Wow I knew that brain control technology was advancing but never realized how far along it is. At the recent Emerging Technology Conference at Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers reveal what could be the next in hands free video game controllers. The technology presented allows gamers to play games with their brains.

The researchers concluded that when a gamer plays a video game subconciously he is emitting brain waves that actually can be read to interpret his actions. The technology has been used in a variety of manners such as being able to tell how loud someone's music is without actually listening to the music at all, instead using the brain's waves to indicate volume level. The technology has even gone so far that it can tell what your saying in your head (To a degree) it can tell if the words you are thinking sound like Ohh and ah!

The technology is so advanced that Wadsworth Center research scientist Gerwin Schalk showed the Conference video evidence of a test subject playing Doom with his mind. At the moment the technology isn't complete it can be improved, the player still needed a joy stick to control movements left, right, up and down. However the gun control was entirely controlled by the subjects brain allowing the user to fire his weapons with pinpoint percision and accuracy.

Gerwin Schalk wrapped up his demonstration with a brave and bold procomation. "What I'm here to tell you is that this is not science fiction. This is an emerging reality,"

So could this be the next Kinect? Its really early but if the system can see how high the volume is on the music your listening to, or what sounds the words you think make. How hard is it to believe that within the next ten years we could see video games entirely controlled by a gamers mind?

Source

Wouldn't really surprise me. Just think of how much video games have advanced in 30 years. I doubt in the Atari days no one even conceived of playing games that looked close to photorealistic and motion controls. 30 more years from now, who knows what games will be like.

I hope that my brainwaves are more skillful than my thumbs.

I dunno Nintendo stated they began work on the Wiimote back during the NES era. They have been constantly toying with new technologies and I'm sure they did have some kind of idea that these technologies would one day be used. Not to say the average consumer ever thought that motion controls would ever come about. But rest assured Nintendo did know the technology would one day be useful. In fact Miyamoto has stated that Mario has yet to reach his goals, to this day the hardware isn't capable of or the games industry isn't sufficient enough to fully realize his vision!

I'd say a lot of insiders within Nintendo, Sony and Sega all had some idea of what the future might look like!

Since we can't always control our thoughts, how practical could this possibly be?

(try not to think about something and you end up thinking about it more)