Emotiv lets games respond to player's thoughts and emotions

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 08 March 2007 03:18

Your IT - Entertainment

Worried about Gamer's Thumb? Emotiv Systems brings mind control to games with its Project Epoc system.

It's been part of science fiction for years - don a helmet and 'think' to a computer or other device. Emotiv has come up with a wireless headset that picks up electrical signals from the brain, plus custom hardware and software to interpret the data.

The company proposes to make the technology available to game developers in three suites:

Affectiv measures players' emotional state and allows the game to respond accordingly. For example, if the system detected excessive frustration it could automatically dial back the degree of difficulty until the player gains skill and confidence.

Cognitiv interprets conscious thoughts, allowing the manipulation of virtual objects by thinking about them.

Expressiv identifies facial expressions so they can be mirrored by in-game avatars.

These suites could be used individually or in combination.

The company demonstrated a prototype system at this week's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. A production model - and presumably compatible games - is expected next year.

Emotiv has its headquarters in San Francisco, but its research lab is in Sydney. The company was founded by neuroscientist Allan Snyder, former Young Australian of the Year Tan Le, entrepreneur Nam Do, and Neil West, co-founder or WLAN pioneer Radiata.