Behold, the eye... the Eye of Judgment!

Now, say that subject line to yourself in the voice of Dr. Byron Orpheous (of Venture Brothers fame). If that makes no sense to you, disregard that suggestion. IGN provides a summary of an interview with Mr. Watanabe, one of the brains behind the Eye of Judgment, an interesting twist on the card game genre. We'll do our usual and summarize the summary.

• "We use technology that can read 2D bar codes called cyber codes. The cards carry codes in this fashion. If the user lays it out in front so that it's picked up by the camera, it recognizes the code and can call out the character that's associated with the card's ID," says Watanabe.

• The game reflected Watanabe's movement in real time and even allowed him to "pet" the creatures on each card.

• Versus mode? There's a 3x3 grid where each player tries to take control of five spaces. There's also rumors of online services where you can battle people overseas. This will increase interest, so hopes Watanabe. Expanding the community, forming new interests... you know. Becoming more worldly, or something.
  

• "For people who've not played card games until now, we believe there are many who will take an interest from the visual impact and will want to try out the game. Also, we're making a real card game, so it will be something that core gamers can get a lot out of." Sounds interesting enough. Better than Uno? We'll see...

• The battle scenes use techniques like jet brushes and normal maps... not to mention a ton of particle effects.

• "The player selects the card, and puts it in a place where it can be placed. That's it. The controller is not used at all. Only cards. The cards are what you'd call the input interface." See, that's pretty cool.

• Watanabe's feelings about the PS3 are also conveyed: "The PlayStation 3 can be a new segment of digital entertainment that goes beyond the framework of previous consoles. We're at the point where designers, myself included, can realize ideas that we joked about before."

So there you have it. A little bit of info and Watanabe's thoughts. Not much info about the actual game, regrettably, but it gives a little insight into the true power of the new Eye Toy. You can check out IGN's summary and a few cool screens, but we've got a feeling more new info will surface after the Tokyo Game Show.