A friend of mine directed me to this site as we were talking about research topics in HF/Gaming that will be big in the future. Emotiv (Sydney, AU) is the first company to produce a commercially available, mainstream consumer targeted EEG/EKG monitoring headset ($299, not available quite yet). The purpose? Play video games with your mind…
That’s right, the Emotiv headset is designed for playing video games with one’s thoughts and facial movements. Of course the humanitarian would apply said technology to assist the disabled (they do have a demo where it controls a wheelchair and car), but the Emotiv monitor was developed for games and what they’ve shown so far looks promising so check it out.
Really the applications are endless, and of course other research on EEG based interfaces exist, but the fact that in a few months i’ll be essentially in charge of the virtual world “force” has got me giddy with anticipation…. so many future articles/reviews to come… until then check out these:
CNN – The Future of Gaming
USA Today – Let Video Games read your mind
Business Week – New Mind-Control Headset
(on a side note, i know i’ve been away for a while, but with a nice break coming up i’ll be trying to catch up on all the great things i’ve wanted to share with the world….)
I finished playing Mercenaries 2 for Xbox360 a couple days ago. It was a fun game but not challenging and the storyline was short and non-engaging. The side quests and my own personal quest for acheivement points is what really kept me playing for the 40+ hour I logged on the game over the course of a month, but other than large explosions and learning all about the landscape and geography of Venezuala the game was pretty boring.
So its the 15th day i’ve been living in Buffalo, NY. Seems longer (not in a bad way), but i’m starting to find my groove. My room is finally setup/settled (pictures will follow once my new camera cord comes in the mail) and I’ve found myself with enough time to finally get back to playing some video games.
I spent 22 hours on Ninja Guiden 2, it is a horrible button masher game that you do the same combo over and over again in until you win; however, I couldn’t win. After fighting through the final level that is a series of repeat battles with previously bested bosses, you enter into a special area where through a large set of doors a final battle will occur. The problem? You can’t go backwards in the game at all unless you created manual save points to restart from previous checkpoints. SO after, 22 hours invested in the game (souly to get acheivement points and see where the horrible plot was going) I found myself facing the boss of the game, ill-equipped with no means to revisit a store for power-ups. I’m sure it is not actually impossible to beat with no heath powerups or magic at one’s disposal, but after a solid hour of fighting the boss for 2 minutes then dying I gave in and mailed it back.
The good news? Civilitations is on its way.
I finally beat Mass Effect. I didn’t get all the acheivments I wanted, but did end with 22 of 46 for 530 points. I’m going to start a new game using the same character to get some new acheivements but mainly because the next game i plan on renting is World Ends with You (Square Enix game) for DS Lite (which i won in a design contest, w00t) for my trip to Japan, how appropriate right? but it doesn’t release for the US until 4/24 so i’ll hold Mass Effect until then I suppose.
Oh, and it took me 33 hours and 10 minutes to complete.
So it’s 11:23 on Wednesday night, April the 2nd. I have a ton of random things to do but everytime i finish something, another issue comes up… its pretty frustrating. I have not even played Mass Effect since last Friday sadly enough. However, this log of work and frustration is mainly visit to my detour over the last couple of days from focusing on the present to looking to the future. As the previous blog entry indicated, i visit UB Sunday/Monday/Tuesday of this week. Monday & Tuesday were spent visiting the campus and meeting faculty/students in their Human Factors Engineering PhD program. Today (Wednesday the 2nd) I had a job interview at Wiklund R&D and throughout it i’ve been doing small school tasks and GSA schedulings.
I’ll go through this in reverse order because its easiest for me. GSA, paintball event is on for P&L, it’s gonna be amazing and I can’t wait. The great part is that I play 2 weekends for free because of Jr’s bachelor party the previous weekend. But that is my current light in an otherwise dark hallway. Beyond that light and currenlty barely visible due to the luminence of the first light (Paintball) looms Bowling, NU Capstone presentations & Conors, and Japan… oh and graduation I suppose. However, Japan, the previous supernova in his hallway has began to burn the remaining carbon in its core as I start to worry about planning the trip and the fiscal details of my grand adventure… but make no mistake, i’m still teetering on insanity with anticipation for the journey.
Wiklund R&D is located in Concord MA, actually not far from my school. Its a small HF consulting firm that primarily does medical devices, very successfully. Two Bentley students i’ve had class with work there, which is nice, i’m just not sure if doing many projects of the same nature (medical) will meet my ‘consultant range of projects’ desire for a job. I have to think about this tomorrow and get back to them, but honestly I think I find it very interesting and love the fact that its a small, horizontal company for the most part. Plus I think i’d be able to hook up my PS3 there for Tiger Woods, but it sounds like they don’t have much downtime… AND i’d have potential for Global Travel, which is a definite plus as those of you who know me, know very well. I think they are interested in me, but i guess i’ll decide tomorrow after i’ve really sat down and pondered my life’s goals for the next 3-5 years.
Off topic, our volleyball team lost a game while I was away, we are no longer undefeted, sigh.
