ColorBlindness
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Lab-grown eyes explain how a baby's vision develops in the womb
Researchers at John Hopkins have grown artificial eye parts to better understand how we develop color vision. Though they don't look like eyeballs, the "organoid" retinas built from stem cells grow in much the same way as our own orbs. By using CRISPR to manipulate thyroid hormone levels, they shut off growth of green- and red-detecting cells. The results could provide new insight into how we develop color vision and help doctors treat blindness in the future.
Set-top box chip comes with TV enhancer for colorblind viewers
Researchers from the University of East Anglia developed a technology called "Eyeteq" that can tweak what's shown on TV for colorblind viewers sometime ago. Now, they're making sure the tech is more accessible to hardware manufacturers, particularly those that make set-top boxes. Their spin-off company, Spectral Edge, has integrated Eyeteq into STMicroelectronics' Cannes set-top box chipset. As you can see in the demo video below the fold, users would be able to adjust their TVs based on the kind of colorblindness they have using a remote control. The chip enhances the colors in each frame, but the changes show up on screen instantly.
Chrome add-on helps you see the web if you're color-blind
The web isn't always a great a place to visit if you're color-blind -- in fact, you may not properly see the Chrome logo above. Thankfully, Google may have a way to fill in some of that missing picture. It recently released a Chrome extension, Color Enhancer, that tweaks the browser's colors to help overcome partial color blindness. All you do is walk through a basic calibration process, and the add-on does the rest. This isn't the most complicated addition in the world, but it could make a big difference if it helps you spot web objects that would otherwise go unnoticed. [Image credit: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan]
Borderlands 2 adding colorblind mode
Color plays a big part in the vivid world of Borderlands 2, particularly in its loot system, so it makes sense Gearbox is adding a colorblind mode to its shooter. In an extensive post that goes into what colorblindness is and what can be done to help players who suffer with it, programmer Jeff Broome said the mode is coming to all platforms, with more info on its release "in the near future." Like many loot-heavy games, Borderlands 2 uses colors to distinguish the rarity of the items spread across its wasteland. That color shines out from loot in a beam, and it features on their descriptions in the title. For colorblind players, distinguishing those different colors from one another is problematic, so Gearbox is modifying them to make them more identifiable, as well as denoting the color in text on the descriptions. It's a shame it wasn't there when the game shipped - it it had, Gearbox would've been able to apply i to just one side of a split-screen, rather than the whole screen. Still, it's good it is being added, and that Gearbox has gone to the lengths of letting players specify different types of colorblindness; when toggling the mode, players can select Deuteranopia, Prtoanopia, or Tritanopia.
Daily iPad App: Color Blindness Test by EnChroma
Color blindness is a common vision problem that affects up to 8 percent of men and 0.5 percent of women in the population. People are usually diagnosed when they visit their optometrist for a routine vision check, but you can screen yourself at home using the new Color Blindness Test from EnChroma. The Color Blindness app steps you through a series of pictures to evaluate the type and severity of your color blindness. It presents you with images of varying colors and asks you to identify the shapes (square, diamond or circle) that you see. In some images, the color differences are great and the shapes are readily visible. In other images, the color differences are subtle and the shapes are difficult to see, especially for those who are color blind. When you have completed the test, the app will tell you whether you have normal or impaired vision. If you are color blind, the app will let you know if you are a deutan or protan and whether it is mild, moderate or severe. Protan and deutan are two types of red-green color blindness. I tested the app with my 11-year-old son who has been diagnosed with severe red-green color blindness and the EnChroma test was spot on. I watched him take the test and he failed to discern several shapes and misidentified many of the squares and diamonds as circles. He was classified as a severe deutan by the EnChroma test, which is the same diagnosis he has received from two different optometrists. The Color Blindness Test is available in the iOS App Store for free. It works on the iPhone, the iPod touch and the iPad. I chose to review the iPad version because the big screen made it easier to take the test. If you download the Color Blindness Test, please remember that the app is meant to be a screening tool and shouldn't be used to diagnosis a vision problem. You should see an optometrist or ophthalmologist for detailed information about any potential color vision deficiency you might have.
BioShock 2 hacking minigame could cause issues for colorblind gamers
[Image credit: Negative Gamer] Allow me to break from the usual third-person writing style we employ at Joystiq to address my personal stake in writing this post -- I'm part of the approximately 10 percent of human males with colorblindness. I had to return Super Puzzle Fighter for GBA and turn on the symbols in Hexic (the price I pay for the love of puzzle games). Like Russ at MTV Multiplayer, I (quite likely) have the most common form of colorblindness: Deuteranopia. Personal info aside, Negative Gamer put together a bit of an analysis of BioShock 2's hacking system -- a system which applies color matching to various rewards/punishments (green = hack, blue = reward, red = alarm, white = electric shock) and one which could be problematic for those suffering from colorblindnesses many forms. The piece takes a program called "Colour Contrast Analyser" (yes, it's a British-born application) and runs an example image of the hacking program through it, pointing out how the colors would appear to people with a variety of types of colorblindness -- the image you see above is but one example. So! If you've ever wondered what it's like to deal with the frustration of being colorblind and not being able to play a game because of it, now's your big chance. If you want to start a petition to "fix" the situation like these folks did for Modern Warfare 2, I'd really appreciate it. [Via MTV Multiplayer]
Colorblind gaming or: Table Tennis is impossibly hard!
Around one in ten males and one in two hundred females are unable to discern the difference between some or all colors that other people can distinguish. Like most other people with the disability, I've been colorblind (or, to use the politically correct term, have had color sight deficiency) since birth. I find it hard, and sometimes impossible, to tell the difference between shades of red, green and brown, blue and purple and oranges and yellows. As my optician told me when I was young, this disability means that I can't work in a paint factory or be a pilot. What he didn't tell me was that I'd have trouble playing friggin' computer games! As you probably know, the Xbox 360 features several colored buttons. Usually I can tell the difference between these buttons (the problem isn't so bad that I can't tell the difference between the equivalent of red and green at traffic lights). However, there's one game that has caused a problem: Rockstar's Table Tennis. A fundamental part of the gameplay is being able to respond to the opposing player's spin on the ball. This is represented by one of the colors which are also found on the gamepad. Blue for left spin, red for right spin, green for forward spin and yellow for back spin. Unfortunately, I can barely tell the difference between the red, green and yellow on a standard definition display. On a high definition screen the green and yellow are still nearly identical to my eyes. This isn't usually much of a problem during normal play (besides, I can always just press the green button), but on the training levels where you are taught how to spin the ball, I found the task physically impossible. I literally had to guess which spin the computer was giving the ball! Table Tennis has the hardest training level of any game, at least for me. Since completing the training levels is an Xbox 360 achievement, it's also possibly the hardest achievement there is. It took me around 3-4 hours and dozens of reattempts to get the 5 points given to you after you complete training.
