Nintendo's Revolution offers hope for disabled gamers

[Max]

Nintendo's Revolution offers hope for disabled gamers

Posted Jan 30th 2006 1:30PM by James Ransom-Wiley
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Revolution
With the possibility that many Revolution titles will be controllable with one hand, comes hope from disabled gamers like Travis Taft. Taft, who suffered a spinal-cord injury while body surfing, retains strong use of his right hand, but he is unable to use a standard two-handed gamepad because of his left. Taft is confident that when the Revolution is introduced into the market (presumably later this year), he'll be able to resume his lifelong passion for gaming.


http://ds.joystiq.com/2006/01/30/nin...sabled-gamers/

[Max]

Game control gives disabled chance to play

By Mike Antonucci

Mercury News

Nintendo has been in the technology spotlight since announcing plans for a video-game controller that can be used with only one hand.
But a disabled fan in Southern California took notice for more reasons than just the excitement about the next generation of interactive entertainment.
To Travis Taft, 19, the controller was a stunning godsend in his fight against an injury that left him a quadriplegic. He has tried to call national attention to the unintended benefits that the gadget will offer for people with a variety of physical disabilities.
Like many people with spinal-cord injuries that affect all four limbs, Taft retains some use of his arms and hands. But it's not enough for effectively operating the typical two-hand game device. He's confident his relatively strong right hand will be able to manipulate the new controller, which is part of the Revolution game system that's still under development by Nintendo.
``Video games have been a major factor in my life,'' said Taft, who has resolved to take the most optimistic approach possible to his rehabilitation. ``I was eagerly hunting for some way to get back into it.''
Marcie Roth, chief executive officer of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, said Taft fits into a large category of injured people in their teens to 30s whose overall health is closely connected to resuming activities they love.
``Being able to restore normalcy is all the difference in the world in terms of the rest of their outcomes,'' Roth said. ``People who believe they can do the things that were pleasurable to them before the injury are people who are going to seek positive outcomes in other ventures as well.''
Nintendo is expected to make the Revolution game system and one-hand controller available late this year. Part of the marketing strategy is to make video games seem less intimidating to casual or novice players by having the controller feel more like the remote controls for TV sets and other common electronic appliances.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...l/13746091.htm