You thought that the Wii controller was revolutionary? Well, think again. As much as they change the shape or the functionality of today's controllers - be it keyboard, mouse, joystick, gamepad, steering wheel, wiimote or whatever - all of these still depend on basic physical interaction, and more than often detract you from the game's atmosphere. But really, is there any other way?

According to Emotiv Systems there is, and it's got nothing to do with physical interaction. Instead of using your hands or feet, Emotiv's technology only requires you to use your most precious organ (no, not that one) to control your virtual actions: the brain!

At the Game Developers Conference 2007 down in San Francisco, Emotiv Systems today launched the Emotiv Development Kit (EDK) for the electronic games industry. "With the EDK", they say, "developers will be able to create games that respond to a player's emotions and allow players to control their characters' expressions and manipulate objects using only the power of their brain". The technology is allegedly the only brain computer interface solution that can detect and process both human conscious thoughts (such as the thought of pushing or lifting an object) and non-conscious emotions (like excitement and calmness), as well as facial gestures (smile, wink etc.). Here's how it's supposed to work:

"[EDK] enables game developers to attach dozens of specific thoughts and emotions to many different actions in their game. For example, they can enable players to move an object in a game without the use of a keyboard or joystick, make their character smile when they smile, or require that a player stays calm in order to ensure his or her character remains undiscovered in a stealth game. (...)

The EDK comprises a headset with multiple sensors for detecting brain activity and a series of application development suites:

- The Expressiv suite can identify facial expressions in real-time, allowing developers to create characters that respond to the expressions of the player, such as smiles and winks.

- The Affectiv suite measures players' discreet emotional states, allowing a game to respond to the player's emotions, such as excitement or calmness.

- The Cognitiv suite detects players' conscious thoughts, enabling them to move or manipulate objects just by thinking about an action, such as push, pull, lift or rotate."

You can see how the "brain controller" looks like and get a few more details about it on Emotiv's website, where they mention that the device is not yet available to consumers. The consumer version will be announced at a later date.

Let's hope we won't have to shave our heads for maximum precision.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)