Brain Control Headset for Gamers

gbjbaanb writes "Gamers will soon be able to interact with the virtual world using their thoughts and emotions alone. Headsets which read neural activity are not new, but Ms Le [president of US/Australian firm Emotiv] said the Epoc was the first consumer device that can be used for gaming. 'This is the first headset that doesn't require a large net of electrodes, or a technician to calibrate or operate it and does require gel on the scalp,' she said. 'It also doesn't cost tens of thousands of dollars.'" Wait until the government can get warrantless wiretaps on the logs of those things.

Mindstorms

[n3tcat (664243)]

I can't wait to see what some hardware hackers can do with this and a Lego Mindstorms NXT robot!

Yea! Finally Brain Control for Gamera

[inicom (81356)]

I'm personally glad to read this, as Gamera has been far too much of a free spirit wrecking havoc with his fire breath. This new era of brain control for Gamera should focus his energies far better to protect the cities of Japan.

And now you've gotten the song stuck in my head.

[Rob T Firefly (844560)]

Gamera, Gamera!
Gamera is really neat!
He is filled with turtle meat!
We all love you Gamera!

THANKS

[ajlitt (19055)]

for sharing.

And you thought CTS was bad

[bentcd (690786)]

Another new word of the 21st century:

brain sprain
Usage: "I sprained my brain playing HalfLife all through the weekend".

I wonder.

[AltGrendel (175092)]

When will people like Mr. S. Hawking get one?

Probably could help them quiet a bit with things.

Re:

[Maxo-Texas (864189)]

But could he take Chuck Norris?

Re:I wonder. If ANYthing, Slashdot could do well

[davidsyes (765062)]

Hacking Hawking. Or, Hawking Hawking... and grafting him onto Slashdot... Might improve the moderation system, or...

Still needs development

[firex726 (1188453)]

I remember seeing these demonstrated at my college a few months back. At the time we could use them to point, and type things; but they were very slow and somewhat inaccurate.

At the time they did not have a "Backspace" method, so when you typed "O" instead of "P" you would still have to use the keyboard to delete it.

Found a YouTube video of it, but I think this one from a different company.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhR076duc8M [youtube.com]

Re:

[stereoroid (234317)]

That's software, a separate issue. If I get one of these, all it has to do is emulate a mouse, then I will want to use it with e.g. Dasher [cam.ac.uk], on top of a Tablet PC interface.

Bad summary.

[Dibblah (645750)]

Look closer at the text. It looks like the device reads *facial expressions* through pointed sensors touching the skin. Yay. That sounds comfortable.

Re:

[Purity Of Essence (1007601)]

Hmmm. That doesn't sound any better than the Atari Mindlink developed in the early eighties. That thing was reported to give players terrible headaches.

http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/2600/mindlink.html [atarimuseum.com]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Mindlink [wikipedia.org]

Re:Bad summary.

[hal2814 (725639)]

That's exactly what it is. I found a picture [pbs.org] of it online if anyone is interested.

maybe I miss read.

[BrianHursey (738430)]

Did it say it required gel or did not. I have had multiple EEG's and the gel is not fun. It is like gel with sand in it. "This is the first headset that doesn't require a large net of electrodes, or a technician to calibrate or operate it and does require gel on the scalp," she said. "It also doesn't cost tens of thousands of dollars."

Re:

[WC as Kato (675505)]

Yep, that's an awkward sentence. Does it require gel or not?! And how does it taste?

Re:maybe I miss read.

[somersault (912633)]

But even more importantly - will it blend?

Re:

[vikstar (615372)]

But even more importantly - will it blend?

Lol. But dammit, I never get moderator points when I want them. Parent: +1 Funny.

just what every MMORPGer needs.

[will_die (586523)]

Now when you die alone in your studio apartment the decomposing of your brain will be interpreted as commands, further delaying the chance that someone will alert the police that something is wrong.

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

Depending on your guild mates to call the cops is probably a stretch. They'd probably just loot your corpse. You're better off hoping that your girlfriend, boss or friends notice that you're missing... Nevermind.

Re:

[ichigo 2.0 (900288)]

Well if they're dead then what does it matter? Unless you have found a way to bring back the recently deceased that is.

Re:just what every MMORPGer needs.

[ichigo 2.0 (900288)]

Yeah, except a decomposing brain usually means that the owner of said brain is 100% dead. Or watching American Idol.

