OCZ Demos Mind Controlled Gaming Device

[Steve Gardner]

As interesting as this looks, I can't help feeling reticent. If a company is on the verge of going into production with some sort of thought control device, however limited it might be, imagine how far advanced the military, for example, might be with this kind of technlogy.

Now imagine what they might use it for.

Source: techPowerUp! News

It looks like OCZ is planning the future of gaming with its Neural Impulse Actuator - the world's first gaming control system that allows users to play games by monitoring muscle movement, brain waves and eye movement. After calibration, the device allows the wearer to carry out actions such as moving, turning, strafing and changing weapons without needing a keyboard, simply by thinking what they want to do. This allows for more fluid gameplay and faster reactions - things that are essential to hardcore gamers. The mouse is still used to aim, but absolutely no keyboard inputs are required. Apparently the device is almost ready to go into production, and has been designed to take advantage of DirectX and multithreading as much as possible to minimise the performance impact. There are no details on pricing or availability yet, but if OCZ has its way, gaming could be very different in a few years time.

[Steve Gardner]

Looks like these 'mind control' game devices are going to arrive pretty soon.

Here's a report of another one, which is expected to be available in the US by the tail end of '08.

Source: Techtree

Telepathy doesn't exist, but there are companies working towards developing technologies that could translate what you're thinking into digital data.

Emotiv Systems had introduced one such device called the EPOC headset; it made waves at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco last year. The company is out with the latest prototype of the headset, which allows users to control their avatar in games using nothing just their mind.

The neuro-headset has several sensors that can pick up on the wearer's thoughts and expressions; this has the potential to make gameplay a lot more interesting. The headset is said to be able to detect more than 30 different human emotions, which can be used to move things around in a game.

There are other companies -- like NeuroSky -- exploring similar territory. NeuroSky is known in the market as an innovator in cost-effective and wearable bio-sensor and signal processing systems. They have also been working on a similar "mind-reading" headgear prototype.

The EPOC headset is likely to hit US shelves by the end of this year; it is expected to be priced at $299.