Steve Spohn suffers from muscular dystrophy. this leaves him physically limited, unable to do simple movements that you and i take for granted. Thanks to the chartable and ingenious work on the part of Evil Controllers – a company specialising in modifying standard console fare to suit gamers with special needs - he can still get in on the game.
Like a new-age MacGyver, Evil Controller’s Adam Coe assembled a prototype allowing Spohn, who can only move his fingers, shoulders and calf muscles, to play. His tools? An Xbox 360 controller, Velcro, duct tape, and a bag of rice.
The prototype controller is modular in design. What this means is that unlike a standard controller, all of its inputs sticks, buttons et al can be moved around to suit the needs – and abilities – of the disabled gamer. "The real benefit is that all these buttons are actually considered blank, so you can assign any function you want to them," said Adam Coe "You can make them all the ‘A’ button, you can make them all the ‘B’ button, you can do whatever you want."
The controller is still in prototype phase, but Coe hopes to have a marketable product soon. "I hope it’s the beginning of a well-polished product," he said.
Steve Spohn is naturally rather excited about the Franken-controller.. "It’s important for people like me to have access to the outside world," he said. "And for some of us, that’s through games."
Evil controllers? Seems like they’re anything but.
Spurce : PCGamer
Last Updated: June 8, 2010
Nick de Bruyne
June 8, 2010 at 15:16
That’s very very cool, I am glad that there are people out there working on bringing gaming to the disabled, who possibly need some escapism way more than we do.
darthdad
June 8, 2010 at 15:29
Good stuff!