[games_access] Xbox system update

[Ian Hamilton]

Info on the APIs:


https://channel9.msdn.com/events/GDC/GDC-2017/GDC2017-009


________________________________
From: games_access <games_access-bounces at igda.org> on behalf of Ian Hamilton <i_h at hotmail.com>
Sent: 30 March 2017 07:19
To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
Subject: [games_access] Xbox system update


Lots of nice functionality in the current update, some for consumers to use:

Co-pilot - allows you to share controls across two separate controllers, for example left stick on controller 1 with your left hand and right stick on controller 2 with your foot, or a second player on a second controller assisting the first player.

Zoom improvements - allows some interaction while zooming and panning, and the ability to lock a zoom level and play with full game controls while zoomed, something that was previously only possible by using keyboard shortcuts.

Narrator improvements - scan mode, again previously available through a keyboard only, now possible from a controller. Scan mode allows you to switch from navigating only between interactive elements to a range of methods of navigating everything on the screen.

And also some APIs/tools for developers that were first outlined at GDC, joining the existing caption preference API:

Text <-> voice chat - system level transcription between text and speech, the results of which can either be passed to the game to be displayed as the developers wish, or displayed in a configurable overlay rendered by the system.

High contrast API - allows games to read whether the system level high contrast preference has been set.

Text to speech API - allows developers to send text strings to the system text to speech. It isn't traditional screen reader accessibility as it is push-based, but it allows the possibility of relatively cheap and easy blind-accessible spoken UIs that respect system preferences for speed, voice etc (although voice choice can be overridden by developers if needed). Would be great to see engines hook into it by default.

Ian
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