A joint collaboration between MIT and Singaporean students brought about a brand new computer game designed to provide a fun experience and an even playing experience between people who are blind/low vision and those who are have full vision. (link)
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The game, called AudiOdyssey, simulates a deejay trying to build up a
catchy tune and get people dancing. By swinging the remote-control
device used by the Nintendo Wii, which senses motion, the player can
set the rhythm and lay down one musical track after another, gradually
building up a richer musical track.(check out the video)
Eitan Glinert, a graduate student in computer science at the
Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab, says that the introduction of the Wii
controller attracted many women and older players for the first time to
the world of videogames. "Lots of people who had never played video
games were now playing them all the time," he says. "I started to
think, who's been left out? What groups are left behind even with all
the new technology, these new systems?"
Then it hit him. "People
with disabilities had been left behind. I began to speculate, how could
you bring these people into the fold and have them be able to play
these games?" He started by looking up everything that was available in
terms of computer games for the visually impaired, and found there were
already about 200 titles.
"I thought, oh well, it was a good
idea. But then I noticed something: As a sighted player, I was unable
to play any of these." The games had been so specifically adapted for
sound and tactile play that they gave the visually impaired too much of
an advantage, making it impractical for them to play with sighted
friends. "There were games for sighted people, games for blind people,
and never the twain shall meet," he says. "I thought, maybe I could
build a game that could be played by both, equally well."
