Unless You Love PS4 Streaming, There’s No Reason To Get The PlayStation Camera Yet

Sony sent us a PlayStation Camera along with the PlayStation 4, but the accessory is mostly limited to the Playroom tech demo. The Playroom demonstrates how the PlayStation Camera can be used for augmented reality when you interact with Asobi, a flying robot that you can "touch." The image captured by the PlayStation Camera in The Playroom is shaper than the PS3’s PlayStation Eye, but is still a little grainy.

The camera can also track the light bar on the DualShock 4 which you can test out in AR Hockey. This is basically Pong, but you control your paddle using the touchpad and can bend the game board by moving the controller. Since the Playoom isn’t a full game you probably won’t spend much time with it and right now that’s the only software that utilizes the PlayStation Camera.

The PlayStation Camera also can be used for voice commands which you can activate by saying "PlayStation." You can start games this way, but you can’t browse through Netflix’s library using voice commands. The only time I found it useful was when taking screenshots.

Right now, the only good use you’ll get out of a PlayStation Camera is if you like narrating videos while streaming gameplay. Since the accessory is sold separately in North America I wonder if developers will support it. Japan and other regions in Asia have hardware bundles with the PlayStation Camera.