Sony brought more than expected to the Edinburgh Interactive Festival earlier in the week, including a presentation about their Christmas lineup involving the PlayStation 2 EyeToy. Their main focus was on a sword game called Hero, played in first person, that apparently will feature 1:1 swordplay. Graphically the title looks like a cross between Dragon’s Lair and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and it will allow for players to swing a green, foam sword in different directions to simulate sword slashes on screen. It works on a 2D field, so there isn’t any poking or prodding happening, and subtle motion isn’t really in the cards, but it will be available by Christmas for the PlayStation 2 and has a few other tricks up it's sleeve. Here's an example:

"One interesting example of these powers was your sword becoming a fiery beacon of sorts that needs to be used to guide the player through dark passageways. The sword needs to be hidden behind the players back to cover the light when monsters are passing. This is a great example of Sony playing to the strengths of their hardware, and producing gameplay that could not be done with a Wiimote."

Below are some blurry pictures (in expand-o-blur) of Hero in action.

It sounds like they are promoting it like Ubisoft promoted Red Steel for the Wii early on, and the limited sensitivity of the EyeToy makes it sound a lot more like that game than anything the Wii Motion Plus is cooking up. We will keep an eye on it, but color me skeptical that this will be anything more than a silly, arm-swinging gimmick. Wow, now I know what I sound like to people who hate on the Wii…

[Via Darkzero]

Related Articles:

E3 08: Wii Sports Resort Coming Next Spring

Wii Rain Checks Not Selling Out

Nintendo Power Reveals Sonic & The Black Knight, Wii exclusive