Star Wars Force Trainer Brainwave Toy unveiled at the Toy Fair 2009

Most likely the hottest toy trend for Christmas 2009 will be brainwave toys. At the Toy Fair 2009 several of these new toys were already revealed. We already reported about the Mattel Mindflex. Uncle Milton offers with the Star Wars Force Trainer a toy based on the same technological concept.
The Force trainer uses a headset that measures brainwave that get translated into a airstream produced by a fan inside the Force Trainer base.
Gizmodo has been at the Toy Fair 2009 in New York and tested the Force Trainer. You can see a video of the Force Trainer in action on Gizmodo. The Uncle Milton Force Trainer is supposed to sell for around $100 later this year.

The Star Wars franchise is still strong and so it makes sense to still market Star Wars toys even to the younger generation. Uncle Milton Industries will actually unleash a whole line of cool new Star Wars tech toys including Star Wars Optical Command Unit, Star Wars Darth Vader Robotic Arm, Star Wars Jedi Telescope and Star Wars Jedi Projector. More details on the Star Wars site.

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.”

Source: USA Today

How To: Make Star Wars Origami

Amazing: 60,000-Piece Lego Star Wars Hoth Diorama Features LEDs, Footprints

Not only is this Lego Star Wars diorama of the ice world Hoth fun to look at, it’s got some gadgety goodness inside too. Oh, and footprints. Tons of tiny minifig footprints.

As the headline says, the 5′X10′ diorama is comprised of 60,000 Lego bricks. It cost creator Mark Borlase about $3,000 and four years of construction time to complete.

There’s also the 50 LED lights that illuminate the Echo Base hangar and bacta tank with a soothing blue. Motorized AT-AT wenches and a fully operational hanger door top off this gorgeous pile of eye candy.

And according to the block heads over at Brothers Brick the diorama also won the recent “Star Wars building challenge” and was featured in the official LEGO Magazine.

Sports and Star Wars Meet for Christmas

For those rare occasions where sci-fi geek meets sports freak, the past year introduced perfect holiday gifts allowing that rare mix of top-notch athletic performance and hopeless nerdiness.

Above you see an example of Brunswick’s new Viz-A-Ball Star Wars Edition, cool bowling balls that are ready to plow through pins. These resin balls come with shiny, 360-degree, limited-edition graphics. Sure, you can get Hello Kitty or the Three Stooges, but the Darth Vader and Yoda bowling balls prove that the power to roll a strike is insignificant next to the power of The Force.

For those Imperial officers who occasionally get out for a little fresh air, Bridgestone Golf introduced Star Wars golf bags in Darth Vader and Stormtrooper designs (pictured, below). Even at $500 a pop, good luck finding one of these in stock at the 19th hole’s pro shop.

Finally, Drew Pearson Marketing offers a complete line of Star Wars sports jerseys. In football, basketball and hockey styles (and on the market for a couple years now), they’re still a good idea for parents looking to inspire kids to make the transition from sci-fi movie fantasy to real-world athletic competition.
Even Boba Fett is a better role model than Terrell Owens or Kobe Bryant.

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