CES 2009: Mattel's MindFlex gives you Jedi mind powers

by Kevin Kelly { Jan 13th 2009 at 11:45PM }

The author burnt out several synapses levitating the ball for this photo.

Mattel had a booth at CES pimping out things like U.B. Funkeys, a Barbie nail design automatic applicator contraption, and Mindflex, a game that claims to harness the untapped power of your brain's beta waves. These are waves that the brain generates when you're busy solving problems, concentrating, or trying to decipher what the sales chart trends on Joystiq are pointing toward.

Mattel wants to channel said waves into a franchise of games under the Mindflex banner, the first of which offers a "float the ball with your brain" challenge. To play, you slap on a funky headband, attach little butterfly clips to your earlobes and then concentrate really hard. If you do it well enough ... the ball floats. Relax your brain or close your eyes, and it hovers down.

Gallery: CES 2009: Mattel

In reality, the game unit is telling the board how hard to spin the fans, which blow the ball up in the air, based on the beta wave levels being emitted. After a bit of experimenting and brow furrowing, you can figure out which level of thinkingness you need to send out, Jedi style.

And yes, it actually works. Think really hard, and you can get that sucker pretty far up in the air. Say some mantras or try a yoga pose, and it wafts back down. Using the knob on the front allows you to rotate the ball (which is made of a kind of dense Styrofoam) in a circle, and then put it through some obstacles. It's basically a brain-powered version of the old Air Trix board game. It certainly was a lot of fun watching people's faces light up when they got this device to work.

Sadly, it doesn't yet allow you to choke the life out of insubordinate peons ... but just you wait.

Tags: Air-Trix, beta-wave, brain-power, CES-2009, Mattel, mental, MindFlex

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Nofriendo @ Jan 13th 2009 11:52PM

that thing doesnt do anything but arose the guy watching it from the sidelines.

xtremeholymuffin @ Jan 13th 2009 11:52PM

too cool

Alien Lord @ Jan 13th 2009 11:52PM

Can you say game interface.

xtremeholymuffin @ Jan 13th 2009 11:55PM

This could take the mindlessness out of QTE:

Press A!
Press X!
Press Y!
Think!

Hashbrown Hunter @ Jan 14th 2009 7:31AM

Walking through GTA V.

"Oh hey a prostitute"

*BANG*

"Oh crap a baby."

Scooter @ Jan 14th 2009 12:00AM

WANT!

kaiswil2 @ Jan 14th 2009 12:08AM

So, apparently Mattel thinks that our kids are not inactive enough.

Kattleox @ Jan 14th 2009 12:13AM

You do not want to sell me your Mindflex. You will go home and rethink your life.

WiredKnight @ Jan 14th 2009 1:09AM

Who do you think you are, some kind of Jedi master?

Kyle @ Jan 14th 2009 1:13AM

I do not want to sell you my Mindflex. I will go home and rethink my life.

TheFreak @ Jan 14th 2009 2:14AM

Defense rests.

/Thread.

Alien Lord @ Jan 14th 2009 2:40AM

You are indeed strong with the mindflex but the dark side is stronger.

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ Jan 14th 2009 6:05AM

Would you kindly buy my game?

Foetoid @ Jan 14th 2009 9:25AM

Dammit!, i wanna vote Kyle up to 5 stars!!!

A Pissed-off English Gamer @ Jan 14th 2009 11:26AM

Lol, death sticks. I facepalmed when i heard that in the cinema.

Little Big PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Jan 14th 2009 12:13AM

Looks pretty neat. It will probably get boring quickly for the kids but if priced right ($15-$20) could sell pretty decent.

Chris @ Jan 14th 2009 12:15AM

That Kevin Kelly is pretty hot. More photos of him.

djhindsight @ Jan 14th 2009 5:45PM

I agree!

gamedealdaily.com @ Jan 14th 2009 12:15AM

I thought this was a prototype for Wii 2 for a second there.

NukeAssault @ Jan 14th 2009 12:20AM

I guess Mattel forgot they made this already. Well sans crazy mind controller. http://www.samstoybox.com/toypics/HarryPotterLevitatingBox.jpg

Still that's definitely cooler. =D

Kevin Kelly @ Jan 14th 2009 12:31AM

Good find, they must have used this as a base for the game.

Haggard @ Jan 14th 2009 2:52AM

I was thinking of that game.. it's so awfully bad - got it in my cupboard somewhere.

Comet @ Jan 14th 2009 8:10AM

Its ok Harry feels at home there.

Blank-Mage @ Jan 14th 2009 12:23AM

And we're one step closer to the dystopian future.

Chris Brown @ Jan 14th 2009 12:28AM

They actually have something similar to this you can buy and use already for computer games.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826100006

Ihavepants @ Jan 14th 2009 12:58AM

Yeh the funny thing about that is, and I'm guessing this too, is that it's actually controlled by muscles in your face. That's what the sensitive controls pick up- small facial muscle movements. Hence why closing your eyes, or straining your facial muscles in "thought" would control this Mattel thing.

