Bush Mackel

I happened onto this article yesterday on cnn.com talking about a company called NeuroSky that is trying to make toys and video games more…interactive. Basically, by wearing a special mask that’s connected to a bunch of sensors, they are able to make items respond to your thoughts. In the demonstration cnn wrote about, a NeuroSky worker wears a Darth Vader outfit while holding a special lightsaber. The more the person concentrates, (a.k.a. using the force), the more the lightsaber lights up. Kinda cool right?

Well the leap then to video games is this same kind of “concentrated effort” where someone with deep focus and attention could make a player on screen say have better aim (think GTA3) and someone who can’t concentrate that well having horrible aim. They go on to say that other games like Tiger Woods could benefit from this kind of connection too.

This is definitely an interesting article, if for no other reason than thinking about the possibilities down the line. I think if this technology ever goes consumer, (and by that I mean in my lifetime), it has to be picked up by Nintendo! They have always been pushing the envelope as far as getting their players to interact with the games in different ways and they’re always eager to try new technologies, despite it possibly not being the most lucrative scenario. So yeah, it’s certainly an interesting concept but a scary one too. I mean, think about all those people who play WoW and their only way of burning calories is typing on the keyboard and clicking the mouse. Now those people won’t have to do anything to play! Can’t wait to see what the nerds look like in the year 20xx.

Read the article here.