Gizmodo: emotiv

Emotiv Epoc Mind Reading Controller Delayed For Not Reading Minds Very Well

John Herrman — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:13:36 EST

Emotiv's "mind-reading" controller is a press darling, mainly because it's really cool. Apparently, though, Emotiv won't have the headset ready to go for the planned December release, because it doesn't, strictly speaking, well, work.

Based on electroencephalography technology (or EEG to us laymen), a properly functioning Epoc isn't out of the realm of possibility. But after a series of failed press appearances, starting just after the announcement and culminating in a glitchy gaming failure which I witnessed firsthand at the Intel Developer Forum, the product just doesn't look like it's ready.

BigDownload spoke to a PR rep for the company, who said that the product is being held back until it "work[s] as planned", which translates to a release "sometime in 2009". There's obviously plenty of enthusiasm for stuff like this, but little startups like this can only hold on for so long without bringing a product to market. The price, as far as we know, is still set at $299. [BigDownload—Thanks, John]

Winning Brainball Requires Years of Destroying Your Mind with Booze

Mark Wilson — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:20:00 EDT

This is Jeff. He's losing to me at Brainball, which is on display at Wired's NextFest. It's sort of like soccer if numbing your mind could score a goal. I asked the creator, why not reward the player who can think the hardest? He responded, "because the best games are the ones that you don't think to play." And it actually works. As Jeff contemplated actuarial probability, I crushed him with Zen-like concentration on nothing. Also, I think he may have hemorrhoids or something.

Project Epoc Lets You Control Video Games with Your Noggin'

Louis Ramirez — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:51:59 EST

Step aside Nintendo, Emotiv's got dibs on the ultimate game controller right here with their Project Epoc. It's basically a headset fitted with a bunch of sensors that "read" your mind and let you control video games (be it from your console or PC) via your thoughts. Did I mention it can do this wirelessly? Though it looks like a torture device, the concept is pretty sweet. It'll be demoed at the Game Developer's Conference next week. – Louis Ramirez

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