[Offtopic] mind control of video games

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

New game gizmo uses mind control

Asher Moses May 7, 2008 - 2:07PM
<http://newsletters.fairfax.com.au/cgi-bin16/DM/y/eBbLr0CX6J0Jhb0QpF10Eu>

An Australian company is gearing up to release a computer headset that 
allows people to control video games using only the power of their minds.

Emotiv Systems, founded by four Australian scientists in 2003, will 
release the $US299 ($315) EPOC headset on the US market this year. 

Australians will be able to order it online.

Featuring 14 sensors that measure electrical impulses from the brain, the 
headset - which plugs into the PC's USB port - will enable games to 
register facial expressions, emotions and even cognitive thoughts, 
allowing players to perform in-game actions just by visualising them.

The headset works in a similar way to voice recognition, in that it must 
first be calibrated using Emotiv's software to recognise patterns in the 
user's electrical brain impulses, which are used to perform 30 preset 
actions.

When the player performs those same thoughts in the game the software 
knows to associate them with the correct action, such as rotate object or 
push object. (snip)


The headset could also detect the players' emotions - whether they're 
bored, angry, engaged, happy, stressed, etc - and adjust difficulty 
levels, in-game music and the game environment accordingly.

Characters could also react to a player's emotional cues.

In horror-themed games, enemies could intelligently select the perfect 
time to startle a player based on how they feel, rather than having 
opponents in the same positions every time a mission is reloaded.

But the most powerful aspect of the EPOC is its ability to detect 
thoughts. Players can just think about performing actions, such as lifting 
or pushing objects or making them disappear, and have the game act 
accordingly without the need to push any keys or buttons.

All of these features have been publicly demonstrated to thousands at 
gaming conferences using a role playing game developed by Emotiv. It will 
be included for free with the headset and was trialled in Sydney by 
smh.com.au.

Do, who came to Australia from Vietnam in 1995 on a university 
scholarship, said his intention was not to replace the keyboard or 
traditional game controller; he simple wanted to add another layer to the 
experience.

"You can still move around using your joystick, using your keypad, using 
your mouse and keyboard, just like a normal game, but there is a lot of 
activity that we take to another level by adding a headset - such as being 
able to levitate an object by thinking about it," he said.

Do said the company was first concentrating on the larger US market - 
which has about 9 million hardcore gamers - but was working with 
Australian resellers and distributors to launch the product here.

Regardless, Australians would be able to order the headset online from US 
retailers or from Emotiv itself.

"We're working very hard to get the headset to other markets at least by 
online ordering," Do said.

He said that, while the company was initially focused on gaming, the 
technology had applications in any situations where humans interacted with 
machines, such as in medicine and robotics. Further, market research 
companies and even Hollywood studios were tapping Emotiv's technology to 
measure reactions from focus groups.

Emotiv spent two years developing its technology in Sydney before moving 
its headquarters to San Francisco, the home of Silicon Valley, in 2005. It 
employs about 50 staff - neurologists, biomedical scientists, 
mathematicians, engineers - but its entire research team is still based in 
Sydney.

Moving to the US, Do said, meant Emotiv was "closer to all the action, all 
the [big gaming] companies, all the clients and also access to money, 
because, as a start-up company, money is always one of the key 
considerations".

He said Emotiv had been approached by numerous suitors keen to acquire the 
company, but wanted to first see how far the technology could grow. Emotiv 
has also had meetings with the major game console makers about licensing 
the technology to them for future products.

In addition to Do, Emotiv was founded by 1998 Young Australian of the Year 
Tan Le; Neil Weste, a neuroscientist who sold his chip manufacturing 
company Radiata Communications to Cisco in 2000 for $US295 million; and 
Allan Snyder, the director of the University of Sydney's Centre for the 
Mind and winner of the 2001 Marconi Prize.

The four founders self-funded the initial $1 million needed to start the 
company but have since raised $US14.5 million in series A funding. It is 
now in the process of raising series B funding.
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