Christmas Time Is Here

Well, I'm *dreaming* of a white Christmas 'round here. Having spent a snow-white Christmas in the frozen wilderness that is northern Washington last year, I must say that my hometown's weather is much preferable to what most people experience at Christmas time. Plus, last year I also learned that wheelchairs can't handle frozen sidewalks very well. One of the most interesting adventures I had while traveling north in emergency conditions last December was the 100 feet between the hotel in Oregon and a Denny's. One of the nice things about the hotel we stayed in is that it gives out coupons for a free Denny's breakfast. Let's just say I demonstrated my almighty appetite that morning. As soon as I got onto the frozen road that led to the restaurant, I discovered that I could move my chair the vast distance of 5 feet before I had to call it quits. To top it off, I learned that my body does not handle the cold very well. And to think: I was born in the midst of the Rocky Mountains and I can't even handle a little bit of snow!

Well, putting that aside, I've kept myself busy this week with various Theatre-related items. First, I tried out for the Kaucher-Mitchell Storytelling and Oral Interpretation competition on Tuesday. As its name implies, it's a storytelling competition the Department puts on twice a year at the University. Well, as my luck would have it, I am one of the four finalists selected by our judges to compete in the Oral Interpretation segment of the Kaucher-Mitchell finals on Friday night! In case you're wondering, oral interpretation is the art of taking a segment of a previously written and/or performed work, such as a movie, song, or stage play, and performing that segment solo. I chose to perform a scene from of the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia. I performed the scene where Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) discusses the fate of the Arab people with Prince Faisal (Alec Guinness), and then convinces Sharif Ali (Omar Sharif) to join him on his expedition to capture the city of Aqaba near the Red Sea. The secret to oral interpretation is to take the words of the author, in this case screenwriter Robert Bolt, and convey them to the audience, without merely copying the performances of the actors who spoke these lines in the movie. I must admit it's a lot of fun! I'm somewhat picky when it comes to my work, so I only perform segments from Oscar-winning or Oscar-nominated film scripts, such as Finding Nemo, Amadeus, Ben-Hur, and the Lord of the Rings films. I'm also very fond of epics, which is probably why Lawrence of Arabia is my favorite film.

Also, I auditioned for the Department's upcoming season of plays last night. In March, we'll be performing Bury the Dead (1936) by Irwin Shaw, and then in April will be performing Yellow Face (2007) by the Father of Asian-American Theatre David Henry Hwang. We had to audition with two contrasting contemporary monologues. I chose mine from Moises Kaufman's The Laramie Project and Charles Mee's Big Love (not to be confused with that HBO show). They were contrasting because the former had me playing a doctor describing the night Matthew Shepard was brought to the hospital nearly dead, and the latter had me playing a man describing his treasured Barbie collection. No joke; though let us just say it's a tad lighter-hearted than the first monologue. So I did my best; I may have flubbed a few lines here and there, but the true test for an actor is his or her ability to maintain composure and keep going even if something goes wrong.

I'll find out on Tuesday if I made it into Bury the Dead, but I won't know until the end of January if I made it into Yellow Face. I must wait. No pressure. Seriously. (I sound like Hemingway)

So that's my life lately. It's been quite nice to have stuff to do 'round here. This being my last semester, my school life is essentially over. I was, however, excited to learn that it is still possible for students who have recently graduated to perform in our Department's productions. That's why I made up my mind at the last moment to audition last night.

Well, that's my life! Tune in next time for more mirth and mayhem! See ya then!

Guild Wars Checks Out! (plus some big news)

There is another game that is as accessible as the old LucasArts adventure games I mentioned last time. It is ArenaNet's Guild Wars, a massively multiplayer role-playing game. When I say massively multiplayer, I'm exaggerating slightly. Unlike most games of this sort like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars is massively multiplayer only when your character is in one of the cities of the game. When you go out of the cities, you are in single player mode. However, should you choose to team up with other players online, I believe you can exit the cities and play together like a normal MMORPG.

Before I go any further, I need to explain that the version of the game I played is called Guild Wars: Prophecies. The game has two expansion packs that you must buy separately, unless of course you buy a game collection pack of some sort. I'm not particularly sure if one is available, but don't quote me on that. A sequel is also being developed currently...

Here are some details about the accessibility of Guild Wars:

• The game comes on two discs; you do not need to put any disks in to play the game after it has been installed.
• You can go from windowed to full screen and vice-versa at any point in the game, thus allowing you to use the default WindowsXP on-screen keyboard to type in a profile name, character name, or anything else you need to type.
• The left mouse button controls movement, attack, and just about everything else.
• If you hold the right mouse button down and move the mouse, you can control the camera.
• The mouse wheel zooms the view in and out.

