The Force could soon be with you not just on your DVD copies of the “Star Wars” movies but actually in your own home.
A new toy, scheduled to debut in stores this fall, will offer you the chance to hone your Jedi-like abilities. Called the Force Trainer, the new toy comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower.
OK, so maybe it’s not quite as awesome as the ability to squeeze the life out of your opponent from across the room or to easily alter the thought processes of weaker-minded individuals, but you will be reaching our using the power of your mind via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products.
“It’s been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force,” saids Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.
In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower.
A state of deep concentration is needed to achieve a Force-full effect. “When you concentrate, it activates the training remote,” says Frank Adler of toymaker Uncle Milton Industries, which is creating the Trainer. “There is a flow of air that will move the (ball). You can actually feel like you are in a zone.”
“Star Wars” sound effects and audio clips emitted from the base unit “cue you in to progress to the next level (from Padawan to Jedi) or when to move the sphere up or down to keep challenging yourself,” Adler said.
The Force Trainer is one of several such mind-control games to be coming onto the market in the near future. Mattel is scheduled to demonstrate a Mind Flex game at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Mind Flex will which use brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course.
“Until today, EEG technology has been designed for rigorous medical and clinical applications with little regard to price (and) ease of use,” said Greg Hyver of NeuroSky, which developed the brain-wave technology for both games. “We are putting this exciting technology into everyone’s living room.”
isnt it just static that makes it do that?
darcy