Good Bye 2011 - Happy New Year 2012

Happy new year, world! Hope 2012 is a more peaceful and less destructive one.

D.I.Y. Muscle Control Sensors

"Advancer Technologies' USB Biofeedback Game Controller harnesses the power of electromyography to allow players to directly control video games with their muscles."


"At the core of this plug-in-play controller is the powerful yet low-cost Arduino UNO microcontroller, a favorite among hobbyist and students, acting as a HID keyboard interface. Integrated with the Arduino UNO are four of Advancer Technologies' new Platinum Series Muscle Sensors, allowing four muscles to act independently or in combination with each other to control over four buttons. In their setup, Advancer Technologies elected to use a six button setup with the left forearm controlling the B button (RUN/ATTACK), the right forearm controlling the A button (JUMP), the left bicep controlling the LEFT button, the right bicep controlling the RIGHT button, and combinations for UP and DOWN.

During gameplay, the Arduino UNO program constantly senses the muscle activity of each muscle via the muscle sensors. When the player flexes a muscle, the Arduino registers a spike in muscle activity, triggering a button press, and sends this information to the computer via USB connection, all in real-time.

You can learn how to build your own controller by reading Advancer Technologies' easy to follow tutorial posted on Instructables.com  and their website. These illustrated instructions go through each step in detail to reproduce and program this remarkable controller."

Cribbed directly from Advancer Technologies' YouTube channel, discovered with thanks to Thomas Westin of the IGDA GASIG. Other muscle control in games can be found at Control Bionics and the OneSwitch Blog.

Drivey

Drivey is a proof of concept demo, but it is gorgeous and a pleasure. It reflects a stylised version of driving, and aims to replicate the ease of driving when you get into a comfortable head-space and environment.

It achieves this with auto-steering and cruise-control, which I think is a unique and brilliant accessibility design feature. If you let go of your controls, the car will drive itself. You can choose when to overtake, speed up or slow down or go off-road. You can switch off the traffic if you wish and even the colision detection. You can drive using two switches alone for LEFT and RIGHT.

The most recent demo (0.15) has no sound, but 0.13 has. For more accessible design ideas for the ultimate in accessible driving see the IGDA GASIG Top 3 and the SpecialEffect Wish List for Accessible Game Design.

 

Hollis Brown Thornton artwork top found thanks to Rob Fearon.

102 Switch Swearing Machine (18)

Above is the Clay Interactive built "Periodic Table of Swearing" made for Modern Toss. It's been a bad month for good taste on the OneSwitch blog. My apologies. But who wouldn't love giving that a go at the Science Museum? A one-switch version would be a doddle with Switch Mixer Lite and bundles of recording patience. I won't be doing that though.

Never Be Normal

Good advice via adski-kafeteri.

Christmas at Specialbites

I don't know quite what to make of Specialbites's collection of eight switch accessible Christmas activities. They're a little bit odd. One is of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer getting scared by a possessed Christmas tree, then poo-ing in a toilet. Another is of a magic tree firing cannon balls at a cloud of brussel sprouts. Another is Rudolph starting a fire, melting a snowman whilst staring and grinning. Often there's a mad echoing laugh, or funeral march version of Away in a Manger.



Some older kids will certainly find these amusing, but personally I had flash backs to seeing Frosty the Snowman melting down to a puddle when he popped into a green-house to get warm, and crying my eyes out. I was five I might add. This wasn't recently.

Aside from this(!) Specialbites have an excellent range of switch accessible activities aimed at developing an understanding of cause and effect and beyond. I highly recommend giving them a good look through as there are some gems inside. 

Away from Specialbites, you can find more traditional Christmas fare at Help Kidz Learn's advent calendar. Is it sad that I miss the teletext advent calendar? (yes it is).

When the Wind Blows

New Wave Virtual Reality

Apparently all filmed in one take using various projectors, object mapping tech and a PS3 move controller linked to camera movement. I've seen this kind of thing before on a much smaller scale from Johnny Chung Lee. This though looks like the second coming of Virtual Reality. Can't wait! Hope it doesn't make me motion sick.
 

Badlands

After playing it for the first time at Replay Expo 2011 I decided to have another go at getting Konami's one-switch laser-disk game Badlands working on my laptop. Using the latest version of the Daphne emulator (v1.0), it worked!

