Inner Tube is an aftermarket video game that uses the biofeedback sensors from Journey to Wild Divine to control a space ship through  a tubular environment.

For those who are not familiar with that device, called a lightstone, it measures two quantitties, galvanic skin response, and heartbeat.  From those two,  several other parameters may be derived.

It is important to know that the measurements taken by this device do not necessarily mean what the game creators say they do.

One good example is in Wild Divine itself, where it would have you believe the game can sense your breath.  It can, indirectly, because your heart rate increases measurably with every breath.  But then, so can sitting on a thumbtack. So when they prompt you to blow on the pinwheel, you could sit on a thumbtack instead if you wanted to, and the pinwheel would still turn.

In this game, the creator is less agenda-based.  He tries to explain as accurately as possible what the sensors do and how to affect them.

Unfortunately, his interpretations of this may be flawed.

Heart rate variablity (HRV), or heart coherence, as he calls it here, may be affected by a number of things.  The author of this game states that to increase heart coherence, you should "generate positive emotions such as love, joy, or appreciation"

This may do it for some people, but this quality is in no way limited to that. 

As a test, I chilled out as the game suggested, breathing deeply and regularly, in the method I mastered while playing the Wild Divine games. The result was that the heart coherence line (you can put a graph across the bottom of the screen) would  careen from the top of the chart to the bottom with great periodicity.  Tht thing looked like a square wave, chilled/tense/chilled/tense very evenly, though I was chilling the whole time.  This made the spacecraft lurch from stop to full speed throuout the game.

Next, I played a game of Bejeweled 2, which is engaging, but not threatening.  The heart chart appeared similar to just chilling.

Next, I played a game of minesweeper, which has moments of great trepidation, when you have to guess the location of a mine. The chart did not reflect any particular stress during these moments.

Admittedly, minesweeper isn't completely hair raising, so I engaged in a video game of intense concentration, one that has visuals of such graphic and disgusting violence that its probably banned in Kansas.  It definitely elicits a visceral response, as well as a fear reaction.

To be fair, I only controlled the mouse, since my other hand was attached to the lightstone. (can someone please come out with a headband sensor?)  However, with some help, and a spare computer, the thing was accomplished.   The result?

Not what you would expect.  Overall, my heart rate was elevated, but the "heart coherence" line remained fairly constantly high, which one is led to believe is the result of thinking about love and joy.  And this, while doing things on screen that would make a sane man puke.  

I mention the heart coherence line most of all because its one thing that changes fairly quickly.  Trying to control anything through finger sweat is like trying to float a boat by waiting for the tide to change.  It probably does have some real application, but since it's so damn steady, I can't think of what that might be.

Some nice features of this game are that it's parameters, meager though they be, are fully customizable.  You can assign various qualities to the control and appearance aspects of the game. The controls you can assign include:

• Sweat reduction
• Sweat stability
• Sweat reduction And stability
• Heart coherence
• Heart coherence (easy) 
• Heart coherence And Sweat stability (difficult)

You can apply these to a broad range of game factors such as autopilot accuracy, fog, ship reflectivity, tunnel transparency, etc.

You can open several windows while the game is playing to display your raw sensor data, options you have chosen, and stuff like that.  You can also change them on the fly, which is a nice feature.  If you have multiple monitors, this is very convenient.  Even if you don't, you can leave them on screen without hurting the gameplay any.

Controls are kind of optional.  You can choose to use just your mind, or augment it with a keyboard or joystick.  Curiously, the mouse is not an option. I would say this is a flaw, but I don't understand the reasoning behind it, so I will list it as an inconveneince, instead.

There are a great number of environments you can choose from, meaning different colored tunnels.  There are a lot of different tunnels, from "sky world windows" to "Alien zits"  (I am not making this up)

SERIOUS FLAW: 

Another drawback to this game is that the author has chosen to use on line registration as a software protection scheme.  You are told upon installation that you get twenty "evaluation" games before you have to register it.   We have all encountered this with shareware, of course, but never on a game that you just paid 70 bucks for. Obviously, I am not against someone trying to protect his work, but other software companies do it without this kind of intrusive demand.  He also lets you know that if you want to install it in another machine, it will be another $70.  What if your hard drive crashes? he does not address this.

This last flaw is the last straw for me.  I cannot recommend this software to anyone until this is fixed. Its bad enough to get a shareware quality game with atari 2600 graphics for 70 bucks, (which is less than the sticker on Bioshock, by the way), without having to give this guy your vital stats as well.  This is the same company that puts out particle editor, so its likely that it has the same deal, so I will not be buying or evaluating that program. 

The potential of these games is great.  Advances in cheap biofeedback will soon herald a new dimension in gaming.

However, until then, we have games like this. The hard, cold truth is this:  At this point in history, biofeedback for the masses is like a fake rolex. It looks like the real thing, and it may even serve the purposes of the real thing, but its not the real thing.

So if you can't wait for better, I guess the current crop are a fair deal, depending on what you hoped to use them for.

If you feel more informed about this game, please take a half second to click the button below.

If there is another game or device that I haven't reviewed yet, please email me and I will be happy to try it out and review