the-future-now:
Nintendo and ‘1-2-Switch’ are changing the game for visually impaired players
Mandi Bundren’s purchase of the Nintendo Switch came with an added bonus: She could play with her husband, Rich Maroney, who is blind.
Maroney, 38,
lost his sight in 2002 due to diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause
of vision impairment among working-age adults, according to the National Eye Institute.
Maroney used to love Resident Evil, but like most titles, he can’t play it without his vision. 1-2-Switch, a party game that was released with the Switch on March 3, was different.
1-2-Switch contains minigames that don’t require
watching the screen.
Most ask you to look at your opponent
instead, using a combination of audio cues and haptic
feedback — when your controller vibrates in response to something in
the game — to guide you.
In the minigame Safe Crack, for example,
players are tasked with rotating the controller to recreate the
sensation of opening a locked safe.
Maroney and Bundren, 36, were able to play 22 of the 28 challenges included in the party game. Read more (3/14/17 8:32 AM)
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