It turns out that Daphne now helps you download everything you need to play without too much hassle at all. So, what's the game like?

Well, beyond needing a separate start button, the entire game is designed to be played with a single button to shoot. That includes entering your initials on the high-score table. Playing in a real cartoon is amazing for a while, but this game requires lightening fast reactions. It also requires a fair bit of patience in learning at what often obscure point you should actually fire.

If you do stick at it, and you have the reaction speed, it's an enjoyable and unique one-switch game. I definitely recommend setting your lives to the maximum level and using this help guide.

Run! You [Rude Word]!

I'm getting prudish. RYF! is an exceptionally sweary one-switch side-scrolling game for PCs. Definitely one for parental guidance, and the guidance should be "no, you're not playing it. It's too rude."

I won't be cross-posting this at SpecialEffect, put it that way. But if you must play...

...you can find it here via: Glorious Trainwrecks. Made me grin.

El Duelo

It's been a pleasure learning about Jose A Silva Ruiz's switch accessible work at C1ic.mx and his C1ic.mx blog. Jose is based in Mexico and seems to have a bit of thing for skeletons. Here's a little on his work...

C1ic.mx is hoped to offer a switch accessible web-interface to some of his new games, YouTube and more. It's a laudable project, and one I've seen promised before but not quite realised. Let's hope this one goes all the way.

El Duelo is a high-noon gun-fight set in a haunted Mexico. As soon as your opponent draws, fire using the space bar. All dialogue and text is in Spanish which really adds to the Spaghetti Western feel. Requires fast reactions.

Penales is a penalty shoot out game. This one requires mouse use at the menu stage unfortunately, but game play is fun for those with good or lucky timing. Press the space bar when the spinning indicator is in the green to score. There's also a duck in goal version.

Playstation 2 One-Switch Generation

This post is cribbed from the SpecialEffect Accessible GameBase: Last week we were approached asking if we would recommend a Wii or a Playstation for a young lad with Cerebral Palsy. He uses an Able-Net Big-Red type switch to play some Help Kidz Learn games and has also shown interest in web-cam activities.

That tipped me into thinking a Playstation 2 would likely be the best bet. Ideally one of the old fat ones that will work with the majority of accessible controllers.

Here's a list of the PS2 compatible software we recommend anyone with similar needs takes a look at (listed in degree of accessibility for the player, once a helper has set things up):


1. EyeToy (PS2)



Webcam games for the PS2. The EyeToy Play and EyeToy Play 2 games both have a "Play Room" area which are zero pressure experimental areas. Position the camera to a part of the body that moves and then play freely. Hugely accessible.


2. Destruction Derby (PSone, PS2 and PS3 via PSN).



Banger racing and huge fun. At its easiest in the time-trials on an oval track. "X" is the accelerator and is all you need to get around the track. More advanced players can jam the accelerator on and use a single button to steer in the most useful direction. Use the !DAMAGE! name cheat to become invincible.


3. Fruit Machine Mania (PS2)



Parental guidance advised on gambling games. The "Sea Treasures" machine is a good point to play from, and can be played infinitely depending on how many of your allocated turns you risk. "X" to spin.


4. Pool Paradise International Edition (PS2*)



If you choose "Practice" and then "Trickshot" (or play any choice of table, quit, then select "convert to Trickshot") you can play in a non-pressurised and no-rules/make up your own rules style. Brilliant for games of Killer which is more fun and less violent than it sounds! A helper will need to help with aiming, perhaps by constantly varying left to right by small degrees on a chosen ball. You can buy a laser-aiming guide straight away from the shop, which helps quite a lot. Requires one-switch patched into "X" and Left-Analogue-Stick "UP".


5. KickBoxing KnockOut (PSone and PS2)



In two-player mode you can set a switch up as kick or punch (one of the shape buttons) to play against another opponent of similar ability. Each time you punch/kick you move a bit closer to your opponent to keep the action going.


6. Pinball: Ultimate Pro Pinball (PS2*)



Three modern pinball tables. Great fun for switch users who can tap fairly rapidly. We recommend choosing the "Big Race USA" or "Fantastic Journey" tables as you can adjust the slope and quality of the tables to slow the game down a bit. Ensure the easiest setting is chosen too if helpful. Requires one-switch patched into the flippers "L1" and "L2" and "X" for the plunger.


