The Switch Progression Road Map is a free to download booklet, released this year from Inclusive Technology. Written by Ian Bean, a man involved in some of the best switch related projects of the past 10 years such as SEN Switcher, this is a must read.The booklet is aimed at improving people's switch skills through a structured step by step approach. Although there is a lot of focus on specific Inclusive Technology equipment and software (makes sense) the teaching practice can be applied across the board of switch accessible software and devices. You'll just need to do some prior research yourself to find alternatives, should you wish to.On a side note, Inclusive are running a number of free information day work shops across the country. The next ones are on the 6th and 7th of April in London.
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.
I'm most delighted to see OneSwitch.org.uk voted by 7-128.com as being the best site for physically disabled gamers. I predict this will be my last year at the top, with the brilliant work others are doing, so I'll make the most of it. Thank you!!
Big hearty congratulations to DeafGamers, 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....
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.In short, the UK's prime minister opened it, but the big story is that it exists. I'm really proud to be part of this fantastic team, and I'm really excited about our current and future projects and collaborations with others in this field. Gushing over.Image via: ClearViewTraffic.com.
The great video above is from Ismail (aka Izzy), an enabled gamer in Australia. His gaming set-up is in the experimental stages, supplied by Technical Solutions.
The set up consists of a choice of two different joystick solutions, for hand or chin operation, boom style mounts, two light pressure switches and switch adapted mouse for left and right clicking. Izzy is looking to get a similar set-up working on games consoles which I've sent some advice on. So I'm looking forward to more Enabled Gaming updates where this happens (fingers crossed).
I'm presently beavering away with some stuff in the background, so please enjoy a 1970's Sesame Street classic and some Slovakian old-band music in the meanwhile.
