Brain scanning technology has been the stuff of science fiction for decades, yet has been a long time coming in practical application. Though we're pretty sure the military may have some pretty advanced stuff in secret labs (or does it?), the consumer products we've seen so far have been rather basic, generally focusing upon the detection of mere concentration. Gaming tie-ins have generally extended no further than tying detected mental focus to the gas in racing simulations, which isn't really a great application. We've demoed a number of existing technologies that went this route, and generally found that focusing upon a single mental image (it's actually better if you don't think about the driving, take a guess at what we focused on) detracts from otherwise immersive experiences.

As such we were waiting to be impressed when we were invited to a closed door demonstration of a new neural interface device created by previously unknown Emotiv Systems. The company has been in stealth mode for the past three years, quietly developing neural interface technology that aims to revolutionize the manner in which humans interface with computers. Our hopes rose in our initial discussions with Nam Do, a co-founder and now CEO of Emotive. The company, he told us, was founded by a scientific elite including Allan Snyder, the highly lauded developer of the theory behind optical fiber, and Neil Weste, a pioneer in chip design. The executive side of the company is highlighted by Randy Breene as chief product officer, formerly the producer of the Road Rash series from Electronic Arts and later VP and head of development at LucasArts.We should have known what to expect when we discovered a LucasArts alum at the helm of a neural interface company, and as Randy Breene explained, though the applications for Emotive's technology are broad in the commercial and medical space, the company chose to focus initially upon the entertainment sector. As such, Emotive made its world premier at the Game Developer's Conference to show games makers the true potential of its technology.Emotive's technology is based upon a new manner of interpreting the electrical activity in the human brain via EEG that looks below the individually unique (and thus difficult to accurately analyze) outer cortex to deeper regions of the brain. Users wear an electrode studded headset that wirelessly interfaces with a receiver already no larger than a USB ram drive. In our closed door demo, Emotive displayed three aspects of how the technology will bring humans and technology much closer together.The first aspect demonstrated was facial recognition. Without a camera of any sort, Emotiv's headset is able to detect a variety of facial expression. Smiles, frowns, open and closed mouth are detected in real time, as is the direction the wearer's eyes are looking. It even detects blinks and winks. Emotive representatives speculated upon a variety of uses for this aspect of the technology in entertainment, from instant messaging programs that allow users to see each other's expressions (no more fake lol's) to the ability of a game to know if a user is frustrated and angry or laughing and smiling.The second aspect we saw was the headset's ability to judge states of excitement or calm. Running graphs on short and long term scales traced the status of an engineer present for the demo. Immediately upon being introduced the slightly self conscious engineer's graphs jerked upwards, and the following laugh from the audience in attendance jerked them up more. He calmed down shortly afterwards, until an audience member slyly launched a foam stress ball at his head. The surprise sent the graphs rocketing skyward, where they remained for a time. Emotiv's reps suggested a variety of gameplay elements that could be based upon this recognition, from mood-adaptive soundtracks to unlocking berserker modes in first person shooters on the basis of the player getting amp'ed up on real adrenaline. Survival horror games could know exactly how scared a player is and judge when to trigger surprises to engage a bored player or key the arrival of a boss when a player is already terrified.The final aspect of the Emotive technology was even more impressive. By focusing upon physical movements, users are able to translate their thoughts into movement in a 3D virtual environment. Push, pull, slide, rotate, lift, drop, and six other motions can currently be detected by the Emotive tech. An engineer with some practice demonstrated the various motions by lifting stone columns from below the ground and manipulating them with pushes, rotations and lifts to build a Stonehenge replica. Visions of Yoda lifting Luke's X-Wing from the swamps of Dagobah filled our heads as the engineer focused his mind and raised an outstretched arm while moving the stonesThe gameplay elements to this feature are obvious and extensive. Emotive's public demonstrations focused upon games with basic movements already patched in. In a playable demo of the new Harry Potter game, an Emotive user controlled the party with a normal game pad, but used Emotiv mind power to cast spells like the telekinesis power. Another game pit two players against each other while each tried to lift and push the other off of virtual columns. The obvious tie in with Star Wars simulations of the force was all we could think of while we watched the demo progress and finally understood why a LucasArts exec had jumped ship to join the Emotiv team.Emotiv's executives and engineers were quick to point out that they are not aiming to replace the gamepad. A degree of lag results from the process of the user focusing upon a mental image of motion and that movement being detected by the Emotiv technology, so general movement and rapid action are best left to a pad. Innovation is the key for Emotive and, if properly implemented, the technology could usher in an entirely new paradigm of immersive gameplay.Emotive premiered at GDC to establish contact with game developers and begin providing a development SDK to interested studios. A consumer launch is planned for 2008, and though pricing has not been announced, CEO Nam Do promised us that it will cost "Less than a PS3."Stay tuned for a video feature of the Gear at GDC, including the Emotive headset, later in the week.