New Wave of Evil Controllers
0 Comments Published by OneSwitch.org.uk on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 5:16 PM.
Adam from Evil Controllers recently sent me photos of a couple of his latest joypad accessibility adaptations, which I'm sharing with you above.
Top and middle pictures are of an Xbox 360 joypad tailor adapted for Randy Fitzgerald, a quadriplegic gamer known as N0M4D. The D-pad has been made easier to use and four metal buttons have been added to the faceplate. Those metal buttons and the thumb-stick clicks are reprogrammable where any push button can be reassigned. On top of this, Andy's enabled a "toggle" system so that Randy can just tap a button now to make it hold or release a game function. Stunning job!
The hacked in half controller pictured bottom, is a prototype and much like the HORI Separate in effect: Ideal for those unable to bring their hands together. I have to say as the HORI Separates have become so hard to find recently, this is really fantastic news. Read more at Evil Accessibility.
Labels: Accessible Controllers
7-128.com Accessible Gaming Web Sites Awards - 2011
0 Comments Published by OneSwitch.org.uk on Monday, March 21, 2011 at 4:03 AM.
It's that time of year again, where 7-128.com have reviewed and ranked the best of accessible gaming sites. They have broken these down into three categories, being Hearing, Mobility and Sight related.
Big hearty congratulations to DeafGamers, OneSwitch.org.uk and PCS Games, and everyone else who made the list. You may or may not agree with 7-128's ordering, but there's no denying what a useful list they've produced leading to such a huge wealth of information. The push for greater accessibility continues...
Labels: Awards
The 10th of March 2011 saw the official launch of 'The SpecialEffect Centre', including GamesLab, GamesRoom and offices. The images above however, are of my journey there the night before (sort of). I'd never seen LED cats-eyes before, they felt very Tron like and apt for the day to come.
Back to the point... so what is The SpecialEffect Centre? Well, it's based in Oxfordshire in the UK and serves as the base point for many different game accessibility projects. The GameRoom acts as a place where people can try out accessible game equipment for themselves. For those unable to get to Oxfordshire, there are other opportunties to try out this gear through Accessible Gaming Road Shows and a fantastic loan-library (UK only at this time).
For a more international outreach, the SpecialEffect GameBase is dedicated to sharing knowledge. To save me repeating what's been said across the web, here's some links to the story of the day: Telegraph; EuroGamer; The Guardian; C&VG; Engadget; Trabasack.
Local MP and the UK's prime minister, David Cameron opened the centre, then proceeded to take a thrashing from the ever brilliant Shaz Hossain on GT5. Speeches were given including from those representing the association for UK interactive entertainment (ukie). Accessible gaming marches on.
Image via: ClearViewTraffic.com.
