Between Playground Games’s Forza Motorsport and Insomniac Games’ Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 dropping with some of the best accessibility in games and getting hands-on reviews of the PlayStation Access Controller, it has been a pretty great timing all-around gaming for accessibility.
There are lots of different disability causes and organizations celebrating and raising attention for various aspects of the disability community. Microsoft is announcing several updates to its already extensive collections of accessibility options.
Here are a few of the updates:
- A new Accessibility in Games channel on the Xbox store and Xbox.com that includes hundreds of games and thousands of Xbox Game Accessibility Feature Tags — making it even easier for players to find their next great, accessible game.
- Updated wireless pairing that no longer requires direct contact with a console. From the comfort of a couch, wheelchair, hospital bed, etc., players can now put their console into pairing mode using an Xbox media remote, digital assistant voice command, or previously paired controller to connect a new controller to their console. I can see instances where this will help all Xbox players – controller collectors significantly – speed up connecting new or multiple controllers, which is a great universal design!
- The launch of the Game Accessibility Settings menu on Xbox Widgets in the Game Bar – allowing for a more accessible PC gaming experience that makes it even easier for players to locate accessibility settings on the platform. Once again, this will help cut down time spent opening and navigating menus, thus creating a great universal design.
- Announcing the next chapter of the Xbox Ambassador Accessibility Explorer Path, including new knowledge checks and badges, while recognizing the over 2 million quests completed since its launch in October 2022. An already great program that helps us understand more about accessibility, game design, and community outreach!
- Speaking of community outreach, unveiling the Playbook for Accessible Gaming Events, an events guide that shares 12 best practices Xbox has learned partnering with the Gaming & Disability community over the years.
- Coming soon! Elite 2 & Xbox Adaptive Controller to Keyboard Remapping. In the coming months, all players can remap controller buttons to almost 90 keyboard keys on the Xbox Adaptive Controller and Elite Series 2, allowing players with limited mobility to use the Xbox Adaptive Controller with games that only support mouse/keyboard input.