7. Dancing Stage (PSone and PS2*)



Most Konami Dancing Stage games (avoid DisneyMix) can be played with one-switch if all four shape buttons are patched together. The background graphics can be dimmed on many of these games, and on the easiest settings you are simply playing against your own best score or another player, as they will let you play the entire way through, no matter how many arrows you miss.


8. Everybody's Golf (PS2 and PS3)



Cute Japanese Golf game. Requires two accurately timed taps of the "O" button to play well. Ensure that the "Everybody's" golf club is selected and "Easy Mode" is selected.


9. Super Bust-A-Move 2 (PS2)



Colour matching game which will need a helper to deal with aiming duties, whilst the player uses "X" to launch different coloured bubbles when ready or when their timer runs out.


10. Um Jammer Lammy (PSone and PS2)



Loveable quirky cartoon rhythm based game.  Select the "EASY" level from the options screen. "X" to play your guitar (or any other shape button for team play which may make things easier). Very tough for a single player.


There may be more one-switch playable games out there, but we've yet to discover them for the PSone or PS2. There are a couple of wonderful music making titles, being Fluid and Music 2000 (for its "Music Jam" section) for the PSone/PS2 worth a look too.

We'd recommend local game stores that sell second hand games and eBay to track most of these games down (or we can help). As for the hardware needed to play them, please get in touch and we can give you some up to date advice.

* These games require patching connectors, which are normally supplied separately from a game controller. Only tested on a C-SID in this way for compatibility.

One-switch Accessible Dance Dance Revolution

The rough video above demonstrates an off-the-shelf solution for C-SID owners for one-switch dance gaming. The video would have been a lot more fun if you'd seen someone pogo-ing on a single pressure mat to play, but I wasn't going to put myself up for public ridicule. I don't dance if I can possibly help it. It's not a good thing to witness...

Anyway, the solution is to use 3x Stereo headphones splitters/2-into-1 adapters and 3x 3.5mm patch leads (stereo or mono both work) available from the likes of Maplin.

The game is Konami's Dancing Stage Fever on PS2, and demo'ed with old-fart music that I quite like on Easy first then Difficult second. Great features are contrast control options and the ability to play a song through no matter how many arrows you miss. This then enables the game to be played by anyone where you simply try to better your own best score, or that of a group. 

Low Force / Pressure PS3 Joystick

The video above showcases a very light pressure joystick being used alongside some switches to play Gran Turismo 5. This uses a LEPMIS PS3-SAP interface with the Low Throw Low Force Analogue Joystick and switches. This set-up could work equally well with the Ultra Light switches from Marblesoft.

Something Special

Updated info on Something Special cribbed from the SpecialEffect Accessible GameBase: "To celebrate the 100th episode of children's Makaton based television show, Something Special, the BBC launched a fantastic accessible on-line area.

It includes UK signing, symbols, songs, art activities, stories and of course games.

Almost all of the games work nicely in a cause and effect manner. Some are switch accessible, some for the keyboard, some eye-toy like for using the web-cam and some point and click accessible. That covers all the main input devices so far as I can see.

The most accessible of these games are in the Something Special: Out and About section, being Balloon Pop, Spotty Bag, Dress Up Mr Tumble and Tumble Faces.

Hugely recommended for very young kids, and anyone with an interest in Makaton, which is a reduced version of British Sign Language created to support learning disabled people.

Update: For anyone interested in the creation of the Something Special games and their highly accessible nature take a look at the following links:

BBC Internet Blog overview and design principles plus senior designer Ian Hamilton's own page on this work."
 

Skoog Skores

The latest free upgrade (1.30) to the Skoog musical instrument brings "Skores" to life. Within this new feature, you can select a song from a drop down menu, then play guided by a flow of coloured shapes. It works really well in practice and will help a lot of musicians who find traditional music scores far too difficult.

Excitingly, I hear rumours of a one-side to play musical Skores in the works. Can't wait to see and try that out.

All I Want for Christmas...

...actually, I might pass on these for the moment, thanks. Via "this isn't happiness".

