polio
Latest
Eye Gaze project to enable the disabled
Someone is always working on a way to let differently-abled people interact with virtual worlds and games. This video shows someone playing World of Warcraft using a system called the Eye Gaze, which tracks eye movement and somehow (I'll say magically) converts the signals into mouse clicks and WASD movement.This could be big for people with conditions that affect motor control, such as muscular dystrophy or polio. There's also a Second Life demonstration video. Though the team's website is currently down, there's a lot of food for thought in these videos. I can see a system like this dramatically improving quality of life for people with crippling disabilities, and also for, as one commenter put it, 'insanely lazy people'.Videos after the break![Thanks, Aki!]
A heart-wrenching tale about Animal Crossing
We're not going to lie, this story moved us - not only for its content, but also because someone managed to use the YTMND format in a way that actually enhanced the storytelling process. This touching tale tells of the