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NeuroSky, Square Enix To Unveil Brainwave-Controlled Game
by Eric Caoili
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October 7, 2008
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Wearable bio-sensors manufacturer NeuroSky intends to exhibit a brainwave-controlled video game, which was co-developed with Square Enix (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest), on October 8 - 9 at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show.
The technical demonstration operates in conjunction with PCs and NeuroSky's MindSet, a commercial headset capable of interfacing to a variety of gaming platforms, including PC, console, and mobile.
MindSet's design resembles a pair of headphones, with a single electrode contacting the user's forehead while reading the player's brainwave information, or EEG data. The headset registers the current state of relaxation or concentration of players, allowing them to perform actions within the game.
Founded in 2004 and headquartered in San Jose, CA, NeuroSky develops bio-sensor and signal processing technology specifically designed for end-use in the consumer market. Its products are targeted at various markets, such as consumer electronics, health & wellness, education & training, transportation, market research, and others.
“At Square Enix, we are actively involved in developing a variety of gaming interfaces," says Square Enix producer Ryutaro Ichimura.
"I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with NeuroSky, and apply their advanced sensor technology in this brain-wave controlled game demonstration. Although the main purpose of the demo is to test the results of our short development period, I hope it also unlocks new potentials in gaming."
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I wonder what advantages this could have after everyone gets over the "Wow that's cool!" period (a la Wii motion controls). It seems like it would mostly have application in health and medical sector. Or perhaps the game could respond to stress on the player's part...?
http://openeeg.sourceforge.net/doc/
The web-site hyper-link will direct you to a YouTube video of me playing it on the Expo Floor.
I would anticipate such things as using 'concentration' to be used as triggers for gameplay elements. Bullet-time could be a good use, asking players to 'concentrate' when they want to activate it. There are a lot of ways you could use this, the problem will be putting it to practical use in a way that doesn't fatigue the user and is 'plug-and-play' as some people may read more strongly on the device than others.
Depending on how detailed the information it's capable of parsing at this time, you could even go so far as allowing the game to 'cold read' their feelings about NPCs and the game world, possibly inspiring their avatar to respond similarly, by measuring their comfort levels, pleasure/pain, or concentration/imagination.
It sounds like it would be a great tool for immersive games, games with 'psychic powers', the FPS and RPG genres, and horror games in particular could become even more horrifying. I could even see this being applied to future MMOs where a person's mental state could be represented on their online avatar.
Where we draw the line, I think, will be a large part of where we can go with this tech.
In this country alone, Fatness is an epidemic, come on people !? Quit stuffing your FAT faces. Mind controlled games, what a joke. It's merely a feedback device reading your brainwaves, it's a manipulation not telekinesis, nor will it promote such paranormal abilities. In fact, it will hinder such abilities, relying an that stupid fat inducing interface. OMG, technology is certainly turning you into hapless monkeys.