SpecialEffect at REPLAY 2011

Replay was an exhausting ear-blistering pleasure. It was a privilege to run the SpecialEffect stand populated mostly with games using simplified control methods mostly from my personal geek-a-tronic stash. So what did we have?




1. A dance mat game using alternative controllers. These included single-switch play and a "pogo-dance-mat". In the end,  Dancing Stage Fever on a standard TV just couldn't compete with DDR:UK's real coin-op dance machines positioned opposite, so the slightly shoddy Gottlieb Pinball and very brilliant Destruction Derby took the slack.


2. A one-point or one-press to play game. Shenmue Duck races raised some grins. I guess not everyone was expecting bow-tie wearing ducks. We played so that if you got a top three place, you won a prize. Including 1989 Nintendo bubble-gum. Tasty. That got swapped at times with Tekken 6 that got bashed within an inch of its life. Amazing how tough those accessibility switches are. Thought the table would collapse at one stage.


3. Atari Ms.Pac-Man played against a single ghost (there's normally four coming after you) using a one-handed ASCII Grip controller. Other times I ran Cookie Monster Munch using the Kids Controller. Googly. Star Trigon got an outing here too.

4. Vectrex Minestorm. Quite a few people were left very confused by this. I had a single switch on a Flexi mount. Some people thought the Flexi was a joystick and were wiggling it about.  Others thought the switch was a steering wheel. Later I put a switch on a Trabasack. Some people started to wiggle the Trabasack thinking it was some kind of motion sensitive controller. Nope. It's a one-switch game. Just play!


5. Pure one-switch games: Fotonica and Space Invaders. Both went down pretty well. People found Space Invaders very hard with just one-switch, so after a while I turned off the Space Invaders shooting at you. Wished I'd had the bass thump in effect, but it was loud enough there I guess. Ears took a few days to return to normal.


6. The un-game "Doodle-City" in Atari's I, Robot. This was to show off a free-play and no pressure area of a game. Atari did it first here with their art-toy. When this wasn't running, Uo Poko was up showing off a super-colourful multi-player one-switch playable game.


Most popular of our games was Tekken 6 for sure. And no red-ring of death for the Xbox nor melted Vectrex I was happy to see. On the stand I met some great people, such as the two Andy's from Ovine of Whacka Monty fame, Nintendisco and Mark of the inspirational Games Britannia. I was also chuffed to bits with the inclusion of "A Brief History of Accessible Gaming" in the Replay magazine available at the show.


Away from the SpecialEffect stand, tireless volunteer James Harkness beavered away getting a hugely enjoyable after-show party sorted with proceeds going to SpecialEffect and GamesAid.


And self-indulgently, I loved Blackpool's five miles of illuminations and was plenty impressed by the tower. Games I most enjoyed playing were mentalist Bishi Bashi Special, laser-disk Astron Belt and Badlands (one-switch), Pole Position whilst throwing bugs and glitches at me and the brilliant range of pinball machines. So huge thanks to the organisers Dave, Matt and Gordon and all others that supported us at Replay. Nice one.
 

50 Words for Snow

Thanks to Michelle Hinn for pointing me to a place to listen to Kate Bush's absorbing and relaxing "50 Words For Snow" LP. Wonderful.

Guest Post: "Video Games: Time-Waster or Educational Tool?"

"The first thing you notice when you enter a typical college dorm room is the mess, but what's the second thing you notice? If you answered the game consoles on a pedestal above the mess, you're right. After all, college students spend an average of almost two hours per day playing video games, a pretty big commitment when you remember they have classes, clubs, reading online, jobs, and social lives to see to. Parents and profs have long scoffed at this hobby, seeing it as a time-waster of the highest order, but new research suggests gaming might actually help college students make the grade.


Higher-Level Thinking and Multitasking Skills

College students have always had to be multitaskers, switching their brains from math to English to chemistry in the time span of a few hours, but technology has made multitasking even more important for today's college student. Today, students take online classes for college, and even offline classes have digital components. Students are asked to do more outside of class, such as completing virtual labs, blogging, and participating in online discussions. When they encounter this environment, video game players are at an advantage. A 2009 report found video games can help students improve their critical thinking skills. Gamers are used to multitasking and using the same higher-order thinking they need to solve chemistry problems to figure out how to successfully meet games' challenges. Just like college students must balance their virtual discussions with in-person learning objectives, gamers must stay on top of their health points, weapons, mission objectives, and allies.

