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Brain researchers have been making remarkable discoveries exploring the inner workings of the human mind. Scientists claim to be able to influence stimuli in the brain, resulting in sensations that are indistinguishable from reality. This has led several large gaming corporations to begin testing a new form of gaming that will originate inside the mind of the subject.
Called “Project Mind Games” players will actually live the game in real time, similar to a dream. “It’s a virtual dream,” explains neurologist Ruten Peppen. “The subject receives electro-chemical stimuli which trigger the brain into producing hallucinations. This takes place while the subject is sleeping, but he or she soon becomes conscious as the hallucinations become lucid. For all intents and purposes, the experience is as real as it gets,” Peppen claims.
Programmers have been experimenting with combinations of the stimuli and are able to create rudimentary game scenarios. So far testing has been reported as positive, although there are some minor side effects such as involuntary urination and the inability to use words with the letter “w” in them.
Test subjects relax in an easy chair while donning an oversized helmet. It contains more than a hundred electrodes which stimulate different regions of the brain. In addition, several needles will penetrate the skull and inject various serums into the basil ganglia and cerebral cortex. The images and situations that the subject experiences are registered as real events not only by the brain but also by the body. Tests conclude that blood pressure, heart rate, and stress levels increase at the same rate as real-world experiences. The fortunate aspect of the subject being in a sleep state is that a form of paralysis prevents subjects from acting-out the movements in their dream. Players won’t have to worry about punching walls or jumping out of bed.
There are others that don’t agree with this form of mind manipulation and have called for a ban on the development of Project Mind Games. Evelyn Bindhere says that this could lead to mass brainwashing. “What kind of guarantee do we have that Nintendo won’t create an army of human robots to take over the world?” she asks. “We shouldn’t experiment with humans. Leave the mind control to religion and TV, where it’s already been tested safe and effective.”
So far, only two crude games have been developed. One involves being naked at school and having to search the premises for bits of clothing. The other game features frighteningly freaky clowns chasing you through streets that you think you recognize, but become more surreal the further you go.
“We began working on a third game. It was called “Girls of Your Dreams,” explains developer Gill Nabob. “But during test marketing we found that most male gamers were too scared to interact with girls. So we’re just going to have scary clowns chase them around dark streets. They seem to feel more secure with that concept.”
*This article is presented as an exclusive Cheat Code Central feature titled “Are you dumb enough to believe this?” Please check back each Friday for the newest edition.