A high-tech company in the US has created a games controller that you play with the power of your mind. According to Physorg, EPOC is the, er, brainchild of Emotiv, a San Francisco start-up. The technology builds a new interface between thoughts and action on a screen:

A videogame will be included with the headset when the package goes on sale for 299 dollars at the Emotiv website and select shops.

The martial arts fantasy game has a rural Asian setting. An animated "master" leads players through exercises that include lifting mountains with their minds.

A test of the headset showed that after "training" the EPOC system for less than a minute one could spin, push, pull and lift objects onscreen, or make them vanish, by simply thinking about it.

Fantasy? Possible. We'll find out at Christmas. You can pre-order here. Before you do that, thought, keep in mind what snwboardn said in the comments,

Now the only thing that's left is a device that takes input from the game and puts it into your mind.

Other games that do your head in: Gameboys instead of anesthetic and the head-controlled Wii.

First Cooking Mama, now Cooking Guide: Can't decide what to eat?. Seriously, these Nintendo folks are hungry.

I kid you not, this press release landed in my inbox today, and I couldn't help myself. I mean, how odd, yet how logical - an interactive cookbook that lets you search using your voice and then speaks you through the steps. Lighter than a book and doesn't require one of those expensive cookbook stands either. More info:

Once a decision has been made about what to eat, users can set about creating a culinary masterpiece with the Cooking Guide chef who will talk you through each step of the way. As your hands will be busy preparing and cooking the ingredients, simply speak into the Nintendo DS's microphone to progress through each stage of the recipe. Each step can be repeated as many times as necessary, so you can prepare your meal at your own pace.

BBC food website - that treasure trove of new recipes - your days in my kitchen are numbered.

Just when you think no more indignities can be piled on Sega's fallen console, it seems Dreamcast.com has been converted into a phishing scam. From Joystiq:

By all appearances, the supposed official site of Sega's cherished console has received a legitimate update, exciting loyalists that have been anticipating the system's 10-year anniversary later this year. By clicking on the question, visitors are prompted to accept a user agreement for an @user.dreamcast.com email account (apparently tied to Gmail). Applicants must supply a console serial number, email address, and password before being granted a [serial number]@dreamcast.com Gmail address.

The thing is ... Sega no longer owns dreamcast.com.

I'm not exactly sure why scammers would target hardcore Dreamcast fans - it just seems cruel and surely unprofitable. How many saddened, nostalgia-afflicted 128bit gamers could they have captured?

Sega is apparently looking into the situation, having given up the rights to the URL some years ago. You couldn't imagine this happening to Sony could you?

Photo: Akihabaranews

Some people are concerned about the future of the arcade industry. Frankly, I worry about little else. From the mid-nineties, it was threatened by the arrival of powerful new consoles able to provide gamers with stunning (at the time. Sort of) 3D graphics in the comfort of their own homes. The industry fought back, however, by basing its business around big novelty cabinets which offered physical experiences unreproducable on home systems. But then Wii came along and stabbed that business model in the guts, too; Namco has blamed Nintendo's machine for the closure of arcades across Japan.

At this year's AOU (Arcade Operator's Union) exhibition in Tokyo, however, Konami seems to have come up with a new solution to combat the slow lingering death of the coin-op: really silly concepts likely to amuse school boys. Byon Byon Action Arcade is a 'telescopic fist simulator' in which players use a plastic fist to punch enemies in a variety of mini-games. It's sort of a cross between those old robot wrestling games and the popular 'whack-a-mole' archetype. Akihabaranews.com has some footage of the game in action. After you've watched this, you'll understand why telescopic fist simulation is the great white hope of the arcade fraternity.

Also at AOU - Capcom was giving lucky journalists hands-on time with Street Fighter IV. The game will apparently beta test at the Capcom Plaza in Tokyo at the end of Feb, with a full release following in July. And fighting fans could also get their twisted fingers on King of Fighters XII, the latest in SNK's series of hardcore 2D beat-'em-ups.

Street Fighter vs King of Fighters - it's like the 21st century never happened.

We thought it was dead, crushed to pieces beneath the twisted wreckage of Bo Stefan Eriksson's Ferrari Enzo (the whole story here). But according to Eurogamer, Gizmondo - the handheld gaming platform with built-in GPS - is being exhumed. The company's European director Carl Freer, the one who wasn't sent to prison for embezzlement, has teamed up with UK electronics design firm Plextek to get things rolling again.

"The only reason Gizmondo was not a success last time round was it was not fully brought into the market," said Freer, ignoring the considerable competition from the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, which would have surely made life difficult for the platform if it had hung around long enough. Launched in March 2005, it enjoyed barely a year on the shelves before Gizmondo Europe went into liquidation.

No news yet on when the system will re-emerge, or whether the specs will be updated.

UPDATE: Swedish journalist and blogger Hans Sandberg has been in touch to inform us that he's carried out an exclusive interview with Gizmondo exec Carl Freer about the return of Gizmondo. He has translated part of the interview into english and the text can be found here. Freer promises to release a new version of the console with a widescreen by Christmas 2008. He claims to be in discussions with network operators who may offer the device for free with certain mobile phone tariffs.

Of course, Gizmondo is not the first gaming platform to rise, Lazarus-like from a seemingly eternal slumber - as this hastily assembled list 'proves'...

Three other gaming platforms that rose, Lazarus-like from a seemingly eternal slumber

Atari 2600 Originally launched in 1977, Atari's wood-paneled legend was re-released as the budget-conscious Atari 2600 jr in 1986, with a newer, modernised chassis. More recently, we saw the Atari Classics 10-in-1 TV Game, which reconstructed the machine into a single joystick. The Intellivision and Megadrive were among machines similarly re-animated by US firm Jakks Pacific.

ZX Spectrum This is a bit cheaty as it's strictly an emulation, but the rubber-keyed eighties computer discovered a new lease of 'life' as a key feature of the Amstrad Em@iler Plus. The ungainly device, a follow-up to the original Amstrad Em@iler, combined a chunky phone with an email client and qwerty keyboard plus the ability to play classic Speccy games. How could it possible have failed?

Game Boy Re-invented more times than David Bowie, the Game Boy has never really died, just continually transmogrified. Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Light, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP, Game Boy Micro... It has recently been revived again, unofficially, as a handheld solar-powered emulator, which runs Game Boy, Game Boy Color and NES ROMs. More info here.

Can you think of any others? I started this list at about nine o'clock last night, certain I'd come up with loads. Then I stalled.

It's a novel idea, the online petition service. In theory, it offers a voice for the disgruntled, a direct channel between The (Wo)Man On The Street and Those Who Act Against Us. Pity it's become somewhat of a farce.

Take for example the many petitions started by irritated gamers on Petition Online. There are several requests for GoldenEye 007 to appear on the Xbox 360. Quite a few people have signed a petition addressed to Warner Bros., Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures to "Save HD-DVD! (Warner Brothers, the Consumer Has Not "Clearly" Chosen Blu-Ray)". Unfortunately, the more noble petitions have been drowned out.

There's even a band of merry PlayStation 3 pranksters who are petitioning SCEE/London Studios for several amendments to SingStar, the karaoke game. It was released in the UK on 7 December, but since then, this rabble feel they've been maligned on several points:

*Network Outages *Lack of SingStore Updates *False Advertising *Lack of Community News

Overall, users of SingStar PS3 love their game. They'd just like a bit more communication, reassurance and support from its makers - and less of the false advertising & promises.

If you feel the same way and want to join an increasingly loud chorus, head over to Petition Online and be heard.

Alternatively, if you feel you have an axe to grind about any other game, let us be your mouthpiece and share the joy here.

I'm a bit late with this, but it's funny so what the heck. Swiss multimedia artist Guillaume Reymond has finished the latest section of his Game Over project in which he uses groups of people to 'act out' classic videogames. He's already done Pole Position, Space Invaders and Pong and in November, he gathered some friends in an auditorium at the Palais de Rumine and got them to be Tetris, using stop motion animation. The video, which you can enjoy on YouTube, took over four hours to 'film' using 880 still photographs.

This, of course, is only the latest attempt at reproducing iconic videogames. There have been various urban versions of Pac-Man, including an 'augmented reality' project by the National University of Singapore's Mixed Reality Lab and the regularly staged Pac-Manhattan. Oh and here is a live version of Donkey Kong created for Jackass spin-off Viva La Bam - it's funny because someone gets hurt.

What philosophical or artistic message is behind these real-world recreations of videogames? Is it about our need to humanise technology - or perhaps a comment on how players project themselves into the game universe? In some ways I think they're a very literal exploration of Henri Bergson's theory on laughter in which the French philosopher argues that the basis of comedy is watching people acting like machines. This is perhaps why it's always classic videogames that get reproduced - there's something about the simple, iconic graphics that juxtaposes more humorously with human participants.

So, given the chance (and the inclination), what classic videogame would you re-enact and how?

Just in case you haven't been following this rare and unseemly spat, Matt Selman, a senior producer on EA's Simpsons game has criticised Rockstar for apparently insisting that a satirical reference to GTA be removed from the game. On an episode of Game Head (relevant section viewable here), he says:

The game begins with Bart wanting to play a game called Grand Theft Scratchy. Of course this is a parody of Grand Theft Auto. And Marge immediately takes it away from him. She tries to clean up the town and stop the game from being distributed in Springfield because Marge is against video game violence. She uses horrific violence to stop video game violence... in a video game... That's called irony. The people who make Grand Theft Auto - they spazzed out like little babies.

From earlier comments by Simpsons lead designer Greg Rizzer, it would seem that a Rockstar lawyer saw the Grand Theft Scratchy level at Leipzig and demanded that it be removed. Senior producer Matt Warburton has added, "They're supposed to be rock stars; that's not a big rockstar move - to be afraid of The Simpsons making fun of their game."

There's an implication that Rockstar were worried consumers may be confused into thinking that Grand Theft Scratchy was, in fact, the next official title in the Grand Theft Auto series. Selman responds by characterising Rockstar's alleged concerns:

We couldn't get our game out in time, so we're afraid that the gamers -- who are not morons -- are going to get confused by an Itchy and Scratchy poster of 'Grand Theft Scratchy' - they're going to think that's the same thing as Grand Theft Auto... EA lawyers are afraid to use the name 'Grand Theft Scratchy' in promoting the game... [Rockstar's] games are full of satire, lame attempts at parody... basically putting the words sixty-nine in wherever they can find it...

Miaow.

It seems the GTA section will now be re-named Mob Rules. According to 1up, a trailer of the level, complete with new name, is available at EA's site and the content - clearly still reminiscent of the gangsta adventure series - remains unchanged. I couldn't access the site, though - it's perhaps being inundated by Rockstar lawyers.

The wags in Sega UK's marketing department have come up with a new 'street advertising campaign' for the very good update of AM3 classic, Sega Rally. Fans are being asked to promote the game by writing its name and a relevant slogan onto their own dirty vehicles, then emailing in a piccie. The provider of the best photo wins a copy of Sega Rally, a PS3 and an extreme rally day experience.

This is far from a new concept. They've been doing dirty car advertising in Moscow for ages and Ray Ban used the idea just a few months ago in its Never Hide campaign. However, it might be worth a try as there only appears to be one picture on the gallery at the moment...

Anyway, it's worth checking out the Sega Rally blogs, for vehicle designer Keith Burden's posts on the process of constructing the cars for the game. It's also - it goes without saying - worth checking out the game itself, which is a lovely slab of sunlight-smacked driving fun, merging the fishtailing oversteer of the arcade original with modern concerns such as physics and mud. And the physics of mud. (Driving in the tyre furrows of other cars brings more stability to your ride.) The result is a more sophisticated title - it bears the definite imprint of the Colin McRae series, which is no accident as the game has been overseen by Guy Wilday, producer of CMR until the recent Dirt instalment.

I love it. Despite the silly marketing gimmick.

In the "Eh?" category, Kotaku, /. and others report on a Chinese MMO development company's decision to crackdown on gender benders in their game King of the World. Aurora Technologies is banning men from playing women, requesting that all female avatar selections are accompanied by visual verification via webcam. The makers don't intend to stop women from playing men.

Not only is this ripe for exploitation (a whole new subsidiary of RMT?), but it's also completely bizarre. Further, as the preponderance of gender benders are male-to-female (according, admittedly, to Western research - see also Griffiths, Davies & Chappell, 2003), this will have a profound effect on the social culture of the game. The 80% of men who play women will now flood the virtual world with testosterone creating a social imbalance which can only result in even greater distinctiveness for the women playing the game. Whether they want to be singled out is another story. Many of them may choose to blend in with the crowd by gender bending. Thus the masculinisation of that particular MMOG will be complete.

How very very strange.