The mind-controlled gaming headset is on it’s way and it promises to read your thoughts, (versus using a manually operated proxy interface). Sound scary? Well it is. The Emotiv EPOC and is a lightweight and sleek neuroheadset unveiled at the Game Developers conference in San Francisco, and will set you back an estimated $299. You can use it to map different thought waves to perform different actions in video games, and it will positively perform according to the player’s mind. Accoring to EPOC Designs:

The Emotiv headset uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals naturally produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expression. It connects wirelessly with all game platforms from consoles to PCs.

It is slated to recognize 30 different emotions, to name several …

Immersion, excitement, meditation, tension and frustration; facial expressions such as smile, laugh, wink, crossed eyes, shock (eyebrows raised), anger (eyebrows furrowed), horizontal eye movement, smirk and grimace (clenched teeth); and cognitive actions such as push, pull, lift, drop and rotate (on six different axis) as well as a completely new category of action based on visualization, the first of which is the ability to make objects disappear.

Beta testing sessions for this puppy will finally be held in March and April of 2008. While I am sure there will be definite issues in detecting the exact degree of what one player is doing - or thinking - I say, forget gaming, I want to be able to control basic computing using this baby as a secondary interface! Imagine, “Oh, this website is lame” I burrow my eyebrows, and the browser is x’ed out. “I’m just not in the mood to listen to “The Final Countdown” right now!”, I sit akimbo and it skips to another favrotie track of mine. And then, just between you and I, I can set it up where every time my boyfriend watches amateur porn online (pervert) it closes out when he winks. Mwahahaha! Evil? Psh, semantics!

*Video of Emtoiv in action after the Jump …

(more…)