Monster Vision: Eye of Judgment Q&A

Sony's Yusuku Watanabe takes us through the camera-and-card game for the PlayStation 3.

Page: 1  2 

Page 2

Is there a way to play the game with just the cards, without the camera? Is there enough information on the cards to play the game as a normal traading card game?

Yes, you can. When we started out, we didn't have the PS3 technology or the camera, so we printed out all the details of the creatures and their abilities. We actually played with the cards. It took about two years for us to come to grips with the balance that it needs to achieve in terms of the game and the rules.

Watanabe on the phone to Japan

Who would you say this game is being targeted at? From the look and feel of the game, it seems it may be aimed at the mainstream. If that's the case, do you not think that the game is coming out too early in the life of the PS3 and that it may get passed over?

Eye Of Judgment was first shown at E3 2006 and we have had different events and sites where we have offered people the gameplay experience for Eye Of Judgement. And what I am happy to say is a lot of people who have actually played the game say, "I'm going to buy a PS3 because I want to play Eye Of Judgment". It's a great comment to receive as a creator. So for me, no, I don't think the timing is too early. I think this will allow the market to develop as we go along. And also, because it has the online capabilities, I think it has enough to satisfy the game community that we need to satisfy as well.

Do you know yet how much the game is going to cost?

I don't know what the European price is going to be, but for the Japan price, it's going to be released at 9,980 yen, which is about 40 to 50 pounds.

Yes, but relative to average Japanese game prices, that's about 50 per cent higher that normal, isn't it?

About 30 per cent. But, when we spoke to retailers initially, they were quite surprised by how low it was. because they thought that with the camera and all the things involved, they were expecting it to be about 12,000 to 13,000 yen, so they were quite happy to hear it was this price.

One of the more interesting parts of the demo was when you showed how you can interact with the creature on the card. Is this something your group is planning to take further? You could imagine something along the lines of Nintendogs, where you could stroke your pet and interact with it.

For Eye Of Judgment, we're quite happy with the level of interaction with the creatures we've achieved. But I think there is a great demand for other content, like petting your pet for example, something that, depending on the user, they might look for with dinosaurs or a cutesy kind of content. Depending on that, I think there's more potential we can develop.

But nothing is in the works?

Only in my head. [Laughs]

Page: 1  2 

Click here for Kikizo's interview archive.