IGDA Game Accessibility Special Interest Group

Gaming on a Collision Course



Image of an old Atari VCS with an old TV, with the inset picture taken from Aphex Twin's Come To Daddy, of an old lady bracing herself from the onslaught of a shouting alien. 7-128.com and AbleGamers.org have jointly published a paper entitled "Gaming on a Collision Course". It's all about the financial importance of game designers taking into account an ageing gaming population. It even includes a forward from the pioneer of home video games, Ralph H. Baer (aged 88). All good stuff, and more weight to the cause.

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Call for Reconfigurable Controls for All



Image of a Phoenix Revolution controller by Radica. Out of production controller that allowed you to swap game pods such as the thumb-sticks, D-pads and face buttons.Chuck Bittner, a quadriplegic gamer, has started an on-line petition calling for reconfigurable controls for all games. In an ideal world, such a thing would be built into the fundamental design of all game consoles. Until then, game designers are wittingly or unwittingly disabling many players for want of such a simple feature.

Reconfigurable controls are something that the Accessible Gaming community at large has been calling for over many years (see this other IGDA GASIG Blog post). It's great to see this finally getting some very broad support. When you think about the huge range of ways that people may need to play, it seems crazy that this isn't a standard in mainstream games.

Link via: Hack a Day and Kotaku

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