Brains! It’s not just a zombie rally cry anymore. No, brains are what Gabe Newell of Valve would like to have access to during the testing phase of game development. Not just any brains, either. He wants inside the heads of playtesters, and he’s willing to hook electrodes onto their scalps so he can measure the changing electrical activity behind their eyes.

If this all sounds a bit diabolical, forgive us - we sometimes have a flair for the dramatic. What Mr. Newell is actually saying in his blog post over at Edge is that the information Valve gathered during the testing phase of Left 4 Dead helped inform the game’s innovative “procedural narrative.” And, technologies such as EEGs can offer even more insight into players’ arousal states, which developers could then use to craft scenarios that elicit unexpected turds from gamers’ butts.

So to sum up: Gabe Newell wants to study your brain so he can create a game that makes you poop. In your pants.