Alongside the first ever Sony Eye Toy camera, the other big acquisitions that helped launch the National Videogame Archive were the prototype Rock Band guitar and drum kit. Generously donated by Boston-based studio Harmonix, the prototypes are unique objects and are the first instruments built to test the control system before mass production. Building upon the innovation of Guitar Hero, Rock Band has allowed the non-musicians among us to taste the highs of performing music live, helped broaden music taste, redesigned the concepts of game interaction and raised the bar for accessible party games. Take it away Alex Navarro and Ike Adams…

Alex Navarro & Ike Adams of Harmonix Donate to the National Videogame Archive from gamecity on Vimeo.

The instruments recently made an appearance in the National Media Museum’s quarterly publication ‘Archive’. Featured on a one-page spread showcasing new acquisitions, the magazine helps to publicise the sheer breadth and diversity of the Museum’s collection. Made up of over 3 million objects, it is one man’s job to photograph the collection – this man is Paul Thompson. His expertise and attention to detail is demonstrated in this fantastic image of the Rock Band instruments that was captured especially for the Archive article.

Seeing someone perform Rock Band in expert mode is pretty awe-inspiring. Just check out the crazy skills of this talented 5 year old:

But why play just one instrument when you can play all four?

You can read more about the history of Harmonix and the impact of Rock Band over at Gamasutra.

Sandy Spangler, Mark Parry from gamecity on Vimeo.

What you see here is the wonderful Mark Parry and Sandy Spangler from Sony London Studios pledging their support to The National Videogame Archive by donating the original, working prototype EyeToy camera for PS2. Complete with its handwritten ‘#1′ prototype sticker, this little black box revolutionised gameplay by blurring the boundary between the virtuality of the gameworld and the actuality and domesticity of the living room – and all for 30 quid!

Here’s Dr Richard Marks, the man who devised the EyeToy, talking about his creation and showing some tech demos.

We are hugely thankful to the lovely people at London Studios for this donation and are incredibly excited to see where they take EyeToy next…just look at this video for a glimpse of some is-it-real-or-is-it-sci-fi goodness…PlayStation Eye and the EyePet…

of course, for people old enough to remember Tomorrow’s World, this might look just a little like MIT’s interactive physics interactive whiteboard demo…

You can find out more about EyeToy at the official site and read about the history its development at Gamasutra where friend-of-GameCity Tom Kim has written a nice ‘In-Depth’ article.