Vedio Games Controlled By Your Brain

At the most recent TED Global Conference a guy named Evan Grant made an orange cube disappear inside a virtual world by merely thinking it away. The audience went wild over the former TED speaker's feat. What made the demo so mind-blowing was that while performing this seemingly magic trick, Grant neither spoke nor used his hands to communicate with the computer projecting the cube on its screen.

What the amazed audience witnessed was Emotiv's brain-computer interface technology, which allows direct communication between the human brain and computers. Researchers have been playing around with this technology for decades, but only recently has it been used in a myriad of applications--from helping amputees sense and use their prosthetics to playing PC games without lifting a finger.

Using the mind to improve the gaming experience is something that makes gamers drool. The problem, says Scott Steinberg, chief executive of Seattle-based videogame consulting firm TechSavvy, is that the brain-computer interface technology available to gamers right now is impressive as a novelty, but no more effective at killing an opponent on "Half-Life" than using a mouse and keyboard. "It's a classic chicken and egg scenario," says Steinberg. "Until there's compelling, high-quality, must-see content--killer apps--which fundamentally rely on the technology, fans won't buy en masse. Yet until there's a sizeable fan base, developers have little incentive to invest heavily in games which support it or raise the bar."


 Videogames Powered By Your Brain  : 

Brain-computer interface tech companies know gamers want more. NeuroSky of San Jose, Calif., a leader in the field, recently announced partnerships with Asian gaming giants LineKong and Square Enix, and NeuroSky Chief Executive Stanley Yang says he expects his company's revenues to double or triple this year to double-digit millions of dollars. NeuroSky, which has raised venture funding from U.S. and Asian investors, has a so-called "dry sensor" technology that needs no lubricating. ("Wet sensors" require a few drops of saline be put on pads that go inside the headset to increase conductivity of electrical signals from the player's brain to the computer.) The technology will soon allow players of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games such as "Warrior King" to fight opponents using the power of their minds, rather than quick draws with their hands. NeuroSky boasts that players using its MindSet head gear will have "extra powers" giving them a competitive advantage.

"Our technology can be embedded into all kinds of form factors, whether it's mobile, desktop, PC or console games. That is the reason why we are chosen by many of these big players to be incorporated into their next- generation products," says NeuroSky's Yang.

Developers are picking up on to the intrigue of the brainwave-tapping technology. In early September PLX Devices of Sunnyvale, Calif., unveiled the XWave, the first brainwave interface accessory for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, using NeuroSky brain sensor technology. IPhone users can now buy the $99 XWave headset (shipping begins in October), which will enable them to levitate a virtual ball on the screen using their brainwaves and change screen colors based on brain relaxation levels.

"The $99 price point will certainly go a way toward convincing critics and developers alike that the technology can be made available in widely accessible form," says TechSavvy's Steinberg. "It's still a considerable investment for a unique and quirky interface."

Newcomer BCInet of San Jose, Calif.--spun off last year from OCZ Technologies--developed the OCZ NIA, which includes a headband with three dry sensors and an interface that connects the headband to a PC. BCInet says the NIA game controller can be used with any PC game already on the market; its headband tracks facial and eye movements as well as brain waves. By clenching the jaw or squinting, players can make their avatars do things like jump, run or shoot. By looking left or right, they can change direction. With an application called "Brain Fingers" users can practice thinking in ways that can help their game.