Recently the Associated Press reported that a San Juan, California based company is working on technology which records brainwave activity to influence gaming experiences. Although right now the technology is only performing simple tasks (the only game yet created is one in which the object is to keep Darth Vader's light saber powered up by concentrating) there are plans for it to be integrated into other games. This means that when you are trying to sink that putt in your golf video game, not concentrating could actually blow your chances!Although the technology seems like an interesting enterprise I only have two complaints. We live in an age where gaming system designers are trying harder and harder and coming closer and closer to creating an environment in which the game feels real. We have seen it recently with the Nintendo Wii which hopes to somehow recreate the experience of playing baseball in a video game. Now with this new element, focusing on the ball could help to equal a home run, just like in real life! What I don't understand is why kids just don't take off these headsets, drop the controllers, and go outside and play baseball! That way they can actually experience the game, which is all the video game is trying to offer.
My final complaint is that the company who is conducting this research and creating this technology is named NeuroSky, which is far to close to SkyNet for comfort. Is what they are promising really just an innocent toy, or will it someday take over the brains of young children and lead an army of terminators to destroy the human race? Only time will tell.
