Kotaku
Mind-controlled video games comes to the masses this Christmas for $300 a pop. Emotiv's Epoc "high-fidelity nero system" will begin shipping later this year with a Bluetooth dongle for synching with a computer and come packed with a PC game that will allow gamers to levitate virtual rocks, pull digital trees and scare of in-game spirits, all with their minds.
"At Emotiv our vision for the future is that controls won't be limited to conscious controls," said Tan Le, co-founder of the company behind the mind-reading device. "This will allow machines to understand your emotions and expressions."
The wireless device slips onto a gamers head, its 14 or so slender metal branches sliding through hair to rest against the scalp. The metal arms, which are coated with a proprietary material, detect the electrical current conducted by the brain and transmits the data to an in-board chip that deciphers the information and translates it into data that can be used by the program to control games.
The device, which will come in black or white, will sell for $300 through Emotiv retailers and "select" retailers. Up to four devices can be synced on a single computer, Le said.
The device, which was first shown last year at GDC, has evolved to be able to detect a range of brain activity, Le said, using the data to detect facial expression, mood and, to some degree, simple thought.
"That's really mankind's longest living fantasy," she said. "To be able to effect our world with just the power of our thoughts. This is the realm of science fiction."
Le said the technology was still in alpha last year, but has since progressed significantly.
"We've improved all of the detections to make it far better, far more responsive," she said.
Now to play the game, which comes packed with the device, players simply have to slip on the headset and synch their brain with the device, a process which can take as little as six seconds.
The device will also include a web portal which will allow users to browse the internet using the power of their minds, she said. There will also be a piece of keyboard mapping software that will allow owners to map thoughts to different keystrokes, potentially making it possible to play current games with your mind.
Emotiv also plans to release an software development kit to the game development community.
Make sure to check back in the morning for my preview of the game, heads-on impressions of the device and how it felt for me to make stuff float... and stuff.
Comments
that, or your teeth are so out of place that you need powerful magneto-headgear!
It looks like something a retarded kid would wear.
I'd buy this, if the controls were good and it were supported with good games...However, I suspect that won't be the case. Expensive (and new) hardware without backing rarely catches on...
whaaaaaat
I don't know how reliable it is as a gaming device, but I'll sure as hell toy around with it. After I con someone else into buying it, at least.
Its the new POWER GLOVE!
They could easily release a demo where rocks and things just randomly levitate and most people would think they're doing it with their minds. Frankly, you'd have to have some pretty good mind-conditioning to be able to force yourself to not think about levitating a rock, just to see if it still levitates.
Good luck.
@mishakoz: Its a power glove for the disabled! Its about time the disabled felt the awesome power... of the power glove.
Ooompphff. WANT!!
Seriously. WANT!!!
Maybe it'll have some compatability with Star Wars: the Force Unleashed.
Or Psi Ops.
I really don't think this is going to work too well though.
If Lucas Arts can incorporate this into The Force Unleashed, I will buy it, the game, a new skullfuck motherboard and a bedpan so i never have to leave my chair again.
Sign me up for one!
Assuming it works halfway decently, this could be the greatest novelty ever.
The idea of "mapping your thoughts to keystrokes" is an odd one, though. Can't help but picture brainlogger malware :P
Just put it in the bargain bin now and save us all the trouble please.
Then again
@NitrousO: Now you're thinking with POWER!
I think this would be great for the handicapped if they had it usable for consoles.
It sounds pretty amazing but I'm pretty sure it isn't how I'm thinking of it otherwise that'd be well... amazing. I'll wait for Crecente's impressions.
@kuzuboshii:
just lift the chair with your mind
It says that you can use 4 with one computer. What would happen if I tried to wear four at once? :D
Whats next, surgically implanting a port into the back of your head to be able to insert a large plug into the cerebral core to further immerse ourselves in a virtual existence? I think not.... well not until 2012 at the earliest.
Hm, this could be worth a look. Might be crap though.
