping around trying to get me to play with it? Ok, just for a few minutes.

….

Damn loveable monkey thing!

Right, let’s get back to business. EyePet, the PS3’s new virtual pet, will be out on 23 October here in the UK – which has only just recovered from the great Furby invasion of the 1990’s (the things I saw in those years, Furby’s taking over entire towns and enslaving their populations. Those times are far too horrible to talk about) – so you can stop watching videos and actually play with the thing yourself pretty soon.

Oh, go on then, here’s one more video. Well, actually it’s above this post so you’ve probably already clicked on it, but for those of you who didn’t then I’m politely asking you to continue to read until the end of this post.

Still with me? Good, let’s continue. EyePet makes use of the PlaystationEye (yes, it IS actually useful for something), meaning that the monkey hybrid thing will appear on whatever surface you have the camera pointed at (it won’t actually appear in reality of course, but it will on your TV). You can then interact with the pet, such as reacting to a tickle, or scaring it when you make a loud clap. There are far cooler things you can do with it of course, such as drawing an object on a piece of paper, holding it up to the camera and having the pet draw a copy. If, for example, you draw the parts of a plane then a plane will appear and the pet will take off with a cackling laugh. You will then never see the pet again, and you will be about £50 out of pocket. Ok, the last part doesn’t happen but there are still plenty of things to keep your kids happy with. There will also be a wide range of customisable options; such as changing the colour of your pet’s fur, or dressing him up in cute little outfits.

Although I begged for one for months I never had a Furby, and I was always a bit sad that I missed out on that craze. Maybe I can relive my childhood fantasies with EyePet, even if it is just a virtual monkey thing on my TV screen.

Because I’m nice you can have one more video. This one is a developer giving a demo, so it actually shows how the game works and doesn’t just throw a cheesy promotional video at you.

(Image source)

If you still haven’t finished your Christmas shopping then I’ve got another excellent game idea for you. Make sure you hurry up though, as you haven’t got all that long left!

The Nintendo DS has given rise to a fair number of innovating ideas due to its touch screen (it has also churned out a lot of poor quality titles, some of which shove in tacky uses for the touch screen where it’s not really needed in that particular game), but none go to the extent that developer 5th Cell does. Their latest title, Drawn to Life, uses the touch screen to allow the player to draw. The unique part of this is that the player has to draw the hero they’ll be playing as throughout the game. That’s not all though; as the player also needs to draw the vehicles, weapons and platform elements that make up each level.

While its colourful artsy charm and relatively simplistic gameplay will appeal mostly to kids, it’s also a great game for us creative types. I have spent ages trying to create the perfect character and weapon, and then smiling with pure glee when I see my creation walk around the game. The character does have a cardboard cut-out feel to it, and does walk around a little wonky, but I say that it only adds to the overall charm. You will also discover that the game is mostly about drawing, which is why I say the game is perfect for kids at an age that they should be expressing their creativity. They won’t find the gameplay too hard, and they’ll have great fun creating the missing parts of the game.

5th Cell is currently working on a new game, Scribblenauts, that sounds even more innovating than Drawn to Life. Apparently you can write the name of any object on the touch screen and it will spawn it. Check out my blog post for more on the game.