This skin-sensitive controller ramps up game difficulty when you're bored

The concept of using your emotional state to alter gameplay is nothing new, but the technology to make that happen has frequently relied on cameras and other special add-ons. Stanford University's Corey McCall has a far more elegant solution -- he recently developed technology that builds skin-based emotion detection into an otherwise ordinary gamepad. The controller changes the intensity of a game based on the feelings you convey through breathing, heart rate and motion. It can boost the difficulty level if you're obviously bored, or tone things down if you're taking a challenge way too seriously. There may not be a great need for McCall's approach when systems like the Xbox One can check your pulse at a glance, but it could let console and peripheral makers offer emotion-aware gaming without requiring cumbersome (or costly) extras.