PlayStation Eye Ready to See, Hear You

Soon you'll be able to see and be seen while you're blasting away on your PlayStation 3. Sony has just announced its next-gen video cam for the PS3, featuring a new microphone that screens out background noise, VGA-quality video and software for editing your video clips.

Available this summer, the PlayStation Eye is an update of the old EyeToy for the PS2, and this time it comes with a built-in microphone (complete with background-noise reduction and the ability to hone in on spoken words) and video quality ranging from 640 x 480 pixels at 60 frames per second or 320 x 240 pixels at 120 frames per second—not bad, but a far cry from the high-def PlayStation cam Sony promised us way back when. Gripes aside, the upcoming Eye boasts full-body and close-up zoom modes, plus improved picture quality in low-light condition (perfect for your dimly lit gaming lair) and EyeCreate editing software, which lets you save video clips and stills to the PS3's hard drive, and then edit them to your heart's content.

Look for the Eye to arrive sometimes this summer; Sony hasn't announced pricing yet, but given that the Xbox Live Vision cam goes for $40, I'd hope that the Eye hovers somewhere in the below-$50 ballpark.

Related:
Wave goodbye to EyeToy, say hi to PlayStation Eye [Joystiq]
Press release [Sony]