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Brainwave Controlled Game From Square Enix
Posted by
samzenpus
on Wed Oct 08, 2008 09:35 PM
from the if-you-can-think-it-you-can-do-it dept.
from the if-you-can-think-it-you-can-do-it dept.
zombies-alive writes "Square Enix and Neurosky, maker of wearable sensory equipment, are coming out with a new 'Brainwave-Controlled' RPG. The game will be demonstrated at the Tokyo Game Show for the (Windows) PC, which features the NeuroSky MindSet headset. At this moment, the headset only detects the gamer's level of concentration and relaxation by means of a single electrode placed on the forehead."
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Why? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
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Re:Why? (Score:5, Funny)
This technique requires an enourmous amount of concentration and relaxation at the same time. Only applicable to NeuroSky MindSet users.
You don't believe me? Try aiming while doing that.
Parent
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The title is wrong. There's nothing in the original article about a role-playing game.
(sigh)
Why can't they just stick to the basic turn-based RPG? I like those; they require strategy, rather than button-mashing (or an autorepeat button).
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
OK, now tell me how this helps me slaughter n00bs more efficiently.
It doesn't. You'll still need to take advantage of their lag.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
But what happens when... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:But what happens when... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
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Blue Screen of Death.
Re:But what happens when... (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
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Extend, embrace, and extinguish?
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
There would never be a game bug so bad it erases everything, right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pool_of_Radiance:_Ruins_of_Myth_Drannor [wikipedia.org]
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>>>"would delete the Windows's System Folder if the game was uninstalled."
Ouch.
Of course my laptop with Windows98 did that all by itself. One minute I was surfing the web, the next I lost power, and when I rebooted it told me it could find the system folder. Wunderbar. (rolls eyes). I just love self-erasing OSes.
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Well that's to prevent virus infections. XP would crash and auto reboot hence why it had more viruses that win98.
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That's why you mount a scratch monkey* [google.com] first.
*any average Windows user will do
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I don't remember.
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helps in concentration? (Score:2, Interesting)
I've heard that the internet is changing the way that people think. They think in short quick bursts now instead of long thoughtful periods.
Perhaps this type of controller will reverse that trend.
(oops, IM)
K I'm back. :)
(check email)
What I mean is maybe we can ignore the interrupts if we get trained to do it by the controller. Don't tell me that you haven't been trained by games. You could probably do Ms Pacman blindfolded
Re:helps in concentration? (Score:5, Funny)
You could probably do Ms Pacman blindfolded :)
oooh kinky ;)
Parent
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I think his name is Pinky.
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Pinky, Blinky, Speedy, and Clyde. (Clyde was replaced with Sue in Ms.Pac-man). Where's my Atari?
I'm suddenly in the mood for some Jr.Pac-man action. I love that game!
Re:helps in concentration? (Score:4, Informative)
while i think this technology may have some useful purposes in the future, i'm a little disturbed at the type of applications it's already being marketed towards:
i'm honestly afraid that this technology will be used by marketing/advertising firms to develop even more insidious ways of manipulating consumers. with marketing/advertising permeating all aspects of popular culture, even being used by politicians to frame political issues in ways that will win them public approval, we're increasingly living in a society of mass manipulation. we don't need to give the persuaders an even greater degree of control over us by letting them have unprecedented access to the thoughts and mental processes of consumers.
though i'm sure they'll probably start handing these out at focus groups so that they can tap directly into the subconscious desires of the individual as the ultimate form marketing research. marketing gurus are already helping major corporations appeal to the primitive reptilian minds [pbs.org] of consumers to exploit people's subconscious associations. unfortunately, this results in consumers making irrational purchase decisions, which is at least partly responsible for the family SUV phenomena [gladwell.com] in the U.S.
Parent
Ah but... (Score:3, Funny)
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Under, so it can transmit back to the base console but not wipe your mind sporadically. :)
I wonder how the sensor will read... (Score:5, Insightful)
...when I get slaughtered by a boss, and I realize that no amount of skill will compensate for the requisite three hours of level grinding to go before I have a chance of winning.
It's a cute gimmick, but this will likely equate to a single extra button - a hands-off on-off switch. It's a bit of a stretch to say the game will be "brain controlled". If the game can be controlled with a single button, then that's a little more shallow than RPGs I normally play.
My fear would be that this would mar an otherwise fun RPG with a pointless piece of flaky hardware. I'll wait and see how the reviews go, I guess.
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As usual, it will depend on the implementation. I'd say it is believable that, with good design, this feature could provide a lot of entertainment. I would liken it, somewhat, to the Wiimote. It provided people another way of interacting with the game. In some cases it's stupid, but in others it works well. Mindlink-enhanced solitaire is a bad choie, but imagine all the people wetting themselves when they can actually use Jedi powers in-game with their thoughts.
