It seems as though Ubisoft's grand gesture to game accessibility stretches as far as adding basic text subtitles to future games. This is a good but very basic step. A little more appreciation of "The Sound Alternative" would have been better. A little more willingness to communicate with those pressing for accessibility in games would have been better still.Labels: Closed Captions, Deaf Gamers
COGAIN - Eye Tracker Game Competition
0 Comments Published by OneSwitch.org.uk on Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 5:17 PM.
In a little bit of synchronicity with the Retro Remakes "Game For Helen" category, COGAIN have just launched their own Eye Tracker game competition: "Power of Gaze".COGAIN (COmmunication by GAze INteration) have a short list of previously submitted eye-tracker games and 'leisure applications' on-line. The main restriction is that you need to be a student or a group of students in order to submit a game. Student's of Life should be able to apply too, surely?
[update: 18.9.08] - COGAIN have opened up the competion as follows: "Any student (undergraduate or graduate) or non-commercial participant (not a student but not a professional either) may enter the competition". Excellent!
Labels: Competition, Eye Tracker Games
Ubisoft Commits To Include Subtitles In Future Products
0 Comments Published by OneSwitch.org.uk on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 1:36 PM.
Ubisoft have started to listen to the deaf-community struggling with their games for want of some subtitles. Scanning through the comments over at Kotaku gives an idea of the problems gamers have had - and also some of the ignorance that causes these unnecessary barriers.All fingers are crossed that Ubisoft will be offering full "Closed Captioned" subtitles - with description of important sounds, music and the direction of sounds. They could do a lot worse than to take a peek at Games[CC], Deaf Gamers and Game-Accessibility.com for guidance.
Via: Sandra Uhling on the GASIG mailing list.
Labels: Closed Captions, Deaf Gamers, Design Tips
Strange Attractors 2
0 Comments Published by OneSwitch.org.uk on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at 5:55 PM.
Strange Attractors 2 has arrived. It's possibly the most polished and ambitious one-switch game ever written. Kick the Tyres here (the demo) or buy the full game for $14.95 (£7.50 ish). It's superb. I love it. For those wishing to learn more, there's a great interview with Eric Walker of Ominous Development over at AbleGamers.com.
Labels: One Switch Games, PC
War Twat is fierce. And despite it's unrelenting difficulty, actually demonstrates some very fine accessibility traits.1. It uses a nice and simple control scheme (the cursor keys and the CTRL key to fire) that also works to start and restart a game.
2. There's a high-visibility version.
3. There's a non-sweary version.
Not great for people prone to photo-sensitive seizures though I must say. Fierce!
Labels: High Visibility, PC