Subject Application

Not only do video games help college students cultivate the general skills they need for college success, they also help students gain subject-specific knowledge. While not every subject can work well as a game, video games' captivating story lines and role-playing scenarios help students get engaged in ways no lecture can. An obvious connection can be made between video games and the narratives of literature and history, math and science can also reap benefits from this engaging medium. In fact, NASA has encouraged video game developers to create educational games to teach math and science.

"Wait a minute," you may be saying. "We had video games when I was in school too, and they were boring with a capital 'B.'" You're probably right. However, today's educational game-makers know how to use the right ratio of fun, challenge, and education to engage and motivate students, all while teaching them about the subject at hand. Part of the reason today's educational video games are so successful is simply the fact they use better visual and auditory stimuli, elements today's students thrive on. They're also successful because students enjoy being challenged and competing to accomplish a goal. Consider Geology Explorer and Virtual Cell, both science games put out by North Dakota State University. While they may not let students blow up enemies or trade game items, they encourage students to get involved in science by making them an active part of learning tasks.

Learning Disabilities

While most of the literature still advises parents of very young children to keep them away from games and television that could impact their growth, on the flipside studies show older students can use video games to overcome learning disabilities. According to the International Society for Technology in Education, video games can help people with learning disabilities because they allow students to work at their own ability levels, challenging them just enough that they grow but not so much that they give up. Video games also don't get annoyed when a student doesn't get it. If a student gets it wrong 100 times, the computer will be persistent. Sometimes it's just that persistence and consistency that learning-disabled college students need.

While it's unlikely you'll find an educational video game in a college student's Xbox, it's not unlikely you'll find that student more engaged in history or English because he can experience it as a game rather than a lecture. While video games probably won't be replacing conventional college education any time soon, they will likely be augmenting it from here on. Current gamers might already be ahead of the crowd."

Guest post by Marina Salsbury. Marina planned on becoming a teacher since high school, but found her way instead into online writing after college. She writes around the Web about everything from education to exercise. Image by Ruberman Rodriguez.

Earth is Beautiful

International Space Station Earth Fly Over Time Lapse View from Michael König. Via Tommy Seilheimer.

One Press Games

At this years REPLAY stand, I wanted to show off a fun one-press game. I've played such games before, like the one-press version of Frogger, which to be honest is not huge fun. The mini-game of duck racing in Shenmue, although pure luck, is fun.

A single press of a single switch rolls an adapted electronic die. The number that appears is the duck that is selected by an assistant taking charge of the extra controls and the race started (with a second press if desired). People had a lot of fun with it. There aren't enough bow-tie racing ducks in the world I decided.

Sushi Cat

Sushi Cat is Pachinko, Peggle and a very hungry cat all rolled into one. Reviewed over at the Accessible GameBase, this is a great point and click game that doesn't require fast reactions (at least in the early levels I played). For a faster more action-packed version, try Sushi Cat 2. Both are fun and as cute as Uo Poko.

Remember Remember the 5th of November

Tekken 6

Just time for a last little bit of info on the SpecialEffect stand at REPLAY will be that Tekken 6 will be on show for one-switch or two-switch play. Brilliant thing about Tekken 6 is the practice areas, difficulty adjustment and the fact that two-player games can be set-up with just one or two buttons.

One-Switch Pinball

Won't deny it, I'm really looking forward to playing on some of the 50+ pinball machines up for play at REPLAY this weekend. I wasn't planning on running a pinball rig on the SpecialEffect stand, but I can for anyone who asks if they really want to, thanks to our new 4 into 1 box. 

It works with a switch used to activate both flippers and the plunger all in one, and should work on the vast majority of console pinball games. For much more on accessible pinball click on one of the pictures above.

Press the Switch

"...remember it’s really important to give your student time to respond… that means waiting. How long you wait depends on the student. How long might it take for a student with complex needs to process what you are asking them to do? How long for them to work out what is required? Sit on your hands for a couple of minutes and see if the student responds".

Such good advice when supporting switch users from Ian Bean at SENICT, where you can read the rest of this post.

