Game Accessibility Information Symbol

The symbol above is a public domain method of marking any computer product (game, controller, utility, console and so on), as having easy to reach accessibility information.

This can support potential end-users of a gaming product decide if it might suit their own personal abilities. It will hopefully also support developers to better promote the accessibility of their own gaming ware.

A simple example of this would be for an indie game developer to  include the symbol on their game's home-page, alongside a short hyper-link pointing to a game review that includes a break down of game accessibility.

See the "Game Accessibility Information Symbol" web-page to learn more, and to down-load the image pack.

Update: This concept ties up with a number of organisations Game Accessibility Guidelines, including: GameAccessibilityGuidelines.com, the IGDA GASIG's Top 10 and SpecialEffect's Tips for Game Developers.

Voice control over Xbox 360 and PS3

Great work over at SpecialEffect by my colleagues running with the Cronus device. They have speech controls working via affordable off-the-shelf products on Xbox 360 (and likely PS3 too).

For the Xbox 360, a wired Xbox 360 controller is needed, a PC, GlovePie or  Say2Play and the control remapping software Bullseye.

This makes me wonder about using VOCAs, AAC and other sound emitting devices. For instance, using Inclusive's new SmoothTalker (see video below), you could use one switch to trigger random controls in a game. For instance, a random selection of fighting moves for Tekken (I guess they'd be some lag, but it should still be fun).

When I get time (a very limited commodity) I'd be curious to investigate using keyboard scripts (i.e. via AutoHotKey) to cycle through commands (a bit like this two-switch music player). Maybe to trigger a range of sound samples, maybe to interface directly with the Cronus device.

EDIT: Excellent additional information via Lily Ellis (no relation) at Dual-Ring.

Das Techno Zone

I miss Digitiser on Teletext. It always made me smile, and was always my favourite source of gaming information. I miss teletext too. Suited my limited attention span, and need for colourful text on black backgrounds.

Teletext grab via teletext.org.uk

Oil City Confidential

What a wonderful film. Inspiring, touching, and made me even prouder of my Canvey Island and Essex roots. Can't believe it's taken me until today to see it. And I now absolutely love the idea of a 300 ft. gold Lee Brilleaux memorial statue for Southend-on-Sea. Petition duly signed.

Edit: Cruel world. Seems that Wilko Johnson will be leaving this world too soon too.

Eiichi Tanaka

Happy new year to you all. It's great to open up with a remarkable treasure trove of game accessibility hacks via Eiichi Tanaka's YouTube channel.

You'll find Angry Birds played with a single switch on an Android Tablet, a tilt Tablet to play driving games, an iOS made switch accessible via the surface (making many tap-to-play games playable with a switch), finger targeting with a Wii-remote, hacked Nintendo DS's and more. Absolutely brilliant work!

Many thanks to Sun Sun and @jalpsjp on Twitter for posting the link.