On The Overlooked World Of 'Accessible Gaming'

Thanks to TotalGames for reprinting a GamesTM piece discussing hardware and software that opens up videogaming to blind, deaf or physically impaired people. The piece notes "an increasing number of games created for the accessible market, and 'high-street' games [that] can be adapted to meet individual needs", although programmer Nick Adamson comments: "Currently the accessible games market is purely based on the PC... as for game consoles, they are pointless to blind gamers."

Comments

I think console gaming is okay for the deaf

[cheezus]

There are some games were sound effect clues are necessary, and don't have an accompying visual cue, but for the most part there are subtitles for the voiceovers, and rumble for when stuff blows up.

Interactive Fiction

[metamatic]

At the risk of pointing out the very obvious, Interactive Fiction will work fine for blind users, via a screen reader. There are many excellent freeware IF games, comparable to Infocom's finest.