Author: Geoffrey Bunting
-
Why games need a thriving third-party accessibility scene
As news broke that Microsoft would block an unspecified array of third-party devices from Xbox consoles in late 2023, it quickly became clear the decision would disproportionately affect disabled gamers. Despite the benefit of time, the actual scope of the change remains uncertain, even as third-party devices continue to be unilaterally blocked. “It’s…
-
25 years ago, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time became more than a game
The most vivid memory I have of childhood is sitting in the back of our dirty red Ford Orion on a violet-hued winter evening. Orange beads wash in from passing streetlights and throw chevrons of illumination across me and the boxes I hold close to my body. It’s March 1999, we’re returning from Norwich…
-
25 years on, Space Station Silicon Valley remains an innovative gem
It may come as a surprise, given how accustomed we are to games weighing in at hundreds of gigabytes, that the entire Nintendo 64 library comes to less than 25GB. Including Japanese exclusives, that’s 388 games – 7530 fewer than released on the PlayStation. It’s odd, then, in such a relatively small selection, how…
-
Why gaming is so important to players with chronic pain
How do you communicate what it’s like to live in a body that’s become hostile and cruel? It’s a question that haunts the writing of a piece like this. In the imprecise language we possess to describe a spectrum of pain that is just as inexact, it’s almost impossible to make people whose pain…
-
A round-up of the talks from GAconf USA 2023
GAconf returned to the US this week with a series of accessibility talks hosted at the Archer Hotel in Redmond, Washington. Virtual attendance was available through Zoom and YouTube. Talks ranged from those on personal experiences of disability and accessibility to more pointed talks about the process of bringing accessibility to specific games and…
-
25 years on, Resident Evil 2 still feels relevant – personally and on a wider scale
[ad_1] It feels strange to mark the passage of time by how other things age. Illness, and the routines it enforces, make time irrelevant to me, and yet one can’t help but be aware of how much time is lost. It makes for a complex relationship with time in which external reminders of its…
-
Final Fantasy 16 demonstrates that sometimes an accessibility menu is better
[ad_1] The road to Final Fantasy 16 has begun. After presentations, previews, and a general sense of breathlessness surrounding Square Enix’s latest iteration of the Final Fantasy series, an interesting titbit has emerged. Final Fantasy 16 will include a level of accessibility in the form of equipable rings that alter the fundamental gameplay experience. …
-
A look at the winners of the GAconf Awards 2022
[ad_1] On the 25th January, the GAconf awards honoured notable achievements in accessibility across the gaming industry. While this is the first time the awards have been hosted under the GAconf moniker, they represent an ongoing industry-wide effort, including the Can I Play That awards, to acknowledge the remarkable efforts of people both in…
-
Season’s smallest moments are reminders of the real world
[ad_1] I dream of bicycles. Years ago, disability took cycling from me, and ever since I’ve waited for a game that might capture my rouged memories of it. At last, Season has done it. Scavengers Studio’s Season: A Letter to the Future casts you as documenter of a fading world. A world in…
-
Games of 2022: Pentiment is the year’s best balancing act
[ad_1] It begins with a word: Pentiment. It comes from pentimento, an overpainted image that is becoming visible. This is itself derived from the Italian, pentirsi, to repent or change one’s mind. It’s a rare occasion in which the game’s title tells you exactly what’s coming. This is emblematic of the confidence with…