I'll just wait for some douche bag company to copy it and make it better.
Oh I can't wait till the MLG'ers start using these. They're so great at games now, what will they pull off at the speed of thought.
@TheCleaningGuy:
Actually, I had a chance to try out their model from last year's GDC. They had a first-person telekinesis simulator, that responded to brainwaves. You had to toggle TK power with a button, but the magnitude of the push was related to the steadiness of the brainwave. It was cool. For a game like Force Unleashed, this could work *VERY* well.
@kuzuboshii: Don't forget the heroin and oatmeal to keep yourself sustained.
I don't really understand how it could work. It basically seems like an EEG that is used for games, which doesn't seem that useful because in that case you could only utilize three different brain-wave patterns at max.
We all know the odds are against us. The only thing worth considering is what if it DID work. I mean... That wouldn't just be a cool novelty. That would be... SHAZAM.
I actually like the design of it too, I was expecting some kind of horrid brain extractor but it actually looks like a gaming device. Love how it comes in black too. I demand pics.
this has some potential
If it works, I'd love to have one of those beasts.
@detraya: Potential is the key word there. Unless that potential is properly tapped, and as history has proven it likely won't be, you're looking at a $300 hunk of plastic.
"The device will also include a web portal which will allow users to browse the internet using the power of their minds, she said."
Great, pop this on your head try and check your e-mail...wait why does this porn site keep popping up..I was thinking about e-mail! (yeah, sure ya were)
Methinks you'd have to shave your afro huh
This thing is so cool! I don't think games will be it's primary use though. It'll be used more in the medical field. But I really want one. $300 is to expensive right now though. I'll wait for a better model and for more software to be released.
[www.atarimuseum.com]
wow so new..
Just wait until you're girlfriend catches you with that shit on your head. You'll wish you'd never laid eyes upon it.
This is clearly a real-life cerebral bore meant to weed out the people dumb enough to pay $300 for it.
Population control at its finest.
this would be so awesome if it actually works :D I would totally buy it! I mean my hands are getting tired of typing so much @_@ but I'm sure the headaches this thing causes are worth it XD
Yeah right, that's the first step to human mind control. Next thing you know Skynet is in charge and mankind is doomed.
Or they could just make it give you some shocks straight to the brain.
Whichever it is, i'm not getting one of these.
@hrabbit: >_>
<_<
Speech recognition would do the same thing and is already available.
@NitrousO: the same thing that would happen if you tried to use four controllers at once: nothing special...
...If that Cerebro?
Someone try it.
If it really reads my thoughts, and if I can play WoW with it, count me in for giving it a shot.
This thing could go either way, really.
this would really only work in games with super powers. I can't imagine CoD4 working too well with this thing. sounds cool but I think I'd still want a controller in my hands when firing a weapon rather than thinking hard until the guy drops.
@Codexx:
I didn't even think about the WoW implications...
If there's a way for those hopelessly addicted players to move even less, this is certainly it.
This is...frightening. The implications of a machine that can read our minds is bizarre.
On the other hand, playing games with the mind sounds awesome. One step closer to creating an MMORPG in a pure virtual reality world.
The simple fact that the US military doesn´t have giant mechs raining death and destruction everywhere in Iraq while mind controlling them from a save location is prove enough for me that this doesn´t work.
If someone would build a working device like this gamers would be the last people on earth to get access to it. There would be far better uses for such a tech like warfare.
And such a wonderfull tech for only 300$ Come on it can´t work for that price. If it would cost 300.000$ it would be more believable.
@NitrousO: Your head would probably detonate from an overload of psychic energy. The human brain can only take so much.
So if I'm playing a game that just happens to have a hot chick in it and I'm sitting here stripping her in my head; is this thing going to give some er... 'visual aides'?
Saw this last year at GDC, looked extremely buggy but sometimes worked. Unless they have made bounds in production since then I think I'll give it another year... or 5.
Does it ... you know ... work?