Happy Halloween

Destruction Derby (1995) and Simple Joystick

I've been singing the praises of Destruction Derby for many years for its accessible design. It's huge fun, and is one of the easiest driving games to get around a track. If you jam the accellerator on the oval tracks, you can get around with a single switch for steering left or right. It's a PSone/PS2 compatible game, but can be found on PSN for the PS3 and a few other platforms.

Partially related to this, I recently built a simple joystick interface for modern games consoles for SpecialEffect. Pictured above is an Atari compatible Competition Pro joystick velcroed to a Maxess board, patched into a C-SID interface. This allows you to map up to five controls of your choice to the joystick. Ideal for many driving games. The plan is to have all of this available to play at REPLAY.

Touch Me (1974)

In 1974 Atari released the first publicly available computer audio game in "Touch Me". If you've played "Simon Says", this is the same but electronic. Like many early games of the time, it was fully accessible to deaf-players. It may have been accessible to blind players too if the sounds played for each of the four buttons was different.

Beyond those firsts, Touch Me was likely the first pattern following game that would lead to Simon, Parappa the Rapper, Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero games.

Alternative Dance Dance Revolution

On the back of my daughter's love of Dance Dance Revolution machines, Hand Dance Pro and with SpecialEffect's support, I recently built a one-switch interface for DDR games.

Konami dance games allow you to use a standard joypad controller, which enables all sorts of accessibility hacks. The little interface box pictured below (front middle) allows you to patch one-switch to up to four dance moves. Just for fun, I attached a single floor-mat switch. With that you can just jump up and down on the spot to play the game. I did look daft doing this to Cameo's Word Up. Probably better suited to the Skinhead Moonstomp and the Pogo.

More great things about Konami's Playstation DDR games (aka DancingStage) include a range of high-contrast options, easier play options and the facility to play a song through in its entirety so you simply play for a high-score. You can also edit your own dance routines so you can slow things down significantly.

Of interest, Codemasters produced a PS2 game called Dance Factory has the facility to build dance routines from your own music CDs and will work in game-play with a single switch too.

Space Invaders (1978)

The oldest game on the Replay SpecialEffect stand is planned to be the legendary Taito Space Invaders. This version will be made one-switch accessible, including putting in the money, selecting a one-player game and playing.


The game will only work in this way by using an old version of MAME (v0.92), the 4Noah utility and MAME cheats (v0.81). You need to own the Space Invaders PCB too to play this legally. I did contemplate bringing my cocktail Space Invaders, but I don't think my Car's suspension could cope. Here's an idea of how it will play.
 

Win a Black Skoog with Drake Music

Drake Music want your thoughts on how accessible formal music education is in the UK. Those taking part between now and the 2nd of November will be entered into a prize draw to win a new limited edition black Skoog.

Drake Music plans to publish the results of this consultation by the end of 2011. They will use the findings to draw up a short list of 'benchmark procedures' which will be shared with schools, colleges, exam boards and others throughout music education, to try and make formal music education more accessible for SEN/Disabled people.

Accessible DJ

Following fledgling work with two-switch accessible music using JoyToKey and a chat, I was amazed and delighted to read Shaz Hossain's accessible DJ post at SpecialEffect. So much is possible he has proved. Inspiring stuff for the future of accessible music.

1982 Vectrex Minestorm One-switch Style

The second oldest game making its way to the SpecialEffect stand at REPLAY will be Minestorm for the MB Vectrex, dating from 1982. This mighty-fine vector-scan game has been adapted to be played with a single switch: Hyperspace.

The game sees your small space-ship dropped into a mine-field that you must clear. Your ship spins and fires constantly. If you feel that you are about to be hit by a floating mine, press your switch to quickly hyperspace to another random point. Later levels see you having to contend with magnetic and fireball loaded mines.


For tech-heads, this set-up uses an adapted arcade stick, a rapid-fire module hacked from an old Atari VCS joystick patched into the stick, two shorting connectors to latch on rotate right and fire, an Able-Net "Big-Red" accessibility switch and a Trabasack. Fingers crossed my near 30 year old machine survives two days of use.
 

Atari Sesame Street Revolution (1983)

Thought I'd post this up in the light of the new excellent looking Kinect Sesame Street game. Back in 1983 Atari launched a small range of educational games for use with their specialised "Kids Controller" aimed at three to seven year olds.

