It’s been awhile since I’ve combed the Internet for video game accessibility information, so tonight I’ve been doing just that.

We’ve talked about the challenges many disabled people face when playing video games. I’ve mostly looked at it from the perspective of actual games.

Hardware is another issue. Think about how far controllers have come along in the past decades. Looking at just the systems I’ve owned — the Atari 2600 had one button and a joystick; the Nintendo Entertainment system had four buttons and a directional pad; the Sega Genesis, 5 buttons and a pad. Then came the PlayStations and Xboxes, which threw in trigger buttons, bumpers, more buttons, more thumbsticks…you get the picture.

Imagine the challenges people with physical disabilities face with such complex controllers.

I was just visiting the wonderful AbleGamers website (a site I talked about at length last year in a series of posts including an interview with Steve Spohn), and read some interesting news on the topic of accessible video game controllers.

Evil Controllers and the AbleGamers Foundation jointly unveiled the Adroit Switchblade, a remarkable assistive technology device that allows massive amounts of customization for Xbox gaming or, with an additional plugin, the Playstation or PC. It comes with a pair of thumbsticks, plus you can use its 19 ports to set up a slew of switches to perform whatever actions you need.

Being new to the subject, I was still a little bit unsure of how this all worked. Joystiq posted a video of AbleGamers’ Marc Bartlet explaining the Switchblade. It’s a little hard to hear the audio at times, but it’s worth a viewing.

It’s always great when there are accessibility strides in the world of video games. Hopefully the Switchblade makes it easier for more disabled people to enjoy the world of gaming.

Tags: ablegamers.com, adroit switchblade, assistive technology, evil controllers, playstation, Video Games, xbox

It’s been far too long since I last posted! Shameful, I know. I wish I had a great excuse, but I don’t. Blogging is a firm commitment, and sometimes it’s easy to falter.

I wanted to take a moment tonight to call attention to a great accessibility blog’s milestone. Web Axe is celebrating its five year anniversary.

If you haven’t had the opportunity, check out what they’ve got going on. It’s really an excellent resource by Dennis Lembree and Ross Johnson.

I’m honored that they asked me to supply an audio contribution to their Podcast #84, Web Axe 5-Year Anniversary. While it reminded me that I’d need plenty of practice were I to ever entertain doing my own podcast, it was a fun experience expressing thoughts about Web Axe and accessibility as a whole. It’s also really cool to include myself among the ranks of noted accessibility voices like Bruce Lawson of Opera, Jennison Asuncion (whom I interviewed on this blog earlier this year), Tom Babinszki of Even Ground, and others.

As I mention in my piece, when I first jumped into the subject of web accessibility, Web Axe was one of the first blogs that I came across. Whether you’re an expert on the subject (if such a thing is possible) or just getting started, do make a point of reading their posts and listening to their podcasts.

You’ll find that the posts and podcasts have a down-to-earth, plainspoken style in delivering news, tips, tricks and all sorts of accessibility knowledge.

Keep doing an awesome job, guys! You’re an inspiration to all of us striving to make a difference in the field.

Tags: accessibility, webaxe

Just over a year ago, I blogged (Accessibility and Expedia) about Expedia and Hotels.com settling a California lawsuit from two women who had claimed they were discriminated upon by the web site’s poor highlighting of handicap-accessible hotel rooms. Expedia promised to incorporate various accessibility options, including search capabilities and expanded content.

Last month, Expedia announced that they added several features in 2009, including:

• The ability to search hotels by criteria such as equipment for the deaf, accessible bathrooms, Braille, and ease of navigating through the room
• Their staff following up by contacting hotels for disabled customers to make sure their specific accessibility needs will be met

Expedia provided the statistic that they’ve gotten 500 requests each week related to these accessibility features since unrolling them in August of 2009.

By comparison, Travelocity, Expedia’s top competitor in the online travel arena, has a “Wheelchair Accessible” option among their hotel search options:

Orbitz has a “Handicapped rooms/facilities” option of their own:

Those are better than nothing, but Expedia deserves some credit for an actual, extensive means of searching hotels by different disability-friendly needs.

I work in the travel industry and hope this is a sign of good things to come. It took a lawsuit to spur action, but Expedia is making accessibility inroads. Let’s hope this is only the beginning.

Tags: Expedia, orbitz, travel, travelocity

I normally focus on web site accessibility, but after one of my favorite video games of 2009 recently won an award for its consideration to disabled players, it got me thinking about the subject.

First off, kudos to Dragon Age: Origins from Bioware (easily my favorite game maker) for earning 2009 Accessible Game of Year, from the web site Ablegamers.com. The roleplaying epic scored a 9.8 out of 10.

I’m somewhat embarrassed to say that despite web accessibility and video games being two of my greatest interests, I hadn’t really given the concept of the two together much thought.

Without having done a lot of research on the subject (yet!), my initial hunch is that a lot of game developers probably don’t pay a lot attention to disabled gamers. I hope that’s an unfair assumption.

Some may say, “How can you make a computer or video game accessible for everybody? There are just some things you can’t do if you have a disability.” Some games more than others can’t be made universally usable.

But as I think about it, there are more than just subtitles that can make games easier to use for those with sight, hearing or physical limitations. And like web surfing, there’s no doubt a vast range of disabled people who love playing computer and video games. If something happened to my sight, hearing or dexterity, my love for games wouldn’t wane.

Some things that come to mind that are similar between web browsing and game playing:

In short, while you cannot make all games universally playable for all people regardless of limitations, there are plenty of ways to up the accessibility. And like web accessibility, many of these features are useful even if you don’t have a disability.

For example, I don’t have a hearing impairment, but I always play games with subtitles on. In part, I play games at night when my wife is asleep and I don’t want the noise bothering her. Also, I just plain enjoy having the text to read along with the audio.

All I know is that Dragon Age: Origins is a phenomenal game, and they found numerous ways to address some of the issues above as well as others.

I’m not about to change this blog to “the art of web and game accessibility”, but this is a topic that I’m going to further explore.

Tags: bioware, computer games, dragon age, game accessibility, Video Games

This isn’t exactly a brand new headline, but that happens when you’re away from blogging for awhile. Kudos to Newegg for getting deserved recognition in the web accessibility world. Late July, the retailer of software and computer hardware became the first online merchant to earn the National Federation of the Blind’s gold level Nonvisual Accessibility Web Certification.

“The National Federation of the Blind is pleased that Newegg.com, one of the largest online retailers in the U.S., is setting an example for the industry by providing an unprecedented level of access to its Web site for blind shoppers. We are pleased to award Newegg.com our gold level Nonvisual Accessibility Web Certification, which has never before been achieved by an online retailer. It is also notable that Newegg.com achieved this high level of certification in only six months.”
– Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind

When the cases of prominent web sites getting in legal trouble over poor accessibility have little trouble making headlines, it’s nice to see that some sites are getting it right.

Source:
National Federation of the Blind Awards Newegg.com with “Gold Level” Certification for Providing Equal Access to Visually Impaired Users on Newegg.com

Tags: National Federation for the Blind, newegg, NFB, Nonvisual Accessibility Web Certification