Slashdot Mirror
'Mind Gaming' Could Enter Market This Year
An anonymous reader writes "In an adapted version of the Harry Potter video game, players lift boulders and throw lightning bolts using only their minds. Just as physical movement changed the interface of gaming with Nintendo's Wii, the power of the mind may be the next big thing in video games. And it may come soon. Emotiv, a company based in San Francisco, says its mind-control headsets will be on shelves later this year, along with a host of novel "biofeedback" games developed by its partners. Several other companies — including EmSense in Monterey, California; NeuroSky in San Jose, California; and Hitachi in Tokyo — are also developing technology to detect players brainwaves and use them in next-gen video games."
This tech sounds like a lot of fun, but I am imagining that the parents of the first kid to blow a gasket trying the brain-wave equivalent of button-mashing are going to be able to bring some interesting court action.
"Be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy"
Not all new input devices will meet with success. There was a lot of hype surrounding the release of Nintendo's Power Glove, and in the end it was used for only a few games and then abandoned.
"mind-control headsets" do exatcly what the name implies.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
I can see this going two ways:
1) They make a complete interface that allows the gamer to sit on the couch and do nothing physical when he/she is playing the game.
2) They make this interface work in conjunction with other body movement - like maybe adding it to the Wii games like Avatar. You'd actually have to move and think the right things to get the character on screen to do what you want.
The former will make even bigger couch potatoes and the latter will make people even more active while gaming.
I personally would choose the latter if given the choice.
"Bah!" - Dogbert
'Mind Gaming' will be this year's vaporware buzzword.
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
Does the average kid gamer have enough brain power to set off the sensor?
I mean, how many madden players are there who buy the same game 49 times?
I steal signatures. This one used to be yours.
This isn't good... girls will start beating us at video games on a regular basis.
Cameras ? What about tall kids and midgets ?
A more effective and cheaper solution would be to run PSAs throughout the day and evening, telling parents to "be fucking responsible" and "watch your kid". All the technology in the world cannot compensate for idiot parents.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
The one where everybody on the Enterprise became addicted to that game that came with a headset and you controlled with your mind? Everybody became addicted to the thing and went all nutzo. Then Wil Wheaton saved the day by making out with Ashley Judd.
I would totally get this if I got to make out with a hot chick in a starfleet uniform.
This makes me think of two things in particular; wearable computing and the return of hats.
I would sincerely like to be able to have a computer display in my glasses that I could view while walking around or standing in line.. at the very least providing something akin to a wearable Garmin gps device. The problem in my daydream has always been; how do I control the silly thing? How am I going to type? Mini keyboards like that on my phone are fine for short messages, but unsuited to any sort of real industrial typing and completely useless if I have to be walking or driving at the same time.
I would be willing to put a great deal of effort into learning how to type with my mind fluently.
However, wearing something like this on my head would make me look kind of silly in the business world. If an interface like this really takes off it could help ignite a resurgence of hats. I read an article recently revolving around how fifty years ago men of any class were rarely out and about without some form of stylish hat. As time passed this trend ended and now all we're left with is casual baseball caps. I've always liked a good fedora, and if they became fashionable to use as a mind interface cover then I could safely wear one in public without looking demented.
bend like the reed
I always wanted a martial arts game where you would wear gloves and boots and fight a computer guy. it wouldn't be the same as sparring with a real opponent (3D, depth perception, actually getting hit, etc...) but it sure would be a great and fun workout - maybe even helping with timing.
I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
I just hope to hell that nobody ever interfaces one of these to a cell phone. The bluetooth headset zombies are quite bad enough, thank you.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
The only component of those measurements that could actually be used for real-time game control is the EMG, that is, measuring the activation of muscles. That may make for interesting games, but it has nothing to do with "mind reading".
I did a final project on the limits of EEG (electroencephalography, or getting-signals-using-electrodes-on-scalp, which is what this is) for a neurotechnology seminar last semester, and compared my findings to the claims made by Emotiv. The result: some of the things they claim this device can do are actually impossible and always will be, and others are extremely unlikely unless they've made some seriously groundbreaking discoveries. (Mediocre two-dimensional movement, for example, has been generated by EEG, but it'd be impossible with their headset unless they have some sick new algorithms.) The professor of the same course actually met with the president of Emotiv, who failed to demonstrate that the device could do anything.
Last I checked, their marketing videos are ridiculously flashy while showing no real control capability. My belief: EEG headsets like these, at best, will be controllable only by facial muscles (which completely overshadow the electrical potential generated by the brain) and by alpha rhythm amplitude, a very slow control signal demonstrated in "BrainBall", which was posted to slashdot some time earlier. At worst these headsets will be near-worthless devices, their sales supported entirely by false promises and media hype.
I already spent years in brutal mind games competitions, while dating girls. I retired with the gold medal when I married my wife.
I thought the entire appeal of online porn is that it's "victory" without the mind games, though its ultimate dissatisfaction is because it's really just a single-player mind game anyway.
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make install -not war
I got to play with one of these at the Game Developers Conference. It can determine if you are being "meditative" or "focused." It was kinda neat, with two limitations:
1) It didn't work at all one some people (me being on of them).
2) The company says it is useless for games.
It's funny that there is an article about this being for games, because the reps at the show said that it wasn't really useful for games, and they were instead looking into military and commercial apps. For example, using it to see if drivers are awake. Or if a pilot is in need of a stimulant. But as for games, you really can't change your mental focus while doing something else. In the demo game, the rep would move your character around for you and click on things because it wasn't realistic for the player to be in a "meditative" state while doing those things. And since the whole contraption can only measure one axis, it is a lot of complexity for very little value.
It was a nice tech demo but there was only so much that could be done with it. It is definitely not the next big thing in gaming.
I have a son with cerebral palsy (spastic quadriplegia). It's incredibly hard for him to play games even with the uber sized trackball I got him (http://www.infogrip.com/product_view.asp?RecordNumber=98). I'd love someone to make this work as there's nothing wrong with his mind it would seem - the signals for movement just don't get to his limbs properly.
Anyone with a physical impairment that prevents them from using standard input device technology would love something like this. Assuming it works at all... here's hoping.