Often, when I publish episodes of Access-Ability, I’ll get someone either in the YouTube comments, or on Twitter, responding to the episode by saying something like “this is really interesting, but doesn’t affect me personally”. That’s not necessarily surprising, but I think it overlooks the fact that for many people, your current level of gaming ability will not last forever, and accessibility support that doesn’t impact you today may in the future.
Video Games Need Accessibility Standards
While the overall industry has been making positive strides forward in terms of more games becoming more accessible, as an industry we can’t so much as guarantee a game will definitely feature accurate subtitling for deaf and hard of hearing players, let alone any consistent application of more intensive accessibility support.
Dead Cells, Breaking Barriers, and Encouraging Accessibility
Initially released as a Steam Early Access title around five years ago, Dead Cells is a side-scrolling roguelike where players attempt to progress through a sprawling map, collect randomised upgrades, and defeat bosses without dying and being sent back to the start of the run. Released earlier this week, the
Hands on with Street Fighter 6’s Simplified Control Scheme
Officially revealed during PlayStation’s recent E3 adjacent State of Play presentation, Street Fighter 6 is an upcoming 1v1 fighting game that combines realistic looking character models with bright vibrant paint splash impact effects. While very little information was given about Street Fighter 6 during its initial reveal beyond a quick
Cosmonious High Developer Owlchemy Labs is Addressing VR Accessibility
If you’re the kind of person who owns a VR headset, or follows VR game development, there’s a good chance you’ve come across one of Owlchemy Labs VR games before. One of the first developers to really jump onto the technology, their silly, comedic, family friendly titles have consistently been
God of War: Ragnarok Accessibility Preview
Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2022 took place on May 20th, and as tends to happen every year, a bunch of game developers took advantage of the day to reveal their accessibility plans for their upcoming game releases over the next twelve months. One of the studios this year that used
Revita Accessibility Review
Over the past week, I’ve been trying to play through a bunch of recently released indie games, looking for interesting titles to talk about, and a game called Revita really caught my eye. The game is a side-scrolling twin stick shooter roguelike, in which players try to defeat waves of
Microsoft is Releasing New Accessibility Hardware This Year
In terms of making accessible gaming hardware financially accessible, there are very few devices as impactful as the Xbox Adaptive Controller. Originally announced four years ago, the controller was a mass produced base with ports for connecting third and first part accessibility switches and controllers, allowing for disabled players to
Accessibility Needs Are Rarely Static
Today’s episode of Access-Ability is going to be a little different to most episodes of the show. I am currently a bit under the weather with a recurrent illness, and rather than skip a week of recording Access-Ability, I thought I’d use this week on the show to talk less
Nintendo Switch Sports Accessibility Review
Back in late 2006 when the Nintendo Wii first released, easily the system’s biggest draw was Wii Sports. A party game where players used motion controls to engage in various sports with their friends and family, the combination of simple controls and colourful characters made it a mainstay at group
Quake Proves it’s Never Too Late to Add Accessibility Settings
A couple of weeks ago on Access-Ability, we published an episode all about remasters of old games offering a unique opportunity to add accessibility support into older games that were released at a point in time before accessibility best practices were commonly followed in the video game industry. While the
Lies Kirby (And Other Games) Tell You To Improve Accessibility
Most of the time, when I play a difficult or challenging video game, I like to think that my level of gaming skill is the only factor playing a role in whether or not I am successful. When I defeat a boss in Elden Ring, or survive a heavy firefight in a shooter with just one pixel of health left, the sense that I was lucky and skillful enough to win is a great feeling.