Sadly "just having the sounds turned into pictures" is easier said than
done, likewise I doubt game stop (which I assume is rather like game station
is over here in the Uk), would stock independently produced games.
If there was an audiogames console, the plane fact is only blind people
would buy it and it's doubtful anyone would develop games with graphics for
it. Plus, to be brutally honest, why should I pay for additional hardware
when I already have a computer and an Iphone that can play games no problem?
When a sighted person buys a games consoles, there are lots of games that
won't! be available on their pc, or mac or whatever, however as a blind
person that is not the case, and I don't think you could find a dedicated
list of developers willing to write games for a new platform when they could
already develop games for Windows pc, Ios, or even Mac or Android and know
they'd have a dedicated pool of users who already have the hardware and
inclination to buy their games without laying out additional costs.
Developing audiogames for actual graphical consoles like the playstation or
xbox might be a possibility, though even there you have the problem of
firstly how a blind person accesses the text in the game with no software
or os based synthesisers (I have heard importing of things like sapi onto
Xbox and ps4 has been tried but I'm not sure how it went), also manifestly
you have the problem that only some blind users will have consoles, and of
the potential sighted users of games consoles it's uncertain how many would
buy an audiogame anyway making development of it worth while.
Game consoles come from a time when most people didn't own computers, and
when the dedicated processing power and potentials of the hardware was far
more than a similar computer system. That however is fading these days no
longer the case, most people already own a computer or smart phone and can
play games on it, indeed I've heard steam (irritating as it is for their
lack of access), called the next step in consoles, ie, a virtual os that
doesn't come with any hardware at all but runs on the user's own existing
devices.
So bottom line, I don't really think a console for the blind would work at
all, at most it'd mean laying out extra expense for a few users and for
developers to write for a platform with potentially even less users than
normal, and it's even less likely that such a console would be picked up by
sighted people.
Better focus on platforms everyone! has access too than try to create
another, heck look at the interest by sighted players in games like
pappasangre on the Iphone.
all the best,
Dark.
---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at
http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org.
All messages are archived and can be searched and read at
http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
