At least motion controllers have some sort of basis in reality. The Dream Machine might've been the wrong way of going about it, but the technology has been perfected with the likes of the Wii, the Xbox Kinect and Playstation move. Something which has never been picked up by the Big Three consoles is a controller that reads your thoughts. Because controllers that can read your thoughts aren't a thing. At least, anybody with any sense will tell you that a piece of plastic that claims to read your mind and then translate those thoughts into controlling a character in a computer game isn't something that could actually exist out of a particularly cheesy William Gibson novel. And yet, the OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator is a thing that exists. OCZ claim that the headband which literally is a piece of plastic, FYI, like something a primary school girl would wear "translates the electrical biosignals of your body directly into computer commands." Sounds like science! The kind of science you hear in, say, L'Oreal adverts or on the packages of yoghurt drinks which claim to contain friendly bacteria. As in, they are total BS. It tries to avoid the trading standards agency's ire by stating that it doesn't turn direct thoughts into actions. You don't think, say, shoot that guy! and then it happens. No, it's based on subconscious twitches of the face. Obviously the most consistent and nuanced way of controlling a game.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