Re:

[MORB (793798)]

Now when you die alone in your studio apartment the decomposing of your brain will be interpreted as commands, further delaying the chance that someone will alert the police that something is wrong.

What's wrong with dead players? They can still compete in 2vs2 arena as resto druids.

Is anyone slightly worried about some of this?

[by Anonymous Coward]

This is definately a technology i'm interested in, it will be awesome for game controlling and possibly helpful for the disabled. However, I think there are some concerns which need to addressed in its application.

For example, the Half-Life 2 games send an enormous ammount of information to Valve regarding player performance and interaction.

Do you really want your emotional reactions broadcast over the internet? Aren't these pitfalls and questions inevitable with this technology?

Re:Is anyone slightly worried about some of this?

[somersault (912633)]

*somewhere deep underground in an abandoned missile silo*

Evil Data Mining Henchman: Look, master! This one smiles for 62% of the time while playing Half-Life 2! And they only have 512MB of RAM!

Evil Data Mining Master: MWAAAHAHAHAHHHAHHAHAHAA!! Excellent work, Patrick! Soon we shall know just how much all of those poor fools are smiling! My intricately pointless and entirely impotent plan for world domination is almost complete!!

Not really

[joeyblades (785896)]

I've been seeing these claims for years, but this technology is not really based on thought. It's just one form of bio-feedback. It is an example of control without conventional physical contact, but it does not process structured thought. The user typically has to train themselves to control the feedback mechanism. This is NOT reeading thoughts and taking some action. It is using thoughts to modulate some physical process. In that sense, it's not much different than training your fingers to operate a game controller.

Re:

[Metasquares (555685)]

Pictures, sounds, and video too. Call it hypertext, I guess :)

I've always thought one of the most fascinating potential uses for BCI was in music composition. Mentally "hear" a sound and the sound is suddenly there. No more fussing around trying to figure out what the right note or chord is. Presumably it could work the same way in art.

Re:

[somersault (912633)]

Source please? Not that I don't believe you, but that's very interesting. What happens when you visualise yourself playing tennis (in the first person) then?

Re:

[joeyblades (785896)]

> Then what are thoughts?

This question is key. No one knows. There are a lot of people working on a lot of theories, but none of them have anything tangible yet. Until we understand how the brain creates thoughts, we can't expect a computer interface to interpret them.

> The voice in your head that you identify as yourself?

Now we're branching into the philosophical, but I'll bite. No, that voice is just one manifestation of thoughts. What about the movies that play out in your brain? Would you not clas

Incredible

[Mickyfin613 (1192879)]

Soon all effort will be removed from gaming what-so-ever. Think of all the precious calories we can save playing World of Warcraft with our minds! Wonder if the twitch reaction timing will mean I can finally beat a Warlock 1v1.

Re:

[tnk1 (899206)]

Not even the speed of thought can save you from the Skill Coil.

Is this really nessary.

[jellomizer (103300)]

"Wait until the government can get warrantless wiretaps on the logs of those things."

Must every paragraph be twisted and poked until it makes some political comment. I don't know about the rest of you but I find it very annoying. Politics is only a small section that effect peoples lives. Things do happen without a political motive or really needs a political comantary. I think we as a people are getting obsessive over politics, everything needs a deep meaning. It doesn't enjoy life a bit.

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

Wiretapping a device of this sort would result in a log that looks something like this:

"Left! Left! Right! Up! DAMNIT SHOOT HIM! AIM UP STUPID! DAMNIT! WHY DO YOU SUCK SO MUCH? OMG!"

I read it wrong

[slaker (53818)]

Did anyone else mis-read that headline as "Birth Control for gamers" or is it just me?

Re:

[somersault (912633)]

There's a pointless product if ever there was one! You should go post it in the Half Bakery [halfbakery.com] ;)

Re:

[Creepy (93888)]

Heh - I took it one step further - "Birth Control Handset for gamers." I'm sure they have that already.

Warrantless wiretaps

[PingXao (153057)]

The government doesn't need "to get" warrantless wiretaps. They need to GET a warrant. That's the whole point of warrantless surveillance. You don't need to GET anything. You just do it without any oversight. No one watches the watchers. If the think you should be monitored for any reason whatsoever they will do so. Our political leaders have let us down, and that's putting it mildly.

