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ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTS FOR
THE BLIND
Important! Before you go out and buy an expensive screen reader, visit the software section on acbradio.org. You may not want all the functions of a program like JAWS or Window Eyes, so try some of these great and inexpensive programs first. Also, hear great blind radio shows and read the news online. This is a really great site. Important! Please read this before checking out the many great links to games we feature. 1) Most accessible gaming websites offer demos of their games for you to tryout for a few days. These game demos don’t give you full access to all the game features and only will work on your computer for about 15 days (usually). I have however come across a few gaming websites that do not give you this option. You should not buy any game that you can’t tryout first. Accessible games are very sensitive to how you have your computer set up and if you don’t have the right software installed on your computer, or the right hardware you might not be able to play the game at all, so that’s why it is important to try them out first be for buying! To the best of our knowledge, all the gaming websites that we link to have game demos, but if one slipped through or you find another website not listed on this site, then be careful about making sure that the game has a demo version. 2) Some games will support a traditional analog joystick or a game pad. Don’t do what I did! I thought that all games for the blind would support game pads so I rushed out and bought one. While I like my game pad and some games work great with it, most games I have come across do not support this feature. That means that you have to play using the computer keyboard. Don’t get me wrong - you can make the keyboard work ok, but the game pad is really great. 3) Many games have what’s known as a self-voicing feature. This means that you don’t need to have a screen reading program like JFW to play the game. While this is a great feature, it means that you must unload JFW or your other screen reading programs before running the game or you will probably have to turn off your computer and start over. 4) You must also make sure that you have the right type of sound card installed in your computer. You need to have what’s known as a multi-channel sound card. This means that every sound card has a specific channel for MIDI, PCM (wav,) and for CD Audio. When the PCM channel, (the channel which is used for sound effects and Screen readers,) is split in to multiple channels the sound device is multi-channel. However, when only one PCM, (wav) channel is on a soundcard The card is a single-channel card. Since the PCM channel, CD audio channel, or MIDI channel are on completely different channels, they won't interfere on a single or multi-channel card, but since a game, wav file, or a screen reader all write to the PCM channel at the same time multiple PCM channels must exist or one or the other will get cut out. 5) You should know that games for the blind are not just simple games for people that can’t see and so can’t play a “real computer game”. In fact, these games are just as hard as some of the best the sighted world has to offer! 6) While you can play all the games with your computer speakers and/or your home theater system, it is recommended that you use headphones. This is because you must have a perfect sense of where things are spaciously, in order to be able to play the game with any accuracy. You should be prepared to spend from $35 to $50 for a good set of headphones. Again, while headphones are not 100% necessary to play the games, they will really enhance the gaming experience! 7) Now that I’ve said all that, enjoy finding and trying out new games! Joey Stuckey Games Links:
Email Lists to Ask Specific Questions: GMAGamesTalk (email group manager) No matter who you are, we all use music to relax, inform or groove to! Please support the blind community by purchasing music by blind musicians. Your support can make the difference in someone's career! Below, you will find links to music sites that offer some really great music. Go on, check them out! Who knows, you just might discover the next Ray Charles! Music Links:
Email Lists to Ask Specific Questions:
Click here for some example setups of Music Gear and Music Software. This comparison was done by Joey Stuckey for Dancing Dots to compare some of the most popular music software, hardware and related gear for blind computer/musician/users. Windows XP Service Pack 2 Alert!
Important information you need to read
before you install XP Service Pack 2. Click
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Last page update: Saturday, March 17, 2007 05:47 PM All Website Content ©2007 Joey Stuckey. All Rights Reserved. All Product Review submissions become property of BlindResources.info. |
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