Gamertell

A group of researchers at MIT are working on a video game they expect to appeal to a broad audience, including a group that, until now, has been neglected: the visually impaired.

The game, titled AudiOdyssey, is based on matching the rhythm of various audio tracks just as a DJ would. All you need is a good ear. If the player makes a mistake, she/he gets an ugly sound and the crowd will start to demand a good performance. To make things easier and more intuitive they adapted the WiiMote so that the game can be controlled by waving it in time with the beats.

AudiOdyssey is still a prototype but the developers hope the game will eventually be released for consoles. At the moment, it is available for PC as a free download from the Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab web site.

A game like this that encourages the player to use a different set of skills is an important addition to the music-based games already available. Games including Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero have already set the bar with innovative designs and both have been really popular. By introducing more intuitive game mechanics, more people get interested and that helps promote the social aspect of gaming.

An on-line multiplayer version of AudiOdyssey is also in development. According to the developers, in a game like this you wouldn’t even notice if you’re playing with a visually impaired person or not and that’s part of its goal. To be an inclusive game rather than something special oriented to a certain group of people.

This is a clear example of the advantages of on-line gaming. In the lobby, everyone is equal. A six-year-old can beat a CEO or a sheikh from Dubai. People around the world can play together despite physical attributes, abilities or location

Read [CNN] Site [Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab]