The rise in popularity of the Wii system and games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band points to an emerging trend in video games: the death of the traditional controller. Whereas before games were played mainly with the thumbs, now they are played with the whole body. A new invention takes this trend even further, allowing users to play with their minds.
The Emotiv EPOC (TM) is a helmet that allows video game players to control the actions and emotions of characters through their thoughts. Instead of moving their hands, a person can simply think about how they want a character to move and it will happen on screen. If a player smiles, their onscreen counterpart will smile too. The EPOC is designed to work with PCs and all game consoles, although a game must be created specifically for use with the device. To encourage helmet integration, the company behind EPOC, Emotiv Systems, has released free tools for game developers to help them incorporate new technology.
Emotiv Systems was started by a couple of entrepreneurs, a chip designer, and a neuroscientist with the goal of “introducing thinking into the man-machine dialogue.” They say that while they are concentrating on applying the technology to the video game industry right now, they believe the technology will eventually be used for a wide variety of purposes, from television to market research to security. According to Emotiv, its patent-pending neural processing technology makes it possible for computers to interact directly with the human brain.
COPD has three categories of detection: expressive, effective, and cognitive. By expressive, Emotiv claims that COPD can read and understand facial expressions (eg, smile, laugh, wink, cross eyes, shock) and then recreate them in an on-screen character. By being effective, they say that the game dynamically adjusts to the experience of each individual, which means that the music or sound can change depending on how the headset reads a person’s emotions. And, by cognitive, they refer to a person’s ability to control actions on the screen just by thinking about them.
Although it won’t be available until the end of the year, interested gaming enthusiasts can reserve EPOC headsets online at the Emotiv website. The device costs $ 300 and comes with a set that allows you to use the headphones. The first adapters also gain access to Emortal, an online portal that allows people to access and experience content through headphones. Designed as a spatial representation of an urban landscape, users can walk around the city and discover games and other applications. They can also upload their own content, such as music or photos, and experience it through headphones.
Although EPOC technology is full of exciting possibilities, it can also have an unexpected downside. While many applaud Wii technology for transforming video games into a more physical activity, COPD (if successful) can have the opposite effect – people won’t even have to move their thumb to play a game.