Since Microsoft's release of Vista, on January 30, 2007, many blind folks have gotten it.
Here is a review of Windows Vista Installed Games that are accessible, partially taken from Features at GameSpot http://www.gamespot.com/features/6154558/index.html You can hear Rick Harmon demonstrating the accessible games in the podcast, Vista With Jaws 5/31/2007, He comprehensively outlines the use of Vista with Jaws in this presentation that first appeared on Main Menu, 84.2 MB. http://www.blindcooltech.com The following six games are accessible for the blind in Vista: Solitaire, FreeCell, Spider Solitaire, Hearts, Minesweeper, and Mahjong Titans. The three games, Chess Titans, Purble Place , and InkBall , are not accessible. Solitaire offers the same core gameplay mechanics that was in the Windows XP version, but it also supports Windows Vista's new Games Explorer display window, which features game box shots and vital stats such as publisher, developer, and ESRB rating. FreeCell still retains the core gameplay first introduced to players in Windows 95. One major change in the Vista version is a new "undo" command that lets you take back moves, which you can abuse to go all the way back to the start of the game if you want. The undo function appears in several of the other card-based games, as well as Mahjong Titans. With Spider Solitaire, you can select your difficulty level and take advantage of the new "hint" option if you get stuck. Many of the games feature a hint option that will highlight open moves for you to take in case you get stuck. Using hints in Spider Solitaire will make sure you've exhausted all of your options before dealing out another layer. In Hearts, you try to pass hearts to other players and avoid the queen of spades at all costs. Be careful when you attempt to shoot the moon (gather all the hearts and the queen of spades)--the undo menu option isn't available in this game. Hearts, like the other Vista games, offers robust saved-game options and advanced game statistics. Minesweeper is largely the same, but the new animations add some excitement to the desktop classic. Now when you accidentally uncover a mine, the game reveals all the remaining bombs and detonates them sequentially starting with the closest mines. The whole explosion sequence is much more dramatic than the simple unhappy face in Windows XP. Mahjong Titans is based on the Mahjong solitaire tile-matching game, not the four-player gin-rummy-like game played in many Chinese and Jewish-American households. The game offers six different game layouts, with tiles spread across the table several layers deep. The goal of the game is to remove all the tiles from the board. Match two exposed tiles to remove them from play. Exposed tiles have empty space to the left or right and mostly lie along the edges of each layout. The rules are fairly basic, but there's strategy involved in selecting which tiles to match. Poor decisions could lead to locked boards without any available matches. That's when you use the undo option. Mahjong Titans is only available in the non-Home Basic versions of Vista. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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/[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
