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NeuroGaming Conference Profiles the Rise of Brain-Computer Interfaces
kkleiner writes "The first NeuroGaming Conference and Expo took place at the beginning of May to showcase the convergent technologies that are paving the way toward gaming with your mind. Tech news has been dominated with stories about Google Glass and the Oculus Rift, which was on display for attendees to test out. Other technologies that utilize EEG are opening up possibilities of a controller-free gaming experience into virtual realities with unlimited potential. 'Deeper questions surrounding the morality of neurogames will be sure to stir debate. As virtual reality technology inches closer to lifelike resolution, should gamers simulate themselves as characters engaged in acts of violence or criminal activity? It’s unpredictable what these games could uncover about the user as neurogames gain insight into a users’ psyche and how they respond to stimuli at a subconscious level. For instance, a game could uncover how its user particularly enjoys shooting at civilians in gameplay. Games might even become expert at diagnosing psychiatric disorders. As computers become exponentially more powerful, game resolution could fully mimic our ever-present reality.'"
As an owner of several neural interface devices, mainly an emotiv neuroheadset and also the brain controlled cat ears, I can confirm that this tech is not only 20 years out, but use as a game controller isn't even the proper application for it. There's a good ~second of input lag, coupled with poor detection over all, and most peoples lack of ability to control their general brain patterns (of the sort that these devices pick up at least) with any degree of speed or precision makes it a very very poor choice for use with anything that needs to be consciously controlled in a timely fashion. And the problem is more fundamental than simple tech hurdles. Even if we could reliably detect and monitor the output of every single neuron in the brain I don't think it would be possible to build a decent gaming control rig just by the nature of how the brain works.
The cat ears on the other hand are a much better application (and I'm saying this as someone who hates anime only slightly less than I hate furries). They're outputting additional data (your mood, as detected/determined by the sensor) without any conscious input and in a situation in which a few seconds of delay really doesn't make a huge difference. Using detection like this for something such as music selection, subtle lighting changes, changing the notification settings on your phone, etc. are applications that this kind of tech is much better suited for.