well i have got promises over the years that havn't happened.
firstly a vidgame hybred was to be in the works I was successfull on
applying for it and then for sending my picture for credits.
There was nothing else heard on the subject.
ANother one.
I was put up for an interview on some musical stuff I was interested
in but it never happened.
I never payed for either of these but I hate half offers.
If you arn't serious then don't bother I am technically hanging in mid aire.
At 04:36 a.m. 11/02/2011, you wrote:
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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