Mind Control Computer Games Coming onto the Market
by Liam Bailey
2008-03-13 19:10:00 **news**
Computer game company Emotiv, who I recently wrote about launching a new EPOC headset that would allow users to control game-play with their mind and emotions, have launched a game to go with the headset.
The new Harry Potter game will still be controlled primarily in the standard way, but the additional mind-control elements are an additional method of controlling extra features. For instance, picking up boulders, and throwing thunderbolts.
The new leaps forward in mind control of computer games aren't really all that new. Apparently software companies have been using them to test their games for a while now, but primarily using them to measure brainwave patterns during play and to make their games as engaging as possible.
The turn toward using them to control games has come from the success of the Nintendo Wii, which did away with the standard controller in favour of a wireless motion detector, that allows users to control the game play by moving the wireless controller in the manner they want their game character to react.
Nintendo Wii excelled because of the suite of tailored made games being release simultaneously with the launch and regularly ever since. Games that have done extremely well are Tennis, where the user actually moves their hand in the batting motion and their player hits the ball as hard or as soft as the player's motion infers.
Another game coming out on all consoles is Mindball, a game in which the winning player will be the one who is most focussed and relaxed in the heat of game-play.
A new era seems to be upon us gamers, and I am excited to see, and use these new technologies.