One technical problem I need to point out is that for some reason, you have to put the install disks sequentially in one CD drive. In other words, if you have two CD drives, you cannot put, for example, disc 1 in the top drive and disc 2 in the bottom drive and get it to install. Rather, put disk 1 in a drive, and when it asks you for it, put disk 2 in that same drive.

I hope this is of some help to you.




P.S. : I've just gotten a response from BioWare's Community Coordinator: he said that Star Wars: The Old Republic, the new MMORPG currently in development, will be accessible. I told him that I was able to play Guild Wars comfortably; he then told me that, if I was able to play Guild Wars comfortably, then I should have no problem playing Star Wars: The Old Republic.

The Most Accessible

I would like to discuss the best game I have ever played in terms of accessibility. I must preface this by saying that some of my favorite games of all time are the older games which were published in the early to mid 1990s. This was an era of real advances in the world of gaming. Arguably some of the most influential games of all time, aside from ground-breakers like Pong, were published in this time, when I was still in elementary school.

Those of younger generations may find it hard to believe who was responsible for some of the great games of the early 90s, which remain some of the greatest games ever made. Period.

Shortly before the release of the third (rather, the sixth) film in the classic Star Wars trilogy in 1983, Lucasfilm Ltd. founded Lucasfilm Games in response to the company's desire to branch out into more areas of entertainment.

Four years after its founding, Lucasfilm Games released a highly-successful game that would pave the way for the world of the point-and-click adventure game, one of the most successful sub-genres of video games. Ron Gilbert's Maniac Mansion was released in October of 1987.

As you can imagine, point-and-click games are by far the most handicap accessible games, not to mention some of the most thought-provoking, challenging, and genuinely fun.

Well, to make a long story short, Lucasfilm Games, Skywalker Sound, and Industrial Light and Magic eventually combined their creative talents to form LucasArts Entertainment Company in 1990. And yes, boys and girls, this is the same LucasArts that published the ridiculously overhyped Star Wars: The Force Unleashed last year. Believe it or not, there was once a time when the company actually made good games, like the Star Wars flight sim TIE Fighter (1994), and adventure game titles like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992). I have to admit that lately, the company's best games are made when they partner with more reputable game companies, like when they partnered with BioWare for KOTOR I.

Putting all that aside, one of LucasArts' last traditional point-and-click adventure games was released in 1995 after a rather extensive development process, one that nearly caused prospective gamers to believe that the game would never see the light of day. Conceived by the combined imaginations of Steven Spielberg, Alan Dean Foster, and Orson Scott Card, the game told a purely science-fiction story unlike any other. The game The Dig was the supposed crowning jewel in LucasArts' arsenal of adventure games. Is it really? I'll leave that for you to judge.

Anyhow, as the years went by, average home computers advanced to a point where older games like The Dig were no longer playable in their full glory, even if on CD-ROM. This perturbed me for quite a few years, as I feared that I would never be able to experience the old LucasArts games the way I had when I was a kid, as old games cannot handle modern systems without extensive technical problems.

Knowing LucasArts' reputation for keeping a firm grip on all its titles regardless of how old they are, I worried that they would never make those games compatible with modern high-end systems.

However, after I looked around the web for a bit, I came upon the name of a new entry in the critically acclaimed Monkey Island series, one of LucasArts' more successful titles. Anyhow, I discovered that an online digital distribution platform known as Steam was working with LucasArts in order to distribute some of the company's older titles.

After checking it out, I discovered that this Steam platform allows a person to buy all sorts of PC games from highly successful companies for relatively good prices. What's even better is that all these games are modified by Steam to work perfectly on modern computers.

So, after years of searching for a way to get and play compatible versions of classics like The Dig and Fate of Atlantis, I finally found the answer.

So with Steam, you just create an account, and purchase the games you want that they have available. And we're not just talking old-school games here, folks; there are even quite a few modern games available as well.

But to sum it all up in terms of handicap accessibility, The Dig and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis were very accessible to me because they open already windowed in your browser, thus making a player capable of going to the game menu with the default on-screen keyboard, and also being able to enter save game names yourself, rather than having to have someone else do it for you. This bit of information, plus the fact that point-and-click adventure games are inherently mouse controlled means that these games are quite accessible thanks to the Steam platform.

I hope this rather lengthy discourse is of some use to you.

Handicap Accessibility of PC Games

Before I begin, I need to preface this blog post, so you can understand where I'm coming from. I am a handicapped gamer with extremely limited use of my hands. I am incapable of playing console games, and so I am a firm adherent to PC games. I use an optical Belkin mini-mouse, and that's about the extent of my ability. There was a time when I was capable of using a keyboard, but that time has long since passed. The last game I was able to play using a keyboard was Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast, and the last time I played it, I believe, was in 2004. So, as you can see, my current situation is rather limiting. However, I have played through quite a few PC games over the past few years, and hopefully the industry will keep that standard of mouse usage. What I've decided to do here is talk about a few games that I have been able to enjoy, and even offer advice about how to make gameplay even more fulfilling for the handicapped gamer.

So, without further ado, here is my list of PC games that I have been comfortably able to enjoy, plus my (hopefully) useful advice:

I'll start with my favorites:

1.) Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn + Throne of Bhaal expansion (BioWare)

10 out of 10 for accessibility.

• It was originally released on 4 CDs (which had to be switched for different geographical locations in the game), but when you install the Throne of Bhaal expansion, you only need to have that CD in to play the entire game.
  
• Putting the fact that this is one of the greatest games ever aside, this game is one of the most accessible games ever made. There is absolutely nothing that hinders my ability to play it, except for one slight detail, which I will elaborate on.
  
• The only difficulty I ever encountered was creating a character name. Unlike Neverwinter Nights and the KOTOR games, BG2 does not have a random name generator: you need to type in your character's name, and you cannot proceed in the game until you do so. This baffled me for quite a few years, but then I discovered that there is a very simple way to overcome this problem.
• When you double-click the BG2 shortcut on your desktop, the menu screen appears. On the middle left, right below the "play" button, there is a button labeled "configure." Double- click that button to open the configuration screen. On that screen you will see a tab marked "display." Click on that tab, and on the right side of the screen is a box labeled "window." if you click it and then hit "ok" and then play the game, the game will open in a window. If you have the standard on-screen keyboard, bring it up, and then enter your character's name when you've finished rolling up a new character. After you've finished that and watched the first few moments of the game, save your game, exit the game, go back to the configure screen, set the game back to "full screen" mode, and go back into the game. You'll be good to go.
  
• The only reason I have not included BG1 + TotSC is because it does not have a "window" option.
  

2.) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I and II (Bioware and Obsidian)

9.8 out of 10 & 9.9 out of 10, respectively.

• Both games come with 4 CDs, which thankfully only need to be used for installation. After that, only the first CD of each game needs to be used to play.
• Yet again, some of the finest games ever made, as well, as some of the most accessible games ever made.
  
• Just FYI, but I'm currently testing the beta release of the KOTOR II cut-content restoration mod. Check it out here.
• One nice thing is that you don't need to type a name, as the game has a name generator.
• Typing, will be required for entering save game names. I would recommend having someone help you type them. Have that person help you create several save games, so that you can have multiple spots to save your game as you play it. Do not have only one save game!
• The reason I rated KOTOR I slightly lower than the sequel is because the first game does not allow you to control your swoop in swoop racing, other than accelerating with the left mouse button. There is a part in the game where you are required to win a swoop race in order to advance the plot, but you only really need help avoiding obstacles during that particular race. Just have somebody hit the left and right keys on your keyboard to help you avoid the obstacles.
• KOTOR II, on the other hand, gives you full control of your swoop with the mouse: left button is accelerate, right button is jump, and you can maneuver your swoop left and right by moving the mouse left and right. Be quick, though!
• The only other thing I can think of is the parts where you have to man the gun turret. Just make sure the mouse sensitivity setting is turned all the way up.
• Also, make sure that the "mouse look" box is checked in the "gameplay" section of the "options" menu of the game. This allows you to move forward with the left mouse button, and control the cursor with the right mouse button.

I have described these games in detail because they are my favorites, and because I want everyone to be able to fully enjoy them regardless of physical ability.

Other games I recommend are the following:

• most RTS games, like Starcraft, the Warcraft series, the Age of Empires series.
• most RPGs published by Black Isle Studios (which has since become BioWare and Obsidian), like Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment.
• most turn-based strategy games, like the Civilization series and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
• most old-school point-and-click adventure games, and even modern ones such as Syberia.

Games I don't recommend are the following:

• most FPS or TPS games like Doom and Quake (should be pretty straightforward), though in some such as Jedi Outcast, you can control the aiming, shooting, and the direction of movement with the mouse, while having a "lackey" (preferably a younger sibling) controlling the keyboard for you.
  
• Homeworld (you can't access the game menu with the mouse during gameplay).
• the Elder Scrolls games (though these can be enjoyed using my aforementioned "lackey" technique).
  
• most flights sims, such as Freespace, or, sadly, classics such as X-Wing and Tie-Fighter (though I have heard some DOSBox users saying they have played these games using only a mouse, but I'm not sure how they got it to work).
  

Almost all of these games will require typing save game names and player profile names, so expect to need some assistance at some point, unless you like playing BG2 in a window...

I hope this has been somewhat useful. In my next entry, I will talk about old-school games available on Steam and GameTap, and their accessibility. If you have questions regarding any of the games I have mentioned, please feel free to ask.

The main purpose of this blog will be to review the accessibility of PC games as they are published over the next few years. If you find any information that could help me in this endeavor, please let me know. I would really appreciate it. Thanks for your support.