Nice... well, just goes to show one of us has been doing some work!
I've never done something like that yet... my gaming ability isn't
something I try and advertise. lol. Nice job, Yohandi... way to
spread the message! I wouldn't mind doing an interview like that,
just haven't gotten the chance yet. lol.
At 07:30 AM 10/02/2011, you wrote:
Hi Folks,
I searched for the article where the blind man beat the sighted on a
video game but couldn't fine it.
I did find this article from last year:
When a blind man rocks: Interview with Yohandy Rodriguez
April 20th, 2010
11:07 am ET
When you play Guitar Hero and Rock Band, you rely heavily on the
rhythm of the song and the overall flow, but if you turn on
performance mode, where the charts are hidden, you more times than
not, will fail within seconds.
Now imagine having to play performance mode every single time you
fired up the game. For Yohandy Rodriguez, that is no hypothetical;
that is his reality.
As someone who has been blind from birth, Rodriguez never learned to
rely on his vision as a way to navigate through life or games.
"I was actually born prematurely," said Rodriguez. "Due to the fact
my lungs hadn't developed properly, it was necessary to put me in an
incubator and pump oxygen into it to keep me alive. This was
obviously successful, but due to too much oxygen intake at such an
early age, I became blind. I was born in 1985, and I actually
remember gaming at a very early age. I don't really know how I got
started. All I know is everyone around me was playing video games,
and there was no reason why I shouldn't be as well. So that's
exactly what I did. I never considered my blindness as a barrier for
a second. I remember playing games like Super Mario 2 and Donkey
Kong Country quite clearly, and it was definitely a blast."
Rodriguez may have been able to play games like Mario and Donkey
Kong Country, but there are certain games that he is unable to play
due to his blindness.
According to a recent Rodriguez Tweet, Guitar Hero's menus can prove
problematic for blind gamers to navigate"Well, I was never able to
beat Super Mario or Donkey Kong [laughs], even though I did complete
a few levels through trial and error," said Rodriguez. "However, I
did come across fighting games, and suddenly things changed. I
recall playing Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 with my sighted cousin on a
SNES and man was it fun. All the attacks had distinctive sounds,
kicks and punches all sounded different and unique. It was such an
awesome experience I begged my parents to buy me a super Nintendo
immediately. So they did, and the first game I bought was a copy of
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. I played that game all day long and I
eventually beat it on medium. then I beat it on the hardest
difficulty. Then after that I had to buy more fighting games so I
purchased Killer Instinct. I know I'm digressing a bit here so I'll
get back on track. I find games with 3D environments and shoot 'em
ups the hardest to play. It's quite easy to get lost in such large
playing fields, and often enough there's not enough audio to convey
everything happening on screen."
While it's not instantaneously known by Rodriguez whether or not
he'll be able to play a game when it first comes out, there are
various indicators that point him and other blind gamers in the
right direction.
"There's actually a few blind gamers out there, not just me," said
Rodriguez. "We already know that games like Mortal Kombat VS. DC
Universe and Super Street Fighter IV are accessible since we've been
buying fighting games for years, and of course games like Guitar
Hero and Rock Band, but we actually love to experiment with
different genres. One of my blind friends bought Final Fantasy XIII
when it came out and told everyone how playable it ended up being
for the blind, so another friend went and got the game and can't
shut up about it [laughs]. I'm eventually going to purchase it as
well and see what all the hype's about."
One of Yohandy Rodriguez's favorite types of games to play is the
music video game genre. Guitar Hero and Rock Band provide blind
gamers such as Rodriguez with a unique opportunity to actually learn
to master a game through listening to the subtle changes in the music itself.
Rock Band 2's simplified menu system has proven very accessible to
blind gamers"First and foremost, for rhythm games, I think it's more
about the music, and less about the visual aspect," said Rodriguez.
"I don't have much experience with Guitar Hero since I've only
rented some of their games, but I have purchased Rock Band games so
I'll concentrate my efforts on that particular title. First thing I
like to do is listen to the song I'm attempting to learn. An easy
way of doing this is to go in practice mode and highlight the full
song for listening purposes. I do a lot of guitar so I listen to all
the various notes and chords to get an idea of how it all sounds.
What I usually do is if I play and the instrument is hard to hear, I
go into the sounds option and turn everything down except for the
instruments which I turn up all the way. Now whichever instrument I
play is isolated from the track. Even with these options, sometimes
there are notes that are still hard to hear, so as I practice a
section, I set the game to 90% speed. This completely eliminates the
track and just leaves the guitar stem and metronome. Problem solved.
As to how I actually learn the notes and chords. Well that's more
difficult to explain. There are rules for easier difficulties that
have to be followed. I don't know if you've checked the RBN
documentation, but it actually explains quite a few things about
this. Expert is like literally playing what the musician intended
you to play. Harmonix doesn't chart notes randomly, so for instance
if you hear a note and it corresponds to yellow, and then a higher
note plays immediately after, it'll either be blue or orange button.
It really helps that Harmonix is always consistent with their
charting, so you won't have a particular chord charted to green and
yellow, and later on in the song charted to red and orange."
Memorization and pattern recognition play a huge role in Rodriguez's
gameplay efforts. To the surprise of many, Rodriguez can actually
play titles such as Rock Band at a level higher than most gamers
with full vision.
"I can't do something like Yngwie Malmsteen's "Caprici Di Diablo"
since trying to figure all that out by ear only is nightmarish,
however I recently learned to play Chop Suey, and Down with the
Sickness on expert guitar," Rodriguez said. "I can't get 100%, but I
can at least play it and have fun doing it. I can do guitar, bass,
and vocals. Drums I'm hopeless at [laughs]. I've a blind friend who
can do drums just fine, but I never quite got the hang of it. I'll
keep trying though!"
Rodriguez claims that his admission to being a blind gamer often
draws a fair amount of shock from the internet community.
"Sometimes they're a bit shocked yeah," Rodriguez said. "I love
going online and telling people about my blindness at random just to
hear their reactions. Some think I'm lying, but there are always fun
people to play against that are understanding about it."
As mentioned earlier, Rodriguez certainly doesn't limit himself to
games that involve music. One of his favorite genres (and one that
is most accessible to blind gamers) is the fighting genre.
"I've been playing a bit of Street Fighter IV getting ready for
Super Street Fighter IV in a few weeks," said Rodriguez
"I've also been playing a bit of Heavy Rain."
If you'd like to learn more about blind gamers, or find out more
about what Yohandy Rodriguez is playing,
you can follow him on Twitter @musicman2004,
where he will often mention what companies develop games and
applications that are or are not
blind-user friendly.
http://www.examiner.com/music-video-games-in-national/when-a-blind-man-rocks-interview-with-yohandy-rodriguez
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