Sony/PS2 (£29.99 or £39.99 with camera)
EyeToy: Chat is Sony’s slap in the face for telecommunications companies around the world. Armed with the Chat software and a broadband connection, users can transform their EyeToy camera and PS2 console into a live video phone capable of making free calls to other EyeToy: Chat users anywhere in the world.
EyeToy: Chat, which had its first UK airing at the Edinburgh International Games Festival two weeks ago, will go on sale in September. The Chat software was developed in secrecy in a tiny office in London — an improbable start for a product tipped to be one of the hottest properties of the year.
The software allows users to talk in one of four ways — instant text and voice messages, 30-second video mail or live one-to-one video chats. The last is the most appealing, of course, and although there is a slight delay as pictures and sound are relayed between two PS2 consoles, the image quality holds up reasonably well. You can also blow up the images, although you lose definition in the process.
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When users tire of staring at one another in cyberspace, they can compete against each other in three games that are included in the package: Naval War, Checkers and Chess.
The Chat software is locked when you first receive it, in order to ensure maximum parental control. In fact, the EyeToy Chat is virtually unusable unless you first read the detailed instruction manual, which tells you how to register online with Sony Central Station, an essential first step in using the device.
EyeToy: Chat is aimed at the four million people around the world — a quarter of them in the UK — who already own an EyeToy. Video conferencing may be nothing new to PC owners, but EyeToy: Chat could open up a whole new world for people who at present own only consoles.
Tim Wapshott