Posts tagged “accessibility”

After one Cyberpunk 2077 reviewer suffered a seizure during a particularly visually-intense section of the game, an epilepsy charity have called for CD Projekt Red to consider updating the game in response. It's perhaps not surprising that the dystopian RPG has garish nightclubs and computer glitches, but one particular gadget bears flashing lights with a dangerously striking resemblance to medical devices used to intentionally trigger…

Tagged with accessibility, CD Projekt Red, Cyberpunk 2077.

We tend to talk about games as very visual experiences because, for most, they are. But, for some, there are more important things than framerates and 4K resolutions - namely, actually being able to play games in the first place. I spoke to Sightless Kombat, an accessibility consultant and "gamer without sight", who told me how far games still have to come before they're fully…

Tagged with accessibility, interview, Sea of Thieves, The Last Of Us 2.

Microsoft marked Global Accessibility Awareness Day yesterday by announcing plans for improved accessibility features in Windows 10. The listed changes mainly focus on accessibility features for those with low or no vision, including text cursor customisation and quite a few improvements to the Narrator feature. These changes are scheduled as part of the May update for Windows 10.

Tagged with accessibility, Microsoft, Updates, Windows 10.

If you use a power wheelchair in your day-to-day life, you likely use something that looks an awful lot like a gaming joystick to get around. It seems AbleGamers COO, Rocket League fan and wheelchair user Steven Spohn thought so too, and set about trying to bridge that gap. A little bit of hardware tinkering later, and the Freedom Wing Adaptor was born - a…

Tagged with Ablegamers, accessibility, Psyonix, Rocket League.

Xbox have been doing rather well with accessibility lately. But as well-considered as things like the Adaptive Controller (and Logitech's recently-launched suite of plug-in pads for the thing) are, getting into the game is only half the fight. This week, they released a set of accessibility guidelines which Microsoft say they formed "in partnership with industry experts and members of the gaming and disability community.Dense…

Tagged with accessibility, difficulty, Microsoft, Xbox.

I love the smell of technology bringing people together in the morning. Not in that hollow, Zuckerberguian sense: I'm talking about VR communities where deaf and hearing people hang out and learn VR-adapted sign language. The tech isn't perfect, but it's more than enough to prop up some bridges. You can see them for yourself, thanks to YouTuber and VR documentary maker "Syrmor".

Tagged with accessibility, Sign language, VR, VRChat.

The Xbox Adaptive Controller is a lovely thing. Last year, Microsoft aimed to make gaming more accessible by providing a handy little rectangle with two huge buttons and dozens of slots for plugging in new input options. The idea was, you'd mix and match new input options to create a customised controller playable by anyone, regardless of physical requirements.Finding those inputs, however, could be an…

Tagged with accessibility, Hardware, Logitech, Xbox Adaptive Controller.

95% of Assassin's Creed Odyssey players kept subtitles on, Ubisoft have revealed, and 50% of The Division 2 players are currently playing with them on too. These surprising statistics and more come from a wee tweetblast this week confirming that yes, subtitles are hugely desirable even in murdergames. Even as someone who often plays with subs on, I'm surprised by the numbers shared by David…

Tagged with accessibility, big numbers, subtitles, Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Far Cry: New Dawn, Tom Clancy's The Division 2.

Riot Games have apologised after part of a new League Of Legends event proved a problem for some players with photosensitive epilepsy, more than most of the game usually is. Riot say they had considered an option to disable the flashy animations which risk triggering seizures in some photosensitive players but they were short on time so, with a choice between launching without the option…

Tagged with accessibility, Riot Games, League of Legends.

Video games may get a touch friendlier to chatty players with disabilities, as new(ish) US accessibility laws governing communication features now apply to the medium. The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) only covers aspects of games like text and voice chat and their UIs, not requiring any changes to how they play, and only if developers won't need to spend an amount…

Tagged with accessibility, Federal Communications Commission.

'Tis the season to be spooky (mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha, wa-ha-ha-ha) and don we now our ghoul apparel in Overwatch, as its annual Halloween event has returned with more PvE action and more new spooky costumes. It's not all seasonal, mind, as last night's update also launched the reworked Torbjörn with his new abilities, tweaked a few other heroes including Pharah, remixed the sound, and whacked in new…

Tagged with accessibility, Blizzard Entertainment, goth ch, Overwatch.

I don't need the Xbox Adaptive Controller, but there are a lot of people who do. Designed to make games more accessible for all, it's a customisable hub centred around a chunky pair of buttons and an oversized D-pad, designed to be used on any surface or even mounted. It's bristling with ports to attach assistive switches or sticks to, and can be used in…

Tagged with accessibility, controller, Hardware, Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox Adaptive Controller.

If you wish to turn off all the objective markers, glowing item highlights, and even guiding paint splashes in Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, you will be able to. Leap and puzzle without any obvious assistance, if you please. Or if you find those handy and want all the help you can get, hey, the game will let you do that too. The game's makers…

Tagged with accessibility, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, Nixxes, Square Enix, Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

After a week of rumours and leaked images, Microsoft's Xbox Adaptive Controller is finally official - and it works with Windows 10 PCs, too. Designed to let people with limited mobility play games with their own button, joystick and switch setups, the controller is a fantastic step toward making games more accessible to those who can't use a traditional Xbox controller or mouse and keyboard. 

Tagged with accessibility, controller, Hardware, Microsoft.

The AbleGamers Foundation, an American charity who help people with disabilities to play games by giving them controllers which suit their needs, have launched a new initiative to help improve accessibility problems in games. Their Player Panels will connect developers and researchers to people with disabilities as accessibility testers. Hopefully this scheme will lead to more games being open to more players - and from…

Tagged with accessibility, AbleGamers.

World of Warcraft's 6.1 patch will add a more robust suite of options for colour blind players to use while in Azeroth. Blizzard have had a colourblind mode in World of Warcraft [official site] for a few years now but the next patch will bring a new set of filter and strength options to better cater for people with colour vision deficiencies.

Tagged with accessibility, Blizzard Entertainment, colour blindness, World of Warcraft.

We all know what the bestest best games of 2014 are, and that there can be no disagreement about them. Sadly, a fair few of those will be difficult to play for people with mobility issues, colour blindness, or other disabilities. Celebrating games open to more people, the charity AbleGamers has declared its Accessible Game of the Year winners and runners-up. The PC is well-represented,…

Tagged with accessibility, disabled gamers, AbleGamers.

Hold on a second, chums. Look at that screenshot again. That's the opening scene of Half-Life with subtitles. Pretty important atmosphere-setting, isn't it, that train ride narration? It makes Black Mesa seem so much bigger than us. Half-Life used an awful lot of speech to reveal what was going on, from our one-sided conversations with scientists to soldiers yelling at each other. Here I pull…

Tagged with accessibility, mod, mods, subtitles, Half-Life.