[games_access] Head Tracker gamers' forum

[Barrie Ellis]

Excellent link and ideas, Richard. It's a great idea to get accessibility 
problems across to lay people and developers in as clear a way as possible.

By the way, there's a pretty active accessibility forum here for gamers 
using Natural Point's "Track-IR" head tracker.:

http://forums.naturalpoint.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi


Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk






----- Original Message ----- 
From: <games_access-request at igda.org>
To: <games_access at igda.org>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 5:00 PM
Subject: games_access Digest, Vol 6, Issue 5


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> Today's Topics:
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>   1. Re: Will of Steel (AudioGames.net)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 11:51:19 +0100
> From: "AudioGames.net" <richard at audiogames.net>
> Subject: Re: [games_access] Will of Steel
> To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List"
> <games_access at igda.org>
> Message-ID: <008801c515a7$c7fac7b0$b31ca33e at Delletje>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> Just read this newsflash:
> http://www.beststuff.com/article.php3?story_id=7774 . The interesting part
> is of course the voice control ("It is also possible to play the game 
> almost
> entirely by voice commands alone"). I doubt that the developers thought of
> accessibility when designing this game. Maybe we could send them an email
> and tell them about it, so maybe they can make the *whole* game accessible
> by voice commands. I think many people with motoric disabilities will be
> very happy.
>
> Follow the link or read the pasted article at the bottom of this email).
>
> Greets,
>
> Richard
>
> ps: A few weeks ago I was filming some clips for an educational package on
> web accessibility. Here I also filmed two clips of a person with MSA-II
> (heavy motoric disability, the person does everything mostly with his 
> head)
> playing Bookworm using two methods: a mouthstick (with which he was very
> quick to play the game) and voice commands using Dragon Natural Speak 
> (which
> slowed the game down a lot compared to the mouthstick). We're going to put
> the (dutch-language) clips in the educational package in any case (the 
> clips
> are meant to show how people with disabilities use the internet). Maybe 
> it's
> an idea to get some footage of other people with disabilities playing 
> games
> (or miserable failing to play games, which is also very informative). We
> could put them on the GA-SIG website perhaps? My experience is that 
> there's
> still a big gap between game developers and people with disabilities (an
> almost similar gap as between flash designers and people with 
> disabilities).
> But when you show them an example of Johhny X, 22 years old, trying to 
> play
> Game Y, which he has trouble with because he's deaf, or has a muscle
> disorder, then perhaps you could raise awareness of this subject.
> Over at the AudioGames.net website you can already view several clips of
> blind children playing computer games (Drive, The Curb Game (very short) 
> and
> Demor).
>
> --- (here's the article)
>
>      GMX Announces Will of Steel for PC
>
>
>
>      February 2, 2005 - GMX Media today announced that they will be
> publishing the ground breaking military Real Time Strategy game Will of
> Steel for PC - CD ROM. The game is to be launched across the UK in the 
> first
> quarter of 2005.
>
>
>      "Will of Steel is set to be one of our strongest games to be launched
> 2005." commented Commercial Director for GMX Media Mike Bright. "This game
> will astonish both dedicated and casual players of PC games with its 
> ground
> breaking use of existing graphic technologies and its unique use of 
> in-game
> voice control mechanisms."
>
>      THE GAME:
>      Will of Steel is a modern warfare tactical 3D Real Time Strategy game
> set in the early 1990s. As a young Marine officer, William Steel is the 
> son
> of the highly decorated USMC General Thomas Steel. Players must assume
> command and responsibility of the battalion at his control and defeat your
> opposing in forces in hostile locations around the globe.
>
>      At the players disposal will be infantry, battle tanks, armoured
> personnel carriers, recon units and many other types of military hardware.
> The player must make wise military choices and decide how to adjust 
> his/her
> actions to counteract the strategy employed by the enemy forces in
> Afghanistan and Iraq. Missions take place in day or night with a number of
> climate conditions that may help or hinder your battle progress.
>
>      Throughout the game, the player also strives to improve his/her
> career. By winning medals and being promoted, various special options are
> revealed that he/she can use in battle. Special options include:
>
>      * Air transport
>      * Artillery support
>      * Air strike
>      * Satellite reconnaissance
>      * Long range missile attack
>      * Reinforcement
>      * Special operations team
>
>      VOICE CONTROL
>      In Will of Steel, the player has full control of all assigned units,
> camera, and special options such as: Air Attack, Transport, Special Teams
> etc, through the use of vocal commands. The player can order unit 
> movements,
> choose tactics, groups units, and can even choose the types of weapons and
> stances that the units take. These possibilities will allow the more 
> skilled
> players to play the game and lead their troops exactly the way they desire
> while the less skilled players will also be able to manage units while 
> using
> simpler commands and options.
>
>      It is also possible to play the game almost entirely by voice 
> commands
> alone. The mouse pad can be used to select units and groups of units, to
> point to the places where commands should be executed, and to select 
> options
> from one of the menus. Keyboard allows for a quick and convenient way
> (shortcut) for various commands to be executed.
>
>      Special focus is given to voice control because it has never been 
> used
> in RTS games before. Voice control should help the player to control 
> his/her
> units much more easily and effectively than by just using the keyboard and
> mouse pad. Besides that, voice control has the purpose of simulating 
> natural
> verbal communication between officers and their units. This will add to 
> the
> realism and will make the player feel as if he was a real-life military
> commander.
>
>      SOURCE GMX Media
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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> End of games_access Digest, Vol 6, Issue 5
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