[games_access] UA-Games new release: Game Over!

Mon Apr 23 10:59:22 EDT 2007

> And is there already any news about a possible release date for
Terrestrial Invaders?

Hopefully next week, it will be on-line.

Also, as far as I know, this week will become available at the News section
of Gamasutra a short article I wrote about Game Accessibility on the plane,
on my way home from GDC.

Its title is "Game Accessibility: Why Bother?" and you'll find out that it
is much different than my previous articles.

In the meantime I am including below, a list of some nice on-line comments
:-) that Game Over has received so far and an exhaustive(?) list of web
references to it.

Opinions expressed on-line
---------------------------

"If it makes just one person stop and think about other people whilst
building their games then its job is done. As an educational tool for
developers, Game Over is an enlightening and essential play. Check it." 
oddbob, 18 April 2007
http://www.retroremakes.com/wordpress/2007/04/18/game-over/

"Really think this makes things so clear for people - wish we'd had this
years back."
Barrie, 18 April 2007
http://www.retroremakes.com/wordpress/2007/04/18/game-over/

 "The most frustrating, hilarious, and thought-provoking game I have seen in
quite some time. If you are developing software, I *strongly* suggest
checking it out."
Eitan Glinert, 10 March 2007
http://www.educationarcade.org/node/262

 "It's a strange concept, but the strangest thing about Game Over! is that
it's actually kind of fun. With the deck stacked so ridiculously against
you, the pressure to succeed turns off and the desire to just try to beat
the system kicks in. There's something perversely addictive about wanting to
keep playing a game just to get a positive score." 
Kyle Orland, 20 April 2007
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/20/game-over-an-exercise-in-futility-by-desig
n/

"There are 20 guidelines included, of which it would be wonderful to see
mainstream developers take heed of."
http://switchgaming.blogspot.com/2007/04/game-over-universally-inaccessible-
game.html

"A 21-level game built to illustrate the frustrations of inaccessible game
design by making each level an example of how limiting certain design
decisions can be for disabled gamers."
Michael McWhertor, 20 April 2007
http://kotaku.com/gaming/game-over%21/game-over-the-worlds-most-inaccessible
-game-253712.php

 "Game Over! is actually built to work against you. Everything from the
instructions in Swahili to the ridiculous color schemes are meant to throw
you off and make the game practically impossible. But why can't I stop
playing it?....."
austenw, 21 April 2007
http://digg.com/playable_web_games/Game_Over_The_Game_Designed_To_Piss_You_O
ff

 "Oh - what a great idea! Whilst promoting the Right Way to develop
accessible applications is obviously of paramount importance, giving
developers the opportunity to directly experience some of the barriers that
users face every day can be very educational and illuminating - especially
in situations where they may have to make judgement calls based upon general
principles rather than just tick off another checkbox."
Mel Pedley, 19 Apr 2007
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2007AprJun/0044.html

"What a fascinating way to reinterpret Superman on the N64. "Gaming by
negation" -- a whole new genre?"
Obiter, 18 April 2007
http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2007/04/universally_inaccessible_gamin.php 

"UA Games has created hopefully the only universally inaccessible game,
called Game Over. You can play it to get a taste of what it's like to be a
gamer with various disabilities, but good luck starting it. To start the
game, you have to press at the same time, Control + Shift + Enter + Home +
F3 + F12 + Right Arrow."
Kat Mowbray, 20 April 2007
http://www.aeropause.com/archives/2007/04/game_over_creat.php

"Nosotros lo hemos hecho, lo hemos probado y, claro, es imposible de
superar."
Freeki, 21 April 2007
http://pc.freeki.es/detalle_noticia.php?id=679

References to websites and blogs
--------------------------------

Game Over! vs. Terrestrial Invaders
http://pc.freeki.es/detalle_noticia.php?id=679

Game Over: Creating accessible games
http://www.aeropause.com/archives/2007/04/game_over_creat.php

Universally Inaccessible Gaming? Game Over, Man!
http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2007/04/universally_inaccessible_gamin.php 

Game Over! The Game Designed To Piss You Off!
http://digg.com/playable_web_games/Game_Over_The_Game_Designed_To_Piss_You_O
ff

Game Over! - The World's First Universally Inaccessible Game!
http://www.game-accessibility.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=309

Game Over! The World's Most Inaccessible Game
http://kotaku.com/gaming/game-over%21/game-over-the-worlds-most-inaccessible
-game-253712.php

Game Over! - Universally Inaccessible Game
http://switchgaming.blogspot.com/2007/04/game-over-universally-inaccessible-
game.html

Game Over!: An exercise in futility (by design)
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/20/game-over-an-exercise-in-futility-by-desig
n/

GDC 2007 Coverage (Part Five of Five)
http://www.educationarcade.org/node/262

Game Over
http://www.retroremakes.com/wordpress/2007/04/18/game-over/

Game Over! - the world's first (and hopefully only) universally inaccessible
game
http://forums.gameaxis.com/showthread.php?t=1457697

World's First Universally Inaccessible Game!
http://blackwidows.co.uk/blog/?p=121

Re: Fwd: UA-Games new release: Game Over!
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2007AprJun/0044.html

Universally Inaccessible Gaming? Game Over, Man!
http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28642

Game Over
http://bkerr.jaiku.com/presence/1109756

POV - Point of View
http://www.games4girls.com/pov.html

________________________________________
From: AudioGames.net [mailto:richard at audiogames.net] 
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:59 AM
To: gramenos at ics.forth.gr; IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [games_access] UA-Games new release: Game Over!

And is there already any news about a possible release date for Terrestrial
Invaders?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dimitris Grammenos 
To: 'IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List' 
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:45 PM
Subject: [games_access] UA-Games new release: Game Over!

Hello!

We have just released "Game Over!", the world's first universally
inaccessible game!

Game Over! aims to provide game developers with a first-hand (frustrating)
experience of how it feels interacting with a game that is not accessible
due to the fact that important accessibility design rules were not
considered or applied. 

The game was developed in the context of the Universally Accessible Games
research activity of ICS-FORTH (ua-games.gr).

You can find more information about the game at: 
http://ua-games.gr/game-over

The MS-Windows, Linux and Mac OS X versions of the game can be downloaded
freely from:
http://ua-games.gr/game-over/downloads.html

If you try the game, please take the on-line survey and share with us your
opinion and thoughts about it - it will not take more than 5 minutes. 

You will find the survey at:
http://ua-games.gr/game-over/feedback.html

Best regards,

Dimitris Grammenos

e-mail:game-over at ua-games.gr

Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory & Centre for Universal Access and
Assistive Technologies

Institute of Computer Science (ICS)
Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH)

________________________________________
_______________________________________________
games_access mailing list
games_access at igda.org
http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access