How mixing two of the best things from North America (Atari and Sesame Street) wasn't more of a success, I'll never know.

As far as I know, the Kids Controller was the first commercially available games controller designed with extra accessibility in mind. Can't decide on Cookie Monster or Big Bird at the moment, but one if not both will be available to play at the Replay Expo 2011. 

REPLAY 2011 accessible gaming

"Play accessible retro games at the Blackpool REPLAY EXPO 2011 SpecialEffect stand this November the 5th and 6th.

From Atari to Xbox 360, there will be all manner of weird and wonderful games to play, including: Duck racing, banger racing, dream-like running games, boxing kangaroos, an un-game, one-switch dance mat games and more. Play just for fun, or take on our mini-challenges to win retro sweets.

Find out more at SpecialEffect.org.uk, GameBase.info or e-mail barrie@specialeffect.org.uk. Tickets are available to buy on-line from replayexpo.com.

With thanks to OneSwitch.org.uk, Trabasack and Retro-GameShop.nl for loaned or donated equipment [to] SpecialEffect - Registered Charity No. 1121004".

Download: Black Flyer or the White Flyer.

Techno Talk 2011

Between October the 4th and 5th, OneSwitch (i.e. me) had the great pleasure of being invited back to be a part of the Techno Talk event at the Rare Breeds Centre in Kent.

Amongst some hugely fun and interesting activities going on, were a huge array of switch equipment that The Old Railway School had procured from various sources. There were switch accessible cameras, vertical pinball, a superb train-set, an inflatable Blo-Bot (in need of some TLC as it kept deflating) and switch adapted cuddly toys.


Gaming wise there was Whacka Monty Mole, Guitar Hero, Mini and full Golf, Switch Lanes bowling, Peggle, Forza 3, Fotonica and more. I was particularly impressed by the Wii Fit board that Will Wade (one of the organisers) had discovered and bought in.

Apart from getting my car locked in a multi-story car-park late at night, it was a brilliant time all round I felt. Long may it continue.

Want It. Can't Have It.

There just aren't enough cars with lime green interiors. I like...

Two Switch Music

The video above came about from a request for help with switch accessible music. Supported by SpecialEffect, I delved into some of the possibilities.

Added to the Performing Music with Switches section at OneSwitch. 

EuroGamer 2011 Accessible Gaming

EuroGamer 2011 was a true celebration of gaming this year, with indie, retro, mainstream and accessible game tastes all catered for to varying extents. Personal highlights beyond the time spent on the wonderful SpecialEffect stand where two brand new accessible gaming world records were set included...


Seeing Fotonica on a high-speed rig in high-definition and talking to its co-author Nicolò Tedeschi; Meeting Tim Brogden, creator of the invaluable Alt-Controller which makes keyboard games mouse accessible; Playing retro games to my heart's content in the Replay area and planning for a joint OneSwitch / SpecialEffect stand in November.

Record Breaker

Tomorrow will be the start of a Guinness Book of Records Accessible Gaming event, at the SpecialEffect stand, EuroGamer Expo in the UK. On top of that, there'll be Fotonica in the indie arcade, REPLAY retro zone and a ton of new releases Can't wait!

Skoogtöo

"A little taster of Skoogmusic's new SMART/IWB software. A fun and engaging musical world where children are free to explore make and play. With this software and a couple of Skoogs kids can start performing,composing reviewing and evaluating their own music. Supporting flexible grouping, activities can be pupil or teacher led, so come along to the Scottish Learning Festival." via the Skoog YouTube channel.

Fotonica

Love. This. Beautiful speed-sonambulism. I mentioned Fotonica back in October, and since then it's come on giant leaps. I highly recommending downloading, playing then paying out what you think this is worth.

On the easiest level, this still requires some pretty accurate timing, but for those who have it, this game is one of the best one-switch games ever made. Completely new since October is the two-player split-screen mode. I particularly like the ribbon trails that unravel behind you making it easy to see the path your opponent took whilst chasing them. Huge fun.

Small tip for those without super powerful computers: Go for the low-res and lower quality graphic options upon start up. They still look fantastic, and it's all much more fun smooth and speedy. For anyone going to the EuroGamer Expo from tomorrow, expect to see Fontonica there as well as SpecialEffect.