OCZ Technology Challenging Emotiv With Brain Mouse

With the Emotiv Epoc incident still fresh in our minds, a company called OCZ Technology is planning to release a $300 USB mind reading electroencephalograph (EEG) of their own. But their pitch is less about disappearing boulders than controlling a mouse with your mind in games you already own.

So does it work? From what we can tell, you need to prod a real mouse in the right direction, and then your mind sort of takes care of the rest. So in one word—no.

OCZ to launch 'brain mouse': Neural Impulse Actuator for multi-core PCs [QJ Net]

The Force Is Not Strong With Emotiv's Epoc

We were a little skeptical meeting with Emotiv, makers of the Epoc PC peripheral that reads brain waves instead of button presses. But after watching their demonstrator lifting boulders with his mind...or more aptly put, attempting to lift boulders with his mind, all skepticism was put to rest.

By Brian Crecente

Mind-control, it turns out, isn't as easy as it looks.

After spending half-an-hour watching an Emotive guy levitate rocks, pull down trees and make object vanish with little more than the power of his mind, it was my turn to check out Emotiv's Epoc neural detector.

The headpiece, its stiff fingers slipping through my hair to find my scalp as it was placed on my head, felt like something alien settling onto my skull to roost, perhaps before enjoying a light snack.

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.