Controlling games with just your mind; now you and Darth Vader can have something in common.

Does anyone else remember those old Dreamcast ads that told you, “It’s thinking?” Well, apparently someone took that to heart and now developers at NeuroSky Inc. are working on incorporating mind-reading devices into toys and games. Using a sensor that attaches to the forehead and reads brain waves, a person could control an electronic device just by focusing their concentration on it. To promote this new technology, NeuroSky took this technology to the next natural step: dressing up a guy as Darth Vader and having him turn on a lightsaber with his mind.

It’s one of the force powers they didn’t cover so much in the movies, I guess.

Later the company plans to license the technology for non-lightsaber related purposes. Another developer, Emotiv, has already developed a prototype headset they hope to begin selling next year, which could hook up to a Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, or X-Box 360. This could potentially show a movement by the gaming industry away from the standard controllers. This could also increase childhood obesity of the thumbs, which is a very serious ailment that I just made up.