Imagine playing a horror game like Siren when it's able to read your emotions.

But this one is genuinely cool. The patent pertains to a biometric DualShock controller, able to read: galvanic skin resistance, electrocardio data, and electro-muscular data. In English, that's: moisture, heart rhythm and muscle movements.

The information would be sent via the new DualShock controller to a hypothetical video game system, adapting the experience based on the data being collected.

The patent lists a number of potential implementation ideas. Sony ponders that weapons might handle differently depending on your recorded stress level, or the appearance of an in-game character adapted depending on your biometric data. For example, if the game recognises an increased level of perspiration, it could then be mapped onto a character's body.

Other ideas include a depleting health bar depending on your stress level, or background music that changes to the pace of your heart rate.

It's all clearly pie-in-the-sky thinking, but its food for thought. Reading biometric profiles could really add a fourth dimension to games, and while we'd prefer the implementation to be subtle rather than in your face, it could genuinely enhance the immersion of the experience.

Sony patents a lot of dumb things, but this isn't one of them. We actually have our fingers crossed that something like this becomes a reality in PlayStation 4.

[source siliconera.com]