Another Headset to Control Video Games With Your Mind

March 7th, 2008

A couple of weeks ago in an article called Control Video Games With Your Mind, I mentioned the EPOC Neuroheadset from Emotiv that will allow users to control video games with thoughts, emotions, and facial movements. Another company called NeuroSky has a similar neuroheadset called Mindset in the works.

From what I can tell, NeuroSky's headset is not as complex as Emotiv's headset but they're working with a few other companies to incorporate accelerometer motion, eye-tracking and surround sound. NeuroSky's CEO, Stanley Yang, has mentioned other intriguing uses for the technology, such as controlling your cell-phone or MP3 player with your mind.

One big difference is that NeuroSky doesn't seem to have a software program that allows you to map game controls to headset detections, a feature already offered by Emotiv via their EmoKey software. I believe the mapping feature is going to set Emotiv's EPOC headset apart from the others because it means their headset can be used immediately with any existing PC games.

Without that feature, users will be forced to wait for video game companies to develop games specifically for use with these headsets. It could take years for any of the game companies to get on board, and who wants to wait that long for game designers to develop games specifically for NeuroSky's headset when instead they can get Emotiv's headset and use it right away with games they already own?

I should clarify that I'm not 100% positive NeuroSky doesn't have a similar mapping program in the works. I've read every page of their web site but it's not entirely clear whether they've already developed a similar program. If I'm correctly interpreting their information, they're expecting video game companies to design games that can use the headset's signals, instead of providing a software program that can translate the headset's signals into data that will work with any existing video game. They're also hosting a Developers' Challenge — a contest for developers to design games that work with their headset — which also indicates they don't already have a program that allows the headset to function with existing games.

One other significant difference between the two headsets is the number of electrodes used to detect brain activity. NeuroSky's Mindset headset has one electrode. I counted a total of fourteen sensors on Emotiv's EPOC headset, most of which appear to be electrodes and a few that might be motion sensors instead.

NeuroSky has some interesting videos on their web site to demonstrate how the Mindset works. There is also a video on the TG Daily site where you can watch some of their editors try the Mindset with a neat little demo game. It's not Halo or Final Fantasy, but it's still pretty cool.

There is also a video on the PC World site featuring both neuroheadsets being demonstrated at the Game Developers Conference in 2007. Just keep in mind the headsets worn in the video were test models and in the past year both companies have designed consumer versions that look much more stylish and sleek.