From: Scott_Hill_at_dkmail.zzn.com
Date: 2001-11-02 11:19:42
Brainball and Brainpong, biofeedback meets PC-gaming
by Scott Hill
Copenhagen 2.12.2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Scott_Hill_at_b...
An interactive expo--NIC2001-- opening today in Copenhagen's Bella
center presents a number of new interactive hardward and software
projects. From Sweden's Interactive Institute
(http://smart.interactiveinstitute.se/smart/smart_eng/press_eng.htm)
2 players can
play "Brainball", where they use their brainwave activity to "move" a
ball back and forth. Using electrodes fastened to their heads
the alpha wave frequency spectrum is measured, and the less alpha
activity (perhaps related to greater relaxation), the
longer the player can move his ball towards his opponent. According
to Interactive Institute:
"Brainball (is) the game where you score goals with your brain.
Brainball is a new party game devised by elite Swedish
interdisciplinary researchers. The rules are simple: the player with
the least brain activity wins, the stressed, thinking opponent loses.
Biosensors connected to the brains of the players
read alpha and theta waves which guide a ball bearing over a playing
board towards the opposing goal. Brainball came about
as part of a project involving co-operation between artists,
engineers and designers at the Interactive Institute."
The game can be downloaded free from the Interactive Institue
website. "This game is radically different from other games, which
typically reward agressive behavior" says Bengt Larsson from
Interactive, "If you think too much about winning, you lose!" he says.
The ball is controlled by magnetic fields, run by the output from the
brainwave machine.
Another brain-mind-PC games has been developed by som finnish art
students from the University of Art and Design inHelsinki.
(http://www.uiah.fi/)
They revived the "computer stoneage game" Pong in a radical new form.
In the new version, the screen image is projected onto a
horizontal plane (f.eks. a table). Inside the projector is also a
camera, which catches hand movements which are made over the
screen display, so they can send "a virtual ball" back and forth
between their hands.
The exhibition continutes tomorrow, Sunday.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : 2002-07-27 12:28:32 BST