There weren’t any surprises at the preview event today, but it was nice to get some more face time with Rock Band, even if you have a face like mine.

It looks like i’m screaming like a rock god, but i’m actually wailing in agony at how hard it is to play those plastic drums. If you crank the game all the way up to MEDIUM, you’re in for a world of hurt. i rocked the mic and aced the Clash song with 100%, but only because it was set to EASY, and because i have golden pipes like a choir of hard-rock angels.

There was no one on hand to give a demo of Eye of Judgment, a game that basks in its own complexity. i’m a big fan of spending far, far too much money on toys while many people in the world suffer, so here’s the rundown:

The Eye of Judgment is a CCG (collectible card game) that you play on your wicked expensive PS3 console. The game is comprised of a camera (the titular “Eye”), a fabric play mat, the game disc, and a starter deck of cards, all of which will run you approximately $cha-Ching, plus applicable taxes.

i’ve done tons of promos for Japanese toys where the anime support show has all kinds of monsters crawling out of them because they toys themselves are too dull to make an exciting show - stuff like spinning tops, marble shooters, and transforming plastic marbles. The toys themselves might have a sticker of a monster on them in real life, but on the teevee show, some gigantic dragon or flaming slug actually BURSTS out of the toy and does battle in mid-air.

Eye of Judgment is the first physical game where that kind of thing actually happens.

The camera points at the mat. You put your cards on the mat. Registration marks on the cards are read by the camera, and the software figures out which cards it’s looking at, and which way the cards are facing.

The rest is pure monster-popping action, yo.

That’s my hand on the card with a monster popping out of it on-screen! WOW! Then the monsters FIGHT! Something about this game totally grabs the little boy in me and does not let go. It’s all Indian in the Cupboard-style. Toys coming to life. And FIGHTING. My heart skips a beat.

Here’s a quick video where i spin one of the cards around so you can get a better sense of it. Unfortunately, that’s all i could figure out how to do because the demo jockey was off stuffing his face with crab cakes or whatever.

Eye of Judgment is an excellent way for rich kids to exert their financial dominance over other kids in the playground. If you’re playing this game, you or your parents are in the top percentile of the world’s wealthy. And you’re squandering your power and privilege on making computerized monsters leap out of paper cards to fight each other.

Whether you applaud the spawn of the idle rich or lament the worldwide child poverty crisis, the fact remains: Eye of Judgment brings a tear to the eye.

And some judgment.