Square Enix, one of Japan’s biggest game developers, has teamed up with NeuroSky, the leading manufacturer in “wearable” consumer bio-sensors, to give us a game demonstration, using MindSet, on October 9th at the Tokyo Game Show.
The technical demonstration was performed on a Windows PC and featured the MindSet headset, which is capable of interfacing to a variety of gaming platforms. In appearance, it resembles headphones with an electrode, that might be mistaken for a microphone, contacting the player’s forehead. NeuroSky, who were founded in 2004 and have headquarters in San Jose, California, states that this electrode is capable of reading the player’s brainwave information, or EEG data. It registers how relaxed the user is and their level of concentration, allowing them to perform certain actions within the game.
“At Square Enix, we are actively involved in developing a variety of gaming interfaces. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with NeuroSky, and apply their advanced sensor technology in this brain-wave controlled game demonstration. Although the main purpose of the demo is to test the results of our short development period, I hope it also unlocks new potentials in gaming.”
- Ryutaro Ichimura, Square Enix producer.
The game itself, named ‘Judecca‘, is a first-person shooter with a zombie theme. The player must be relaxed in order to see the zombies or use abilities such as walking through walls. Whilst the game has been touted as being “mind-controlled” or “thought controlled”, it is actually primarily affected by brain waves and still requires input from the mouse and keyboard.
NeuroSky has estimated that MindSet will be available next year for between $50 and $80.
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