Re:

[xtheunknown (174416)]

Having also worked in Intelligence, I can say you couldn't be more wrong. The government cares about everything you do, read, watch, buy. Eespecially THIS government. When the Patriot Act was passed the government promised that it would be used to catch terrorists. Which lasted about 15 minutes. The first case prosecuted with Patriot Act powers was an OBSCENITY case. We're not talking child porn here. Just adult material that SOME find objectionable. Be afraid, be VERY afraid.

Re:Warrantless wiretaps

[WK2 (1072560)]

All this hand-wringing about "warrantless wiretaps" is wasted energy. Unless you are intentionally planning/doing stuff to harm people, you need not worry about this.

Or if you plan to do drugs. Or if you speak critically of the government. Or if you plan to do anything at all that someone else might find objectionable (which is pretty much everything). Or if you just don't want your dirty laundry in public view.

There have been so many foiled plots from these so-called warrantless wiretaps, plots that if carried would have killed thousands or brought Internet businesses to their knees, that if you knew the full truth, you'd be glad these wiretaps exist.

Name one.

As it is, the general public can't know everything, because it would compromise the very intelligence gathering that saves lives.

That's a little too convenient.

For what it's worth, I believe you when you say you've worked in intelligence. You spout the same things they do.

Re:

[bersl2 (689221)]

If we are not to be told the truth now, then when? 40 years hence? How complete will the record be? How will we know that it has not been tampered with?

We want documentation, complete and thorough, of the scope and findings of the wiretaps (redacted for privacy, of course), even if we won't see it for a few decades, and we want this documentation to have been reviewed by all branches of government. Warrants provide some kind of documentation. If our intelligence agencies are unsatisfied even with retroactiv

HAL would say ...

[Kvasio (127200)]

Without your space helmet, Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult.

To quote Futurama

[saibot834 (1061528)]

Presented In BC [Brain Control] (Where Available) [wikipedia.org]

Time for the "Nintendo Whoah (TM)"?

[s_p_oneil (795792)]

With this, hopefully no one would slip and throw their controller into the TV. It would be a tad bit uncomfortable with it being strapped to their head.

I'm a bit surprised they don't offer the option of a head-mounted display. They've already got the head-tracking, but that kinda sucks if your display doesn't move with you.

I'm surprised

[Phoenix666 (184391)]

No one brought up the inevitable hack to enable "no-hands" surfing for pr0n.

Actual neural interface from 1996

[James McP (3700)]

I saw one at CompUSA back in '98-99 and played with the skiing game. It was able to steer correctly about 75% of the time; not bad since I just walked up and plopped my finger on the little sensor.

Go to http:\\other90.com for an unobtrusive "neural" interface. It's really a biometric sensor that's able to get some very crude up/down/left/right input. Of course, their website is straight out of 1998 and it doesn't look like they have made any significant effort to rewrite their software for 2k, let alone

Limitations

[Nerdfest (867930)]

interact with the virtual world using their thoughts

I'm in management, you insensitive clod!

Good for the disabled but useless for the rest.

[gozu (541069)]

The brain is designed to control the body. Our hands are the most useful part of it, with reason.

The next step will have to be some sort of glove ...we could call it a POWER GLOVE! Maybe nintendo can use it for the next console.

But seriously, it'll have to be that. The big problem is making sure it understands our intentions enough to be useful. Imagine a pianist that can airplay wearing a glove that understand which key he meant to hit (How? Good luck with that...). THAT is the next step and it's hard as hell.

Until then, all we can do is make more ergonomic pads, mice (wiimote is a 3D mouse, fun but doesn't provide more efficient control) and keyboards.

As a person typing in pain now

[Maxo-Texas (864189)]

if this works even a little- combined with voice control it would be a godsend.

I deal with pain-3 (on a 1-10 scale) all the time now. Mousing is much worse than typing tho. Partially carpal, partially chemo, partially diabetes. The laser off the eyes devices would also very helpful for the total package. And foot pedals.

Its about time

[PPH (736903)]

Having to move my thumbs was too exhausting.

Now, if they could just do something about that stair climb out of my mom's basement.

Re:

[TheCycoONE (913189)]

A real picture can be found here: http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/02/project-epoc-thought-powered-controller-could-gaming-get-any-la/ [engadget.com]

Re:

[somersault (912633)]

You're trying to say you've been going all this time without one? I think I'd have gotten bored pretty quick of all this internet stuff without it. No workstation is complete without a cockpit simulator!