Tag: accessibility
-
Apex Legends Accessibility Options Shows other Battle Royales Up
Apex Legends is the latest game to burst onto the battle royale scene, releasing on February 4th. A character-based version of the popular online multiplayer format, Apex is free to play, like many of its counterparts. Players can unlock characters by leveling up or, of course, by buying in-game currency. Each character has their own skills to…
-
Motion Controls Bring Fitness Home
When Nintendo originally released the Wii in 2006, with it came Wii Fit, Zumba, Just Dance, and a host of other games that were all about getting people up and off the couch. Off the couch and using the fancy new motion controls, that is. Wii Fit Trainer made their mark, still on the Smash roster.…
-
Women in Gaming: Dona Bailey, Co-Creator of Centipede
Centipede is a classic arcade title in video game history, a critical hit for Atari that helped bring video games even further into the mainstream. But its female co-creator, Dona Bailey, isn’t talked about nearly as often. Before Atari Bailey picked up programming at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and as she told…
-
Prepare to Die: Gaming with ADHD
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, is a common behavioural disorder that is often overlooked. It is usually noticed at a young age, between 6 and 12 years old. The symptoms come in two main categories, ‘inattentiveness’ and ‘hyperactivity and impulsiveness’. Inattentiveness includes symptoms such as having a short attention span, making careless mistakes, being…
-
Publishers Need to Do More to Fight Gaming Disorder
Gaming Disorder has recently been recognised as a medical condition, and in many countries can now be treated as such. The news has had varied reactions. Most outlets just used it as an excuse to film some kids who play Fortnite a lot. Recognition of digital services as exploiting human tendencies for addiction has been…
-
Microsoft’s Adaptive Controller Lets Everybody Play
Gaming is different from watching a movie or reading a book. For the most part, movies and books are accessible for all to experience in one way or another. We have closed captioning for movies that help the deaf or books written in brail for the blind. Those types of media can be experienced by almost all. This…
-
Celeste’s Assist Mode Brings Welcome Accessibility Options
Celeste was designed to be a challenging game. So states part of the game’s “Assist Mode.” It’s clear about developer Matt Makes Games’s intent: “difficulty is essential to the experience. We recommend playing without Assist Mode your first time.” In an interview with ID @ Xbox, the eponymous Matt asked: “What’s the point of climbing…
-
Is There a Link Between Intelligence and Playing Video Games?
The stereotype that gamers are lazy slobs has been floating around ever since video games were first invented. Although I don’t see anything wrong with leading a chill life, there’s now scientific research to prove the haters wrong. A recent study was conducted by the University of York (United Kingdom), on the link between video…
-
Mercy’s Rework is a Bad Direction for Overwatch
In a recent developer update, Overwatch’s game director Jeff Kaplan announced a substantial rework of the playstyle of healer Mercy. In between repeatedly telling players not to worry, he outlined a new set of abilities that seemed, well, worrying. Mercy is – or was – one of Overwatch’s most popular heroes. She was also one…
-
Summer Games Done Quick Champions Accessibility
Summer Games Done Quick is running all of this week; a 24/7 marathon of speedruns raising money for Doctors Without Borders. And this time around, raising awareness of the need for accessibility in gaming, too. The marathon’s first slot is traditionally coveted for its high viewership, and this time around it went to halfcoordinated, who…
-
Accessibility, Awareness and Streaming: An Interview with DeafGamersTV Founder Chris Robinson
Chris (Phoenix) Robinson, known to many under his Twitch.TV alias, DeafGamersTV, is a deaf gamer from Chicago and a passionate advocate for greater accessibility in games. Currently, he is spending his time streaming games on Twitch, tweeting about deaf awareness, and promoting accessibility within game development and the greater gaming community. Today he joins us…
-
Accessible Gaming Is All About Options
Representatives from The AbleGamers Foundation recently took part in a Skype panel as part of Tulsa’s XPO Game Festival. They shared a few simple changes that can make games more accessible for gamers of different abilities. They also stressed the importance of developers not going overboard in the quest for inclusiveness. AbleGamers is a nonprofit…