Video Game Played By Thought

The days of attacking aliens with a joystick could soon be over
thanks to a breakthrough technique where a teenager played
Space Invaders using only signals from his brain.

With a technique that takes data from the surface of the brain,
a 14-year-old boy from St. Louis was able to play the two
dimensional Atari game without so much as lifting a finger.

The boy, who already had grids implanted to monitor his brain
for epilepsy, was connected to a computer program that linked
the video game to the grids.
He was then asked to move his hands, talk, and imagine things.
The researchers correlated these movements to the different
signals fired by the brain.

"He cleared out the whole Level One basically on brain control,"
said Eric Leuthardt, a researcher at the School of Medicine at
Washington University in St. Louis.
"He learned almost instantaneously. We then gave him a more
challenging version in two-dimensions and he mastered two levels
there playing only with his imagination."


SOURCE:
LiveScience.com

This is a great acheivement in neural remote controlling, I can't wait
to see how far this technology gos in the next few years.

I really hope a Neuro Controller can be developed, I mean how cool
would it be to play say Grand Theft Auto by just thinking about what
you want to do.


Comments, Opinions?

I'm sure this technology will have useful implications in the future as far as aiding the physically disabled. Definitely interesting, although a bit creepy to me. Don't know why, it just seems creepy. As far as video games are concerned, doesn't that kind of take the fun out of it? I like mashing buttons! This also spells bad news for those addicted to video games who will now have to move even less than they already do. Sadly enough, I know some people who would burn zero calories a day if they didn't have to use so much energy pressing buttons and gripping controllers.

Originally posted by iori_komei


This is a great acheivement in neural remote controlling, I can't wait
to see how far this technology gos in the next few years.

I really hope a Neuro Controller can be developed, I mean how cool
would it be to play say Grand Theft Auto by just thinking about what
you want to do.


Comments, Opinions?

I think its great for the disabled, however the implications in games are a bit disturbing to me.
Funny you mentioned GTA...so in order to play GTA with your thought what will you be thinking most of the time? Thats right kill, kill, kill, crush, kill, destroy....and since thought is the beginning of it all i can only imagine what this constant "mantra" of killing and destruction will do to some kids brain.

dont like it , its just bringing us closer to matrix like virtual slavery

Originally posted by born_to_be_wired
Funny you mentioned GTA...so in order to play GTA with your thought what will you be thinking most of the time? Thats right kill, kill, kill, crush, kill, destroy....and since thought is the beginning of it all i can only imagine what this constant "mantra" of killing and destruction will do to some kids brain.

Well if you thinka bout it, people who play GTA and other such games
are thinking about it, the only real difference between using a physical
controller and a neural one, isa that you don't have to think about the
button combinations.

If the kid is playing GTA for hours at a time thinking "Kill, Kill, Kill, Steal, Shoot, Kill" I wouldn't be suprised if he thought about it all the time, which could lead to something bad.

Think of the military uses (assuming of course that they don't have their own system already developed). A pilot could be jacked into his aircraft, using thought alone to control the plane - imagine having a HUD with a crosshair that tracked what your eyes did. Keep your eye on the target, and the computer keeps the gun aimed at where you're looking...

Of course, there's creepy applications too. The next step in the technology (major leap anyway) would be for the neural control to provide direct neural feedback. Where the controller vibrates now, think if you were superman, and the controller could make it feel as if you're flying. Getting shot wouldn't be too much of a thrill, however, it would force players to really try hard to excell.