Are You Ready for Mind Games?

If you thought eye control was freaky, you'd better sit down: San Francisco startup Emotiv Systems has developed a controller (the pictured headset is the developer version) that use sensors to read your thoughts. No more fiddling with a d-pad; just think "frag that alien with my grenade launcher" and you're blowing up bug-eyed monsters before you know it.

Brain-powered controllers aren't new. I first tried a consumer-level product ten or eleven years ago, where I played a side-scrolling game by thinking "up," "down," "left," "right," -- or, as often as not, "Oh no, the rocks! Aiiieeeee!" Emotiv, however, says their technology detects more specific thoughts, as well as emotions and unconscious thoughts. The three developer kits for the headset -- the Expressiv, Affectiv and Cognitiv suites -- detect facial expressions, emotional states, and conscious thoughts, respectively.

While I agree with CEO Nam Do's statement that this may well be "a revolution in the way players interact with a game," I can already see the potential for all kinds of mayhem. (I have visions of my wife putting one of these things on my head while I'm watching Gina Torres on TV. How will I explain my way out of that?)