This eye-tracking controller compels us to stare way too intensely at our screens

The eyes may be the window to the soul, but they’re also a highly accurate way to play videogames, as this new eye-tracking input device shows. This still-unnamed game controller by Tobii and Steel Series is a sensor that looks similar to a Kinect camera, and it works exactly how you’d think. By keeping tabs on your eyeballs, it can translate their movement to activities on-screen, such as swinging a tomahawk, or pretty much anything. 

What’s cool about this technology (aside from that it’s already improved computer-use for disabled people and clinical researchers, according to Venturebeat) is that it has real potential to make us better players. We’ve seen an explosion of prototypical tech for games here recently, but while these inventions can be great for mining new game experiences, they tend to make existing games harder to play. Touch controls aren’t as precise as a gamepad. Motion-tracking like Kinect or gyroscopes can be unwieldy beasts. Virtual reality made me want to vomit.

But eye-tracking is more like an augment for the way we already play games. When used in tandem with, say, a keyboard, it can free up your fingers for elaborate multitasking, which makes it perfect for Starcraft players and elite hackers alike. Or maybe you’ll just use it to steer the camera. In any case, it’s definitely less painful than neural implants.