Playing Games Via Mind Control

Will you control the game, or will it control YOU?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6166959.html
from WinCustomize Forums
NewsIt's that time of year, the Game Developers Conference 2007 is underway and all sorts of tech is being talked about and shown off that relates to games (PC, console) and how we play and interact with them.  Every now and then, something really unique and interesting comes out of these presentations that has implications far beyond that of video games.

This year, Emotiv Systems unveiled a brain/computer interface that allows users to exert control over the virtual world using only their mind.  The device is a helmet that the user wears, and currently through thought, players can move objects around, and the demo game can react to the relative excitement or calm of the gamer.

The device tends to work best with children and older individuals who have an easier time "believing" that they can control something with their mind.  Those with more active imaginations have proven to be more successful at manipulating things in the tests Emotive has conducted.  Adults with more rigid thinking, have a harder time accepting that this is possible, and thus have a harder time actually accomplishing tasks in the game.

Dubbed "Project Epoc", the controller is expected to be available at some point in 2008, with a dev kit released this week to developers who are interested in experimenting with the technology in their games.

For more details, check out the story at GameSpot.

3,699 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I play mind games all the time! Drives people nuts!
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
In Soviet Russia , game control you-erm, never mind.

Just remember people. You must think in Russian.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
What's bizarre is all the negative comments on this story at GameSpot. It seems a lot of people (primarily gamers, since that's their core audience on that site) are crying foul that this will cause brain cancer, debilitating headaches, or have other monstrous side-effects. I suppose anything's possible, but it's not like Emotiv is releasing a DNI (Direct Neural Interface, plugs physically directly into the brain to send and receive signals) or anything that would permenantly alter brain chemistry or anything like that.

I personally think this is very cool, and mirror what a few people on GameSpot spoke to in terms of partnering this with a VR visor and a Wiimote, putting us damn close to total immersion in games.

The possibilities here are pretty phenomenal. Imagine the evolution of this thing, adding the ability to send rather than just receive these signals. Think too about how that could ultimately cut down on the development time and resources needed for games; the game could transmit templates of objects, environments, and people, which would be decoded by the brain with all the gaps filled in (kind of like the phychology experiments with partially-defined letters that people read as real words due to the brain's ability to fill in the gaps to make something recognizable). That would cut down drastically on the art resources needed during game development.

I'm rambling, but I think this is cool all by itself, and opens the door for even cooler things down the road. Surely, a technology like this would never be abused or misused by anyone...
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Surely, a technology like this would never be abused or misused by anyone...


surely you jest

It's My Secret
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Surely, a technology like this would never be abused or misused by anyone...


Surely they would.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I WOULD!