I got to try NeuroSky's device somewhat
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Actually the article never says it will be used for RPGs. Bad summary.
The use I thought of immediately was a game like Bushido Blade [wikipedia.org]. This was a samurai movie style game where a single well-placed attack on an unguarded opponent could kill them - a hybrid of pure action, good old fashioned fight tactics and a balancing act between opportunism and the code of Bushido.
I would really like to see a controller like this added to the mix, where the computer detected your tension and made your opponent act like a
In other news... (Score:2)
finally! (Score:5, Funny)
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Since this is Square Enix we're speaking here (read: old-timers, with legs firmly cemented in past) I wouldn't be all that surprised if in case of taking damage, electric shock would be send directly to your brain. Just to make sure that, you know, analogous to other SE RPGs, you are taking it seriously and in no case enjoying the game.
P.S. And obviously, as friendly guesture, you brains would be lobotomized if you die. To make sure that you can't cheat and all are on the same leveled play field.
Meh ... wait until you see virtual sex (Score:5, Funny)
"No time to work on that, I just finished my custom simulation of Planet Bigboner, which is populated exclusively by 19-year-old-Claudia-Schiffer-Nymphomaniac-Clones who all worship me as their Great Deity. Sometimes I am a just and fair God, sometimes an angry one. I will be playing this until I die or they turn off my power, now go away and don't interrupt my simulation or I will kill you."
That sounds a lot like an old TV series. (Score:2)
That was the basis for William Shatner's movie*: 'TekWar' [imdb.com] and the TV series of the same name.** [imdb.com]
*(from imdb.com) "A television movie based on the futurist story by William Shatner." and from same source:"Plot summary for
TekWar (1994) (TV) More at IMDb Pro
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After four years, Jake Cardigan is prematurely awoken from his fifteen year cryogenic punishment to a world very different than the one he knew. Much more than before 'Tek', the highly-addictive electronic designer narcotic of the 21st century,
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Just sex fantasy ? you'll get bored and get fewer fewer pleasure. Activate directly your dopamine receptors and there to ecstasy !
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you jest but the day someone works out a method to do the operation easily and cheaply it will become real. Of course it wouldn't catch on too much because even if it's less destructive than heroin there's no money to be made once the operation has been done.
It could catch on for other purposed though. imagine an implant for people who want to get off really addictive drugs which only activates while their bloodstream is clean and they're in good physical shape (indicators of dehydration or starvation could
concentration vs relaxation (Score:4, Informative)
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Sounds to me like not everyone is identical... Wow, imagine that!
I see them having a lot of problems with this technology because of that. Our brainwaves may all be similar, but that doesn't mean they're all the same. Or even alike enough to have a single plastic helmet fit everyone.
I'm hoping this device (and game) does well, and I'll probably be sucked into buying one, but only the fact that Squeenix is involved gives me any confidence in it.
Great idea! CIrca 1984 (Score:2)
The idea is much older than you might think. Atari planned to do something very similar in addition to cordless controllers, light guns, and a primitive motion sensor controller. Atari had a lot of great ideas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Mindlink [wikipedia.org]
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Errr ya, except for the part where that controller used the motion of your eyebrows instead of EEG, it's a very similar idea, if by similar you mean festering with the scent of an unmatched chromosome...
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Y'know, referring to "1984" and "mind-controlling" in the same post could give some people the wrong idea. Personally, I'm just glad you said "Atari", and not "Microsoft".
Forehead? (Score:2, Funny)
OCZ Already has a similar product in the market. (Score:3, Informative)
I'm surprised no one else has mentioned the OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator yet.
Its essentially the same thing, but with a USB interface for PCs.
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/ocz_peripherals/nia-neural_impulse_actuator [ocztechnology.com]
Price is a little steep for a first gen product, but it has been quite widely reviewed and said to actually work.
Um, sorry, not "brainwaves" (Score:2, Insightful)
Sorry their device probably does not measure brainwaves. A single electrode on the forehead would measure only forehead muscle activity (EMG) and eye movements (EOG), but not brainwave activity (EEG). The developers are basically banking that you wrinkle your forehead when you "concentrate". As an aside, EMG is really easy to record, while EEG is much more complicated and not well-suited to a consumer device.
I hope it's the marketing department BS and not the inventors who are misrepresenting their product.
No, remember your training (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
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Even though I don't wanna get brain-gimped by some mistake or someone messing with it hehe
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"Even though I don't wanna get brain-gimped by some mistake or someone messing with it hehe"
Meh, that's just the meat talkin'. Just watch out for the ice...
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