Brain-controlled game expected to make Japan debut in 2009

Tuesday 30th September, 05:26 AM JST

TOKYO —

A brain-controlled video game is expected to hit the Japanese market as early as 2009, officials of U.S. technology venture firm NeuroSky Inc say. The firm has developed and commercialized a headset, called MindSet, which can tell the mental states of users by analyzing their brain wave signals. The interpreted data are transmitted wirelessly to various platforms.

In cooperation with Japanese companies, the San Jose, California-based firm aims to release a game based on the technology on the Japanese market as early as 2009, the officials said.

NeuroSky plans to demonstrate the game at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show starting on Oct 9 at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba, near Tokyo, the officials said.

In the game, users control avatars in a virtual world without using a hand-held controller. The avatars will not run quickly or throw balls very far unless the users concentrate enough, said Kikuo Ito, senior adviser of NeuroSky.

The firm’s technology could be applied to a wide range of products. Some 40 companies throughout the world are considering using it.

Possible products include music players that automatically select songs by analyzing the feelings of users, as well as devices to support nursing-care work and to measure learning effects.

JCN

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14 Comments

rainboweyes91 at 06:24 AM JST - 30th September

All I have to say is, I want one XD
romulus3 at 07:31 AM JST - 30th September

Possible products include music players that automatically select songs by analyzing the feelings of users

Romulus mp3 player would be Jammed on "Appetite for Destruction" permanently...mind you, whats new?
Triple888 at 10:17 AM JST - 30th September

I don't like the idea of a thought-controlled game. I can imagine players ending up hallucinating when reality and fantasy eventually merge.
Nippon5 at 10:37 AM JST - 30th September

Triple888 at 10:17 AM JST - 30th September

I can imagine players ending up hallucinating when reality and fantasy eventually merge.

That has been happening for allot of years already.. My problem is its another tool in making the next generation less likely to be anything other then a be veg...

Too much like the Matrix for me:)
thepro at 11:52 AM JST - 30th September

Awesome. Having to move my fingers is such a drag.
Sarge at 11:54 AM JST - 30th September

I doubt this is going to work very well.
timeon at 12:20 PM JST - 30th September

I'm too afraid of my mental state to let a machine take a peek :) damn crazy scientists
NuckinFutz at 02:23 PM JST - 30th September

So you'd have to wire up 10 Japanese brains to accomplish one simple task huh?
dennis0bauer at 03:38 PM JST - 30th September

Tron becomes True!
Spider at 06:05 PM JST - 30th September

I look forward to the inevitable implementation of this technology by the U.S. military in their War of Terror.
ninjitsu182 at 06:56 PM JST - 1st October

People complain from kids getting too little excercise already with the conventional gaming consoles, with this device there will be NO movement at all.

People should concentrate on improving the Wii and atleast make an atempt at better graphics.
mareo2 at 04:47 AM JST - 2nd October

Just potential in medicine is interesting enough.
apecNetworks at 05:30 PM JST - 4th October

If censorship wasn't implemented in the US by US Agencies, this would be great technology. However, covert censorship is used, I have been exposed to wireless transmitters that makes the technology in this article a joke. US Agencies are decades ahead on this, and remote control of some people are only beyond the horizon. They can already affect dreams, deprive sleep, put someone in a hospital, exact pain, induce a heart attack, implant voices/insert thoughts, etc..... I wish I didn't know all this, for it distorts how things work in the US.