Although the Nintendo Wii has recently found huge global success following the redefinition of videogame control via its motion-sensing Wii Remote and Nunchuk, the tech boffins at US/Australian firm Emotiv intend to do away with physical game controls altogether.
Emotiv offers that its new EPOC neuroheadset could change the way gamers play. Credit: Emotiv.
More pointedly, Emotiv’s space age-looking EPOC neuroheadset has been designed to enable videogame players to control on-screen events in virtual worlds by using only the power of their brains.
Scheduled to hit retail before the close of 2008 -- and currently recruiting for its beta test stage -- the EPOC headset “picks up electrical activity from the brain and sends wireless signals to a computer,” according to Emotiv president Tan Le.
Using a technology called non-invasive electroencephalography, the EPOC headset interprets the brain impulses of its user by monitoring and channelling the electrical output of its 100 billion neurons.
“We've created a brain computer interface that reads electrical impulses in the brain and translates them into commands that a videogame can accept [in order to] control the game dynamically,” added Tan Le in a BBC report. “It allows the user to manipulate a game or virtual environment naturally and intuitively.”
While similar headset technology designed to read brain activity is already available in certain fields, the EPOC device stands as the very first prepared specifically for the videogame market.
Emotiv claims that the gaming headset is fully self-sufficient to the task it has been created for, never requiring a mass of electrodes, the application of gel to the user’s scalp, or the assistance of a qualified technician during its operation.
More importantly for gamers currently keen to strap themselves into the EPOC, the neuro headset doesn’t come with a technology price tag that would involve re-mortgaging your home, robbing a bank, or selling your body on the street.
According to Emotiv, its new headset will enable gamers to directly convey their own expressions onto a representative on-screen character, while the monitoring of player emotion could lead to a more authentic display of reactionary A.I. governed by how a player is actually feeling during gameplay.
“If you laughed or felt happy after killing a character in a game then your virtual buddy could admonish you for being callous,” explained Tan Le.
Also, players will be able to command the movement of in-game objects by merely thinking of the action they wish to carry out. Factor in an onboard motion-sensing gyroscope, wireless connectivity, and the capacity to transfer more than 30 different types of in-game actions, expressions and emotions, and the Emotiv EPOC headset looks like a steal at just $299 USD -- if it actually works.
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