Mind-Control Game Headset On Sale Christmas
March 13, 2008 by Jayvee Fernandez
Filed under Computers
What? All those years of perfecting my hand-eye coordination for nothing?
Imagine controlling a video game by thought alone. Two weeks ago at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Emotiv Systems showcased a new device, the Epoc, designed to help you do just that.
While Emotiv’s futuristic, dueling-octopus looking headset will initially be developed for video games, it could eventually be used in medicine, virtual reality, robotics, education and many other areas.
The technology is based on electroencephalography, more commonly known as EEG. EEG has been around for over 100 years and is currently used to study sleep patterns and epilepsy by analyzing electrical activity in the brain. Until recently, though, EEG readings were regarded as too broad for most applications.
The breakthrough, notes Emotiv Systems’ President Tan Le, is in the software algorithm that decodes a person’s thoughts by analyzing the electrical impulses in the brain.
The device and a game bundled with it will cost $299 and will be available this Christmas. While some games will be specifically designed for the headset, Le notes that it could be used in any computer game.
Add voiceless chat for some telepathic trash-talk.
You know what this really needs to spur adoption? A Star Wars Wii game. Imagine using your Wiimote as a lightsaber while using Force powers with your Epoc.
i believe the new mind controlling video games is a great idea. because more people will use the device instead of using controllers because some people think controllers on some games get their hands tired, but with the mind control there wont be any hands on. now that this device has been created, this will be the new generation of video gaming. to me, this is awesome, and i, myself am going to college to be a video game designer, and to let you know one of my first games will have the ability to use this device or controllers.
Just imagine the possibilities! Controlling your computer with out a keyboard. No more keyboard. Typing would become so much easier. Turn on and off things with the mind. And pushing it even farther perhaps we can reverse it a little and send signals to let us feel sensations in the game like love, joy, peace and whatever.
OMG this will be awesome….. now if theres some sort of Gaming-visor which lets us be in the game too, like in ‘The World’, the game in the .hack// series.