AND very importantly, i don’t use spell check on this blog so apologies for that.
then there’s SUNY Buffalo. A PhD, Dr. Jenkins aka Professor Jenkins, aka Senior Military Research Scientist Jenkins, aka Astronout Jenkins. The program, the faculty, the current student, the research, and the offer are all outstanding. I could get housing at a bare minimum cost, my first year’s tuition is guarenteed free (will need grants after that) and I get additional benefits which are very tempting. The opportunities it will present to me, not only after graduation, but while i’m there seem outstanding. The research freedom seems to be absolute. So what’s the downside? Well the way I see it there are 4 things that are preventing me from moving to Buffalo and doing this PhD. In order of importance (for the first time ever) are as follows:
1) It is Buffalo, compared to Boston and Seattle (my two baseline cities), it is not even a fair contest. This past Sunday at 630pm i was in DOWNTOWN Buffalo and there was not a single soul to be seen for literally about 8 city blocks in both directions along the street where their major train runs… it was quite like I Am Legend. Buffalo is not horrible by any means, it has a very strong art/music movement to it, and the bars i’ve seen i’ve liked. But i just have this connotation of my family moving away to better things, and my cousins trying to move away to better things…. and i’d be going back… for 4-6 years. I’m sure the first year would be fine, but its the long haul that worries me. Also, Buffalo is not within 50 miles of a coast, which was a job restriction on where i’d be able to live. They have lake Erie, but that doesn’t count.
2) the 4-6 years. Simply stated, i’d be most likely 28 or 29 years old, with an NPV (stupid MBA) of roughly $1,000 if i’m lucky? The way i’m looking at life, i’m figuring my original goal was to retire by age 32, and this is quite impossible if i take this route. So with my original life expectancy of 63 years of age (ask me about this if you are interested) it would roughly mean half of my life has been spent with my face in a book or in a lab studying instead of accumulating wealth. While put this way that seems very materialistic… what i’m getting at is that basically i’ll be further delaying “the real world” that i’ve put off for 24 years as is, and i’m starting to mature enough to realize this can’t go on. On the upside, 4-6 years would directly support my personal goal of continuing educating myself for my entire life, which is a definite plus. But being 29 with no physial home, no savings, no family, no even city/state or region to call ‘home’ since i’ll be relocating again i’d imagine, is a depressing thought. Piled with the fact that the likelihood of me seeing my closest friends more than 3-4 times a year, this becomes a major negative on the PhD path.
3) No income. While i admit that my current fiscal situation would likely be very similar to the UB track so it wouldn’t be a downgrade, i can say that i’m sick of not having income.
4) The commitment. I’ve never had to make a committment that was longer than 6 months. Everyjob i’ve had, every semester of school, every place i’ve lived… was in 6 month windows. You could argue that NU and Bentley were longer, but my point is that every 6 months i saw a major change in my routine. NU went from classes to working… Bentley went from Classes to Classes to Intern to vacation… to Class to Japan… I think i have a serious psychological issue with making a committment that goes beyond what i can accurately predict the outcomes for other areas of my life. I think i will ask Kati Libby her opinion on this matter.
Other smaller deterents (Sp?). Buffalo’s horrendous economy = no side consulting. Tom Brady would not come with me. Rent/Food/Books/Insurance/Cell phone bill/etc. Moving my physical assets…again. Major disconnect from current friend network which i enjoy.
I will say one positive however is that UB represents 30,000 new people I can meet. So while I am getting older, i’m still ONLY 24 so Buffalo would give me another chance to define my character and self taking into accont what i’ve learned from Lakeville, Northeastern, Seattle, Seattle, & Bentley.
that’s it for now kids. if you read this blog, this is the post to comment on with your opinions on what you think I should do, or more importantly, why you think I should do. I’m really still like 60/40 (PhD/Work) at this point so we’ll see.
Finally started Mass Effect this afternoon. Cinema quality game although it has too many fetch-retrieve side-quests that keep you off the main plotline. I’m going to track how many hours I spend on this game as I try to get the majority of acheivements that don’t requiere beating the game multiple times. I am very pleased with the voice acting, especially since Seth Green is at the helm of my ship, the Normandy.
3/20/2008 Update – I’ve visited one planet tonight. The level has a boss that is very difficult. This is good, typically these games you just prance through. I am enjoying the strategic challenge of winning a fight you our out gunned / out numbered in. (time invested +35 minutes.)
Well. My guitar hero 3 project has come to a halt, again. After having it work for a night (fun night) something on the main board shorted out so now it won’t recognize the fret buttons. I’ve dissasembled it to figure this out which is the state you see above. SO i have ordered another GH3 guitar off ebay ($60) and have also ordered an old SNES joypad to get some buttons for the frets ($32)…then tonight i won another auction i thought i’d lose for the same SNES joypad with a SNES system, 2 Controllers, and 5 games ($45). I would be happy to win a SNES if i didn’t already have 2.
So the running total on this project (not counting hours invested or the value of the actual guitar that has been destroyed) is roughly $230. Sweet.