Playing Video Games when you Can’t See the Screen

I always enjoy going on The Pulse, a news show on WHYY, a local public radio station. This time I said a few words about video games for the blind. The interviewer compared audio driving games made for the blind to having a backseat driver. This made me laugh.

A clip of the game Top Speed plays while I talk. I enjoyed playing that game when I ran Windows back in 2006. That game had heart. At the time I didn’t care that it acted like a back seat driver. We didn’t have a choice.

The article discusses an interface designed to make racing games accessible. I like the idea. I haven’t tried it, but wouldn’t mind. I tried playing racing games with my brother while growing up. We found it difficult.

I didn’t know that Electronic Arts has started considering accessibility. In college one of the other guys had the first steering wheel for the PC. Another guy once wondered if I would like to try driving his car in the parking lot. After I tried playing the Need for Speed he rescinded his offer, probably for the best.

A good racing game models the real world. If we can design an interface to navigate a simulation, then we can design one to navigate the real world. I consider this the most profound realization of this experiment. Enjoy the article.