I’m often prone to hyperbole – but this is truly incredible. Gareth doesn’t have the use of his hands, but thanks to some games offering the ability to fully customise controls, he has somehow found a way to continue gaming, as you can see from the videos below.
After complaining in an Overclockers forum thread that he couldn’t play Dead Space 2 as a result of non-customisable controls, and having someone question why he would need customisable controls in the first place, Gareth responded with the following videos, showing how he rigs up controls in order to continue playing games, despite not being able to use his hands properly.
It’s an incredible story, and one that has resurrected interest in this petition, which asks that all games in the future ship with fully customisable controls to help disabled gamers set up controls specific to their condition.
In addition, the folks at EA have gotten in contact with Gareth directly, promising to add the custom controls he needs in the next Dead Space 2 patch.
Thanks to ‘ghst’ at Neogaf for alerting us to this awesome story
f4cti0n
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 5:05 PMI saw this earlier and wish I could do more than just sign a web petition (how often do they achieve anything?!) :(
Timmy C
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 5:09 PMThere is a youtube user, Askacapper who is also quadraplegic and has a petition about the same issue atm. It’s been getting quite some momentum through the Painkiller Already guys, and FPS Kyle etc. He is also a stand up comic… sort of
Aidan Dullard
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 5:11 PMImpressive effort from EA to promise to add customisable controls.
He’s a very inspiring guy.
Bert
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 5:15 PMWow, that is incredible. Sure I’ve seen stories like this before, but it always amazes me how people can cope. Props to you man.
Jimu Hsien "Spelling is Optional"
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 5:39 PMTake note developers!
You now see the importance of adding OPTIONS to games …
Qumulys
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 6:29 PMI understand where he is coming from, good on him I say, and give us customizable on everything!!! Especially bra’s.
Manne
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 6:33 PMAfter reading through the original thread, I am amazed.
Its not just a matter of “EA are looking into this”
Dino Ignacio actually went through a lot of trouble to contact this guy personally. PC Gamer want to visit him and do a full feature on it etc…and theres a few smaller devs involved too.
Truly amazing.
FatShady MBA
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 6:57 PMGreat story there. Gaming should be for everyone so im all for it.
Chumppa
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 7:53 PMHonestly thats so awesome. Well done.
Hey_McFly
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 8:16 PMGlad that some games can be enjoyed by everyone, good on EA.
skinnerz
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 9:18 PMsigned.
what would be amazing is if there was a method for games on control systems like the wiimote, psMove or kinect which could somehow adapt for people in this circumstance too.
mccawsome
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 9:57 PM“It’s an incredible story”
yes it is.
benabc
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 10:21 PMIndeed! Doesnt let a disability get him down.
I know his got a response from a developer but dont forget to sign the petition!!
Shane Wilkie
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 12:42 AMI am so very happy the big guy(EA) is giving a helping hand here to the unfortunate here, its really an inspiring thing :)