NeuroGaming Conference Profiles the Rise of Brain-Computer Interfaces 31
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.'"
Reality and games... (Score:3)
>> ..."game resolution could fully mimic our ever-present reality"
Ranging from "unsatisfying" and "depressing" to "induces high blood pressure"
Re: (Score:2)
You sound like a friend of mine that regularly gets home after his commute and plays Grand Theft Auto for a while to calm down.
Seems to me this reaction alone should be enough for any politician with dreams of tyranny to embrace violent videogames whole-heartedly - why risk having frustrated people work for real change when they can blow their emotional load in a game and get back to being nice well-behaved grist in your mill?
Brraaaaaaains (Score:4, Funny)
All it really does is tell the zombies in the game(and, yes, every game these days has zombies) where to find your brain.
Mind reading (Score:3)
Another technology always 20 years from now.
Re: (Score:1)
It's been in Firefox for ages though.
Re:Mind reading (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
Nah man, we already no how to use fusion to blow ourselves up* - it's any other use that presents challenges.
* okay, so really we know how to use fusion to make a fck-ton of high-energy neutrons to drastically accelerate the fission that actually blows shit up. But hey, so long as fissile material is cheap and plentiful there's not too much practical difference.
Just please don't tell me the AI's are stupid enough to use humans as heat-battereis rather than just burning the food directly, or just ignoring p
Re: (Score:2)
Organising your paragraphs around trolls - it is a brave strategy. I guess that you no some grammar nazi will bite on the first, and who could resist correcting the abortion of a description of a fusion bomb on a tech forum. Don't mind me, I'll just sit here to watch
Obvious ... (Score:2)
Nope - stick to pornography - its the internet, stupid!
Ashamed to admit it? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm posting this anonymously for what will be obvious reasons.
First of all I should say that I'm a normal, well-adjusted married man. I was never a sexual deviant and have never paid for sex, I had a grand total of three sexual partners prior to getting married. I view pornography on occasion, but I don't feel like it has any particularly negative effects on my sex life. I dabbled in controlled substances in my 20's, and haven't been in a fist fight since grade 7. I also like video games, but gravitate toward simulations, puzzle games, and adventures. I don't play any shooters or FPS of any kind.
All except GTA. I love that game, and here's the part that I'm ashamed of: I get sexually aroused from beating up prostitutes. I've never admitted that to anyone for obvious reasons, and I can't even explain it to myself.
The last thing I want is a game that starts to judge my neurological reactions to violent or deviant gameplay. It may be helpful in therapeutic situations, but for me... I'll keep fantasy squarely where it belongs. In my own mind.
Re: (Score:3)
Not so terribly unexplainable - sex and violence have been intimately connected in our species until very recently, only takes a couple minor psycholigical short-circuits for that violence to be redirected from the competition to the prize.
A word to the wise from someone who has dabbled extensively in fantasy: be careful which fantasies you indulge, they have a tendency to feed on themselves and begin to leak into real life. That fact can be used to your advantage to sculpt yourself into the person you asp
Re: (Score:1)
"come get some"
hmmm... (Score:4, Interesting)
Given that modern and probably future DRM will require "always online" connections... and businesses tend to monetize every conceivable aspect of their service regardless of how that impacts their customers... and the fact that this week the US federal governments pretty much been proven to be completely butt fucking insane and, I can't believe I'm saying this, Jesse Ventura might not be as crazy as we had all originally thought... It'll be a cold day in hell before I allowed any closed source software to read my mind. I doubt I'd let open source software read it either... but... shit, when we thought this stuff up in scifi novels it was so cool, how'd we ruin it? I give up and am going Amish.
Not a Replacement. (Score:2, Flamebait)
WTF is wrong with these humans? It's like they learn nothing about the Universe at all. I can see this type of technology accenting controller play, but not replacing it. Why? Because you do have hands! Yes, Look, I'm not lying! Many of you are using a direct mind machine interface right now, albeit a bit slower than thought, but clearly more refined than the control these helmets allow. Why, for a proficient typist the words spill right onto the page, and even auto-correct without explicitly think
Re: (Score:1)
resistance is futile
Re: (Score:2)
What says that a direct-brain interface has to be read-only? To be truthful I really don't care much about a gaming interface (Asteroids has been about the limit of my interest), but I'd be **REALLY** interested in an access to stored data and be able to output back to a modeling system. Currently in my profession (physical security) it takes an entire team to:
1) Accept a building design into AutoCAD or its eq
yeah, "profiles" (Score:1)
it's like economists having conferences about the prospects for a vibrant economy
everyone likes to talk about what they are paid to work towards but will never achieve
Imagine playing a Silent Hill game on this. (Score:2)
Dear god, that would be horrifying.