# Train to be a jedi??



## Clark Kent (Jan 10, 2009)

*Train to be a jedi??
By Miyu - 01-10-2009 05:53 PM
Originally Posted at: Dead Parrot Tavern*
====================

All right who is shelling out for this, raise your hands!

 	Quote:
 	 	 		 			 			 				Toy trains 'Star Wars' fans to use The Force

Could The Force be with you? A toy due in stores this fall will let you test and hone your Jedi-like abilities.
The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the Star Wars films.

No, you're not tapping into some "all-powerful force controlling everything," as Han Solo said in the movies. But you are reaching out with mind power via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products. "It's been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force," says Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.

Mind-control games may be the coming thing: Mattel plans to demonstrate a Mind Flex game (also due this fall), which uses brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday.

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 says.

"Until today, EEG technology has been designed for rigorous medical and clinical applications with little regard to price (and) ease of use," says Greg Hyver of NeuroSky, which developed the brain-wave technology for both games. "We are putting this exciting technology into everyone's living room."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifesty...iner-toy_N.htm 



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## Nolerama (Jan 10, 2009)

I'm getting one.


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## MA-Caver (Jan 10, 2009)

The link doesn't work... :idunno:


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## arnisador (Jan 10, 2009)

Sold!


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 10, 2009)

Awww why bother... everybody knows us CMA guys already can do all this


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## MBuzzy (Jan 10, 2009)

I have a feeling that this will be just the like the "experimental" stuff for the NES....the Power Glove, the U-Force.  GREAT ideas and they looked really cool, but in practice, difficult to use, clunky and non responsive.

The technology is out there, it can be done....but for that price, I have a feeling that people will be spending most of their time trying to think that they can make it work rather than it actually working.  Now....in another 4-5 years....they'll have it down.  Figure it took Nintendo 15 years to get the technology right.....tech goes faster now though.


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## GBlues (Jan 10, 2009)

Yup, I want one!


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## David Weatherly (Jan 10, 2009)

Can't wait to see if this really works!

David


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## Cryozombie (Jan 11, 2009)

Oh man.


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## MA-Caver (Jan 11, 2009)

Link still doesn't work


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## JBrainard (Jan 12, 2009)

As Xue was saying, I'll just train in the internal CMA's and use the _real _force


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## CoryKS (Jan 12, 2009)

MBuzzy said:


> I have a feeling that this will be just the like the "experimental" stuff for the NES....the Power Glove, the U-Force. GREAT ideas and they looked really cool, but in practice, difficult to use, clunky and non responsive.


 
I find your lack of faith disturbing.  

Actually, I don't care whether it works or not... no way I'm hooking that thing to my kid's grape.   :erg:


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## CoryKS (Jan 12, 2009)

MA-Caver said:


> Link still doesn't work


 
Try this:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-01-06-force-trainer-toy_N.htm


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## KempoGuy06 (Jan 12, 2009)

Nolerama said:


> I'm getting one.


ditto!!!

B


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## MBuzzy (Jan 12, 2009)

CoryKS said:


> I find your lack of faith disturbing.
> 
> Actually, I don't care whether it works or not... no way I'm hooking that thing to my kid's grape.   :erg:



I want one, but I wouldn't put it on my head either!  

I know for the a fact that the technology exists, I just don't have faith that they can mass produce it with the accuracy that has been achieved in labs for that price.  

Plus, I remember when I first used the power glove and U-Force.....what a waste of money.  I was SO crushed when I saw it on TV and the movies, then got it home and figured out that the idea was great, but the technology just wasn't there for $49.99.  

But today, that technology is nothing....you can buy a Wii remote for what...$15?  and its accuracy is 100x better than those original designs were.  I think it is great that they're putting it out there....I just think I'll wait until they work out some bugs and get the technology up to the level it should be for the price they are advertising.  

Of course...I could be wrong and it will work as well as the ones I've seen in labs!


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## Fiendlover (Jan 13, 2009)

Omg I AM getting one.  :jediduel:


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## girlbug2 (Jan 14, 2009)

I'll wait six months after it hits for y'alls reviews on this site, then decide whether or not to get one.


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## Cryozombie (Jan 14, 2009)

I'll wait 6 months for the project plans to show up in the Evil Genius series of books, and see if I can fry my frontal lobe building my own, haha.

G'wan... ask me what happened when we scratch built that tesla coil in my living room from the Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius book.


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## Nolerama (Jan 14, 2009)

They're going to pair up with a pharmaceutical company to market a midichlorian vaccine for those who simply can't move the ball.


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## bluekey88 (Jan 14, 2009)

I recall some reseacrh a few years ago about using bio-feedback (that's what we're talking about here) with video games as an adjunct treatment for ADHD.  I wonder how stuff like this might work?  It'll certainly feed into the video game loving portion of the mind of your avaerage person with ADHD...will the kinds of attention needed to play the game help improve overall attention?

I might just have to get one just to see...

Peace,
Erik


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## HeartofJuyoMk2 (Jan 27, 2009)

The Force will be with me. :yoda:


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## BrandonLucas (Jan 27, 2009)

Oh, yes sir.  I will own one of these.  

Even though I'm currently training to use the Force for real, and I'm still in the process of building my own lightsaber to complete my training, this little gadget should be far more affordable than actually having to figure out a way to travel all the way to Yavin IV.


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