Source: videogamesblogger.com
What is the future of gaming technology? How about playing with your brain? By thinking. The Emotiv EPOC headset “Brain Computer Interface” does just that.
And may find us playing video games, in the future (not that you can’t do it right this very minute. The technology is here) via telekinesis. Ahem. I mean, just by using out brains to think!
You may be doing this via a device dubbed the “Emotiv EPOC headset”, which claims to be the first “Brain Computer Interface” (BCI) device that’s specifically developed for the gaming market! They also claim they have mastered the technology of “thought-control”.
The EPOC works by detecting and processing real time brain activity patterns (small voltage changes in the brain caused by the firing of neurons) using a device that measures electric activity in the brain. It can pick up over 30 different expressions, emotions and actions!
As for how exactly it can or will be applied to video games, that’s open to debate. But according to experts that CNN talked to, the science fiction scenarios depicted in movies like The Matrix and shows like Star Trek and it’s “holodeck”, are now feasible realities. Not at this moment, but at least in the future.
And according to Tan Le, who is the President and co-founder of Emotive Systems, the brain-to-computer interface is undoubtedly the future of the gaming industry. “Being able to control a computer with your mind is the ultimate quest of human-machine interaction. When integrated into games, virtual worlds and other simulated environments, this technology will have a profound impact on the user’s experience.” He envisions the line between gaming and reality to eventually blur. Or rather, continue to blur. “In the long run, the user’s interactions with machines will more closely mimic our interactions with other humans. Our technology will ultimately bring communities of people closer together to richly share their experiences,” he said.
Another person who is very open to this idea of the blending of reality and gaming is Rick Hall, production director at the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy and has worked on numerous gaming consoles and handhelds including the Nintendo 64, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable. He believes that some of the concepts seen in The Matrix movies are now “eerily reaching towards theoretical possibility. If we can interpret basic control thoughts now, it isn’t far off where we’ll be able to interpret more complex thoughts, even potentially things you’re not consciously thinking of. If we can now do it in a non-invasive fashion, it probably won’t be long before we can read these things from across the room.”
Which brings up a whole other host of scary issues, such as this idea: If we can “read” complex thoughts directly from someone’s brain, what about being able to “write”, or put, thoughts into another person’s brain? *shudders at the thought*
Rick Hall continues, “So add that up: a wireless, remote, brain reading/writing device that can scan, interpret, and communicate with someone across the room, without them even knowing it. Connect that to the Internet . . .and talk about brainwashing possibilities. What if some hacker could figure out how to write viruses to people’s brains? It’s actually a little scary.”
Of course, just because the technology to do these things has been reached, doesn’t actually mean they will become wide-spread in their usage, much less mainstream. Or even that they will be accepted if and when the time comes. After all, human beings have been building robots for years, but we are still far away from the days of having a real robot made ala Rosie the Robotic Maid from The Jetsons.
Todd Greenwald is an American gaming analyst who believes it may be some time yet before brain to computer interfaces reach a marketable standard, saying it is “a bit too far out and speculative to say with any confidence”. And Darryl Charles of the University of Ulster, who is a video gaming lecturer, is also uncertain that the technology, even if available, would actually take off. “It’s a little bit harder to see. It’s quite a complex thing to force your thought on a television screen.”
However, Emotiv’s Le strongly defended the headset (as you’d expect), saying it “works on a vast majority of people and can adapt to a wide variety of thought patterns. Emotiv has carried out tests with hundreds of people and so far we have had success on every single person.”
