[games_access] Nintendo one handed controller

[hinn at uiuc.edu]

I sent out a letter a while ago but never got a response 
back -- it was the last time we talked about sending them an 
open letter. Unfortunately all this stuff was fried in my 
recent hard drive crash -- Reid? Do you have a copy of the 
stuff you sent me several months ago so that I can try and 
recreate it and then we can work on drafting the letter on 
the wiki?

Yeah, I agree that the Nintendo controller is going to be a 
nightmare to a lot of people. At the same time I've heard 
from a lot of parents over the years who have children who 
only have the use of one hand/arm and this may be a good 
solution for them. I'm not disagreeing that this is a bad 
step back for many -- it's just that it might also be a step 
forward for some. Numbers-wise, I'm not sure how many this 
is good/bad for. It is a nice example of how accessibility 
isn't so simple that we, as a SIG, can just say "oh, just do 
this and you've created an accessible 
game/controller/console." 

Michelle

---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 22:30:07 +0100
>From: "Barrie Ellis" <barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk>  
>Subject: Re: [games_access] Nintendo one handed controller  
>To: <rkimball at gmail.com>, "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG 
Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
>
>Good time to contact Nintendo, and why not an open letter 
to Sony and 
>Microsoft too? These controllers are not accessible to many 
potential 
>gamers.
>
>Barrie
>www.OneSwitch.org.uk
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Reid Kimball" <rkimball at gmail.com>
>To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" 
<games_access at igda.org>
>Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 9:29 PM
>Subject: Re: [games_access] Nintendo one handed controller
>
>
>Yikes... I saw the hand wand controller a few days and also 
wondered
>how accessible it was to those with physical disabilities 
(not very
>much it seems).
>
>I just saw the "wavebird" controller that allows you to 
plug in the
>hand wand and together you've got 23 buttons. I count each 
direction
>on the two d-pads as a button to press.
>
>That's getting a bit insane and overall on the surface it 
doesn't seem
>like these controllers are going to be more accessible. I 
suppose the
>only thing we can do is talk to Nintendo, ask if they have 
considered
>these issues and hope for best. They are always saying they 
want to
>make gaming accessible regardless of generation.
>
>-Reid 
>
>
>
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