It's a scam.

Ihavepants @ Jan 14th 2009 4:46AM

I just noticed the straps that go around the front of your head with this as well.

Exactly.

Palmer @ Jan 14th 2009 12:29AM

So is there hope that it can lead to heads being exploded like in Scanners?

Michael K. @ Jan 14th 2009 12:43AM

I worked in a lab that was developing something like that, but it was using brain waves to control a computer mouse so handicapped people could use computers.

Wiinterfang @ Jan 14th 2009 2:07AM

Get out of here! for real?

Rhamsey @ Jan 14th 2009 2:56AM

wow, and me thinking of using this idea for destruction makes me feel like an ass now. i never even thought of the making life better for other people.
hope what you were working on happens

Blank-Mage @ Jan 14th 2009 4:25AM

"The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophe." - Einstein.

Triscuit @ Jan 14th 2009 12:47AM

He was Kevin Kelly, with his chopped of wellys.
In the middle of the summertime, He was lookin fine
His pants had holes in the knees, but he was proud as can be
With his old wellys, he kept strollin along.

Or using his somewhat high Midichlorian count to move objects, as the case would be.

RIP R.L. Causton - YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MISSED @ Jan 14th 2009 1:39AM

My comment was deleted for being generally offensive. What a shame!

RIP R.L. Causton - YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MISSED @ Jan 14th 2009 1:42AM

If anyone thinks I have been acting different lately let me just say that I have been. Maybe when your wife, mom, sister or grandmother dies suffering you will know what it's like.

anthonyjh @ Jan 14th 2009 4:32AM

Nobody cares.

David Cater @ Jan 14th 2009 6:29AM

@anthonyjh
That was fucking cold, dude. Was that seriously necessary?

@RIP
I don't pay attention to the users on here to know who you are, but I can certainly feel your pain. I'm so sorry for your loss. Cancer is a bitch, and a painful bitch too. Just remember that as bad as it was, her pain is over now. Hang in there.

Kye says: I like turtles @ Jan 14th 2009 6:50AM

Sorry to hear man.

I try to give to cancer charities when I can, because no-one in my fam has died from cancer.
And I want to keep it that way.

Again, my sincere condolences.

nimSEY 547 @ Jan 14th 2009 7:21AM

I'm very sorry to hear of your loss. Be strong for your family. I don't know you, but I'll keep you in my prayers.

Foetoid @ Jan 14th 2009 9:32AM

Wow, its amazing to see the 12 yr old idiots who would down-vote someone the day a family member died. JOYSTIQ FTW!. If the admins/bloggers here had a heart, they would change both your posts to 3 hearts immediately.

aristokrat @ Jan 14th 2009 11:40AM

Why should they do that? His first post is pretty caustic and offensive, bringing more hate into the world in the wake of his loss. Just because something bad happens to you does not give you the right to be a dick to everyone else (nor to hijack threads with off-topic rants). But I guess reasonable coping is a big-boy skill.

If you really did lose someone, I'm sorry for you. Go make the world a better place in the wake of your sadness, and make the death mean something by using it as inspiration. I'm sure your lost loved one would prefer that over having her name used in vain in order to stunt a gaming message board.
Because this is the internet, where hot girls are Quincy's, young boys are Chris Matthews, and you might very well be a hamster who somehow learned to type and wants to grief some people and guilt them into feeling bad somehow.

xGeneral DEATHx @ Jan 14th 2009 1:08PM

I can understand your anger at the loss of a loved one (I've lost a few to cancer myself), but throwing out FUCK YOU's isn't exactly honoring that person's memory, it's using the pain of their loss to vent your own frustrations/insecurities. I could understand all the FU's if said posters had all insulted the deceased in some way, but otherwise there's no reason to be hate-mongering so bitterly here on Joystiq.

My condolences for your loss. May she rest in peace.

BlaqueBeird @ Jan 14th 2009 3:45PM

Man the Internet is sweet. You can swear at people, talk about important (to you at least) issues, swear at the people you were discussing those issues with, expect sympathy from the people you just swore at, and the best part is it's anonymous. And then, when you thought there was nothing left to do, you can log off and pretend that your specific problem is worse than anyone else's.

Not that I'm insensitive to people losing loved ones, but at least you got to say goodbye. Try saying good bye to a mangled corpse wrapped around a steering wheel, or an empty grave because they couldn't find a body, or a field of entrails left on some battlefield.

There are worse things, there always will be, and all it takes is a little perspective to see that you're a lot better off than most people in the world.

So cheer up, take a breath, and appreciate that you're not breathing your last. You want to honour your dearly departed? Live a good life, be a good person, and I'm sure they'd appreciate it.