New Game Alert: Going Back to the EyeToy Days!

Kung-Fu Live for the PlayStation 3 has been inducted into my Game Library today. This hilarious game transports your entire body into the television screen as you fight hordes of stereotypical kung-fu themed baddies like you are some kind of action hero. There is a reason why I thought the PlayStation Move is the better option for motion-control gaming because its partner, the PlayStation Eye itself is capable of doing what the X-Box 360's Kinect does. This should not be a surprise to anyone since Sony had already ventured into the body tracking realm during its PlayStation 2 EyeToy experimentation period a long time ago.

Seeing yourself doing all sorts of nasty tricks on the screen is very entertaining.

The developer, Virtual Air Guitar Company, uses its proprietary FreeMotion technology that enables regular webcams to track the entire human body while applying background removal in the process. Now don't get delusional about this being even remotely as good as the Kinect's body tracking technology. One, it doesn't manipulate depth detection and two, it is very finicky to use. I can't even get my image to be displayed completely at the moment because there is not enough light in my room - something that doesn't bother the Kinect at all. The top portion of my body was shown perfectly but the lower part was all over the place and this is probably caused by the shadows on the floor as hinted by the game. I hope that I can work out the kinks properly and soon because this game is a lot more exciting than anything done on the Kinect thus far... with the exception of Dance Central. One thing is for sure though - playing this game is very, very tiring. All that punching and kicking wore me out after just about fifteen minutes. Definitely a good way to exercise but it doesn't take away the crazy, stupid fun that the game brings to the table.

Update Note: 12/09/2010 - I was able to get everything to work! Read about it by clicking here.