Re: Monumental news out of GDC
"if I understand the new FCC regulations correctly Nintendo isn't even being pressured too much into implementing text to speech as the regulations apply to devices that allow you to watch movies/TV, browse the web and I think communicate with people. "
Not quite. They aren't FCC regulations, it's USA federal law, passed in 2010, and applicable to games consoles since 2015. FCC just have responsibility for enforcement.
The bit that applies to games consoles is communication. However the way that the switch handles communication - team chat etc - is to remove it from the console itself, and do it all through a smartphone app. Which means that the core console team have zero legal accessibility responsibilities, and the mobile app team have only a few, as a fair few of the requirements are handled by the mobile operating system anyway.
Of course not having legal requirements does not mean there is no reason to include accessibility function ality, far from it. Much of what both the PS4 and XB1 have has nothing to do with legal compliance, they both seem to genuinely want to provide good experiences for people with disabilities.
It's not like accessibility on consoles is some new alien thing. It's just a simple choice that Nintendo need to make of whether or not they care about and prioritise the market of gamers with disabilities.
The disability landscape in Japan is changing very quickly.. perhaps that might have some impact further down the line.
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