NIA Brain-Computer Interface, Mind-Control Gaming 79
MojoKid writes "Sunnyvale-based manufacturer OCZ Technology has laid claim to being the first to bring a 'brain-computer' interface to the retail market and they have aimed it squarely at the gamer. The device is called the NIA, which is an acronym that stands for
Neural Impulse Actuator. Instead of buttons, sticks, gyroscopes or motion sensors, it reads the body's natural bio-signals and translates them into commands that can be used to control PC games. This evaluation of the NIA shows the product actually works as advertised,
with a little practice. It can, in some cases, offer reaction times superior to
standard controllers, based on faster trigger response time, and the difference
is quite noticeable and immediate."
First post! (Score:4, Funny)
I was using an NIA interface so I beat you all :o
Sounds familiar (Score:3, Informative)
Dupe? Tripe? Havent I heard this several times now (Score:5, Informative)
tm
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I think it's use must call Alzheimer's, and all the editors have a review unit it would seem.
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Stealing their apostrophes isn't going to help any!
Re:Dupe? Tripe? Havent I heard this several times (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, by now any semi regular reader knows that the NIA can be faster, but it takes tons of training and you can't just magically think "shoot that guy" and have the device point a gun at someone and shoot. This is just another review that got its hands on some buzz hardware and said the same things the other sites are saying.
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Twikee: Bidee-biddee-biddeee-biddee bee--- That feels GOOD, BUCK!
BR: Twikee... ah, a little to the left... to the right, yess, that's it...
Twikee: Geez, BUCK. You been watching that ancient show "Office Space"?
BR: Shhhh...
Twikee: You wish is MY COMMAND, BUCK...
Re:Dupe? Tripe? Havent I heard this several times (Score:4, Interesting)
you can't just magically think "shoot that guy"
Yep, the technology isn't there for that to happen yet. However, here's food for thought: the NIA allows you to bind key strokes to a particular neural pattern, which would allow you to think "shoot!" and have it shoot. Why not add an eye recognition device that would move the FPS view according to where you were looking?
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Actually with more sensors it should be able to read eye movement like that. Right now it just seems to read muscle tension in your face generally with one of the sensors so it could only do up and down or side to side. But if you had more sensors you should be able to detect where you are looking pretty accurately after some calibration.
So far as making it point and fire on a thought command you could in theory already do this if you use an aimbot or some other cheat that lets you do that with a single com
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Hey, when it comes to a brain/computer interface, the more the merrier. I'd like to see a story about this every day if need be, to get these products on the market, and not just from OCD (sorry, "OCZ").
Man, when these things hit the market I got plans for them. If I can map one of them to control the virtual instruments in my digital audio workstation, I will be happening. Seriously, one of the severe shortcomings of the current MIDI controllers is that I just can't control enough parameters with just t
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So, now you can brook this up to your hain, vurn up the tolume, and have you Sansui Technics and Pioneer bramplifying the Ain with all scorts of sopes... A truest Stereophile in the truest sense of the word... ummm, signal...
Now, Acid House can lead to a cerebral Acid Bath, and new commercials saying, "This is your ain on bracid..."
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Re:Dupe? Tripe? Havent I heard this several times (Score:2)
That's not a nervous tick... (Score:2)
Done before... (Score:1)
Just remember... (Score:5, Funny)
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That musta been an old version of Firefox. You can just add a language now.
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Re:Just remember... (Score:5, Funny)
I am insensitive, you Russian clod!
In Soviet Russia... (Score:1)
In Soviet Russia Neural Impulse Actuator controls you! ...ya, I guess that was kinda obvious.
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"Overclocked to 4GhZ. What's that burning smell?"
"You must think in Russian. You cannot think in English and then transpose."
Well, if that's an overclocked brain, it must be may gratter.... or bried frains eaking from the lears...
So, what was that about transposing? Trans- or Trance?
mind reading and time travel? (Score:5, Funny)
Wow! With the recent report about the brain making decisions up to seven seconds before you know it, this means you can frag your opponents before they even show up.
Cool - I wonder about gamers (Score:2, Interesting)
Counter it with pr0n... (Score:5, Funny)
In games like Team Fortress 2, you can spray an image on an in-game wall. In theory, if you spray a distracting image (not necessarily pornographic,) you could seriously throw off this controller.
Subliminal images might be fun also...
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Yes, but now they could make you do stuff
Old idea (Score:1, Funny)
I thought of this idea back in the early 90s, unfortunately the tech was not available then. Good to see someone has made it now, even though it is just a rip off of an old idea of mine
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is this realy a "brain interface" (Score:5, Interesting)
This device appears to be measuring electical potentials generated by muscle groups in the face firing. I would think that a "brain interface" (or mind-machine interface or direct neural interface or brain-computer interface) at the very least should be driven directly by cortical neuronal activity (i.e. EEG, MEG), not the end muscle group.
This seems like more of a gamer's application of electromyography [wikipedia.org]
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well if you RTFA you would have seen that it can read those signals, the reviewers just didnt master them enough within the time they had the unit for.
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Mind jammer (Score:1)
Re:Mind jammer Whom Gods Mind Dagger (Score:1)
Makes me think of neural neutralizers, mind reapers and such from Whom Gods Destroy, Dagger of the Mind, and Errand of Mercy.
Imagine when this technology replaces shock therapy. I can hear the cuing up of Peter Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey"..., mixed with Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance" and Blancmange's "Living on the Ceiling" after thinking of all those wires and emitters to be hooked up...
Pump and dump! (Score:3, Funny)
Someone around here's gone long on OCZ stock.
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GIMMEH (Score:1)
I want this damn thing but for the price it's still out of my reach as a toy I don't know if I'll really have fun with. It's just so cool, and I like OCZ, but it might be better after some revisions. Software is important, but the hardware is bound to improve.
(Good and bad) Potential (Score:4, Interesting)
I've been casually studying brainwaves and generally how the brain works for a couple of years. To see a device like this, that reads raw input regarding voltages/signal from the brain seems like something that will, as a lot of technologies in the past, only be launched as a video-gaming device.
From there, and as the technology matures, we can probably expect a LOT more direct brain -> computer functionality (think "Strange Days" movie as an extreme, although that was based around an OUTPUT to the brain).. Remember that Star Trek episode where they had that game that you hooked up to the brain and you had to maneuver the flying discs into the hole (I might not be remembering it correctly)?
Hopefully the NIA will be very closely monitored/tested as this type of technology gets more popular. Think about the people who modify their raw brain activity to calibrate these things - will it effect how they think when they're NOT using it?
In closing, the last thing we need is a bunch of SUV swerving dorks on the road with one of these things strapped on, trying to call their husbands/wives via the "Mind recognition dialing" feature.
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I don't see how learning to use a device like this will be any different.
Because you are consciously trying to alter the way your brain works (I.E. the specific output of brainwaves) to adhere to a device's calibration requirements.
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You're not really altering how your brain works, you're simply controlling something that is normally automatic. A bit like trying to keep your eyes open while waving something in front of them (supressing blink reflex). Or holding your breath.
I'd be more concerned of getting twitches in your facial muscles even when you're not playing a game.
We are the Borg (Score:1)
Let me get this straight (Score:3, Funny)
Trish: *Appears as an enemy boss clad in a hot bikini*
Me: *Shouts at the TV* NO! NO! DANTE! NO! GODDAMIT! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SHOOT YOUR GUN -- NOT FAP!!!
Question (Score:1)
I'll wait (Score:1)
Couch Potato Extreme (Score:1)
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"Don't you think that most people would prefer to play games that are more life-like, where you are actually doing something with your body"
and with which organ do you control your body in real life?
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Any male knows the answer to that question!
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Don't you think that most people would prefer to play games that are more life-like, where you are actually doing something with your body like Guitar Hero or the plethora of games available for the wii?
Yes, but this device doesn't have to and should not be mutually exclusive from other interfaces like the Wii.
Wanna-be Jedis can finally fulfill their fantasies of actually wielding light sabres and force throwing their opponents with their mind. RPG magic players will be able to cast spells with a thought. How's that for "more life-like"?
It's not working! (Score:1)
Yeah, But "Mind Control"? (Score:2)
How am I supposed to use this to order a dumb, mindless population into marching into my factories for Cyber-conversio... UPGRADING?
Facial movements... hmmmm (Score:1)
Reminds me of... (Score:1)
... the nintendo 64. Didn't they have a device that measured biorhythms and changed things based on that? Isn't this technology seriously old now?
Slashdot modding! (Score:1)
That's just great ... (Score:2)
yet another three-letter government agency wanting to control my mind.
Yeah! But does it run linux? (Score:1)
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