Socially|Mundane

As the article states: 'eat your heart out, Luke Skywalker.' A new technology in headsets will allow people to game and otherwise use the computer and control certain aspect by thought. Anyone remember the old movie "Firefox"? [Gawd I love that movie!]

In the movie, the pilot of a top-secret Russian jet was exponentially more deadly because of the though controls, accomplished through sensors in the helmet. The pilot only needed to think "fire missiles" and away they went, tracking the target the pilot was thinking of. Well, it seems such a pilot helmet is not too far-off. An article in USA Today highlights a new product that does htis:

And in a preview of possible future applications, EPOC's ability to both read an emotional state and transfer facial gestures — a smile, a wink — from a player to its on-screen character also makes it a natural for virtual-world games such as Second Life, says Le.

"Emotiv's elegant, lightweight EPOC headset is a piece of cutting-edge technology that grants Yoda-like telepathic powers, allowing players of computer games to move items on screen with merely their thoughts. Due for release by year's end, the $299 device will come bundled with an adventure game in which players complete tasks for an Asian sensei."

So, how can this device apply to Second Life? Well, the closing statement of the article makes it pretty clear: To me able to visually emote by animating your face on screen, such as frowns, smiles, winks and blinks and so on. Though, such a headset might be a bit overpriced and overkill for such simple animated emotes in Second Life, it might be on your Christmas list of you also are a gamer with other genres...

Source: USA Today