NIA Brain-Computer Interface, Mind-Control Gaming

MojoKid writes "Sunnyvale-based manufacturer OCZ Technology has laid claim to being the first to bring a 'brain-computer' interface to the retail market and they have aimed it squarely at the gamer. The device is called the NIA, which is an acronym that stands for Neural Impulse Actuator. Instead of buttons, sticks, gyroscopes or motion sensors, it reads the body's natural bio-signals and translates them into commands that can be used to control PC games. This evaluation of the NIA shows the product actually works as advertised, with a little practice. It can, in some cases, offer reaction times superior to standard controllers, based on faster trigger response time, and the difference is quite noticeable and immediate."

First post!

I was using an NIA interface so I beat you all :o

Sounds familiar

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/27/2343259 [slashdot.org]

Dupe? Tripe? Havent I heard this several times now

Like here [slashdot.org] and here [slashdot.org] and here [slashdot.org]? Maybe this brain scan thing is picking up echos and posting them to /.

tm

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I think it's use must call Alzheimer's, and all the editors have a review unit it would seem.

Re:Dupe? Tripe? Havent I heard this several times

Yes, by now any semi regular reader knows that the NIA can be faster, but it takes tons of training and you can't just magically think "shoot that guy" and have the device point a gun at someone and shoot. This is just another review that got its hands on some buzz hardware and said the same things the other sites are saying.

Re:Dupe? Tripe? Havent I heard this several times

you can't just magically think "shoot that guy"

Yep, the technology isn't there for that to happen yet. However, here's food for thought: the NIA allows you to bind key strokes to a particular neural pattern, which would allow you to think "shoot!" and have it shoot. Why not add an eye recognition device that would move the FPS view according to where you were looking?

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Hey, when it comes to a brain/computer interface, the more the merrier. I'd like to see a story about this every day if need be, to get these products on the market, and not just from OCD (sorry, "OCZ").

Man, when these things hit the market I got plans for them. If I can map one of them to control the virtual instruments in my digital audio workstation, I will be happening. Seriously, one of the severe shortcomings of the current MIDI controllers is that I just can't control enough parameters with just t

That's not a nervous tick...

That's not a nervous tick... It's RSI of the face muscles.

Just remember...

You must think in Russian. You cannot think in English and then transpose.

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In Soviet Russia...! Aw shit, there's just no sport in this one.

Re:Just remember...

I am insensitive, you Russian clod!

mind reading and time travel?

Wow! With the recent report about the brain making decisions up to seven seconds before you know it, this means you can frag your opponents before they even show up.

Cool - I wonder about gamers

When this technology becomes readily available will it cause an unfair balance in online gaming? I mean look at the people who use multi-button mice to program in combos or weapons or whatever they need, or people who use keyboard short cuts; both of these are banned in some tourneys. I just think its something interesting to consider.

Counter it with pr0n...

In games like Team Fortress 2, you can spray an image on an in-game wall. In theory, if you spray a distracting image (not necessarily pornographic,) you could seriously throw off this controller.

Subliminal images might be fun also...

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That would be pretty funny to see every other player throwing their gun right as they run by an image. If well placed, that could be devastating.

is this realy a "brain interface"

This device appears to be measuring electical potentials generated by muscle groups in the face firing. I would think that a "brain interface" (or mind-machine interface or direct neural interface or brain-computer interface) at the very least should be driven directly by cortical neuronal activity (i.e. EEG, MEG), not the end muscle group.

This seems like more of a gamer's application of electromyography [wikipedia.org]

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well if you RTFA you would have seen that it can read those signals, the reviewers just didnt master them enough within the time they had the unit for.

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I didn't RTFA, but I did read another FA about it and it seems that it does simply just pick up electrical impulses directed to the muscles. For instance looking away with your eyes will cause a reaction on the game, in this case turning or whatever. You also have to use your jaw muscles. No talking. No eating. No drinking. One article was from someone that used the device for a while and their conclusion was that the limitations outweighed its effectiveness. This is not simply about moving a character ons

Pump and dump!

Someone around here's gone long on OCZ stock.

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It would be interesting to see if slashdot actually has a real world stock effect. I doubt that many money managers would be interested in this site.

(Good and bad) Potential

I've been casually studying brainwaves and generally how the brain works for a couple of years. To see a device like this, that reads raw input regarding voltages/signal from the brain seems like something that will, as a lot of technologies in the past, only be launched as a video-gaming device.

From there, and as the technology matures, we can probably expect a LOT more direct brain -> computer functionality (think "Strange Days" movie as an extreme, although that was based around an OUTPUT to the brain).. Remember that Star Trek episode where they had that game that you hooked up to the brain and you had to maneuver the flying discs into the hole (I might not be remembering it correctly)?

Hopefully the NIA will be very closely monitored/tested as this type of technology gets more popular. Think about the people who modify their raw brain activity to calibrate these things - will it effect how they think when they're NOT using it?

In closing, the last thing we need is a bunch of SUV swerving dorks on the road with one of these things strapped on, trying to call their husbands/wives via the "Mind recognition dialing" feature.

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I don't see how learning to use a device like this will be any different.

Because you are consciously trying to alter the way your brain works (I.E. the specific output of brainwaves) to adhere to a device's calibration requirements.

Let me get this straight

Me: *Playing Devil May Cry 8*
Trish: *Appears as an enemy boss clad in a hot bikini*
Me: *Shouts at the TV* NO! NO! DANTE! NO! GODDAMIT! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SHOOT YOUR GUN -- NOT FAP!!!

Yeah, But "Mind Control"?

How am I supposed to use this to order a dumb, mindless population into marching into my factories for Cyber-conversio... UPGRADING?

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"Don't you think that most people would prefer to play games that are more life-like, where you are actually doing something with your body"

and with which organ do you control your body in real life?