They always say "Big Brother is watching". Well, this later this year, your PS3 will be watching too as Sony announced today the pending arrival of its next-generation PlayStation Eye camera. Scheduled for a summer release, the new PlayStation Eye is an essential accessory for voice, video chat, and online gaming that will enable gamers to use their PS3 in all new ways.

Designed specifically for PS3, the advanced USB camera and microphone expands on the heritage of the EyeToy USB Camera for PlayStation 2. The look of the PlayStation Eye naturally complements the advanced features and capabilities of PS3 with its slickly designed unit.

According to David Reeves, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, “PlayStation Eye is a great example of how we have moved forward so significantly with our technology. PlayStation Eye has four times the resolution, twice the framerate and double the sensitivity of its predecessor EyeToy USB Camera. With the technology that we now have at our disposal we will be able to dramatically improve the communications experience enjoyed on PS3”.

The PlayStation Eye will be used with upcoming gaming titles and new services being developed for PS3. Key features of the camera include:

• A sophisticated microphone with the ability to reduce background noise and focus on the spoken word for smoother, more accurate speech recognition and transfer

• The ability to capture videos and audio clips directly to your PS3’s hard disk drive

• Engineered to perform well even in low-light conditions

• A range of different capturing modes, including slow motion and time-lapse

• Faster frame rate for improved tracking, responsiveness and smoothness

• Two position zoom lens for close-up and full body options

• A range of eye-catching visual effects to apply to photos and videos

• Bundled with EyeCreate editing software, which allows users to save and edit photos, video and audio clips

EyeCreate editing software, bundled free with PlayStation Eye allows you to save photos, video and audio clips to your PS3 hard disk drive and apply eye-catching visual effects to your images. Different capture modes like time-lapse and slow motion open up a world of possibilities to be explored further in EyeCreate’s editing suite, where you can turn your media into professional looking movies.

An all-new four microphone array, incorporating multidirectional voice location tracking, enhanced echo cancelling and background noise suppression allows for clear audio chat in even the most noisy of environments, without the need to hold or wear a headset.

A frame rate of up to 120 frames per second allows for super-smooth video and sophisticated low-light operation means that the room doesn’t have to be brightly lit for the camera to deliver crisp, perfectly exposed video. The adjustable zoom lens features a 56 degree field of view to capture head and shoulders action for close-in audio-visual chat, and a 75 degree field of view to capture the whole body for a fully physical gaming experience.

For all of you tech geeks out there, the specs for the new camera include:

• 4 channel audio input:16 bits/channel, 48kHz, SNR 90db

• 56º to 75º Field of View zoom lens

• 2.1 F-stop, <1% distortion, fixed focus (25cm to 8 at 75º FOV)

• 640 x 480 at 60 frames/second

• 320 x 240 at 120 frames/second

• USB2 high-speed data transfer

• Uncompressed video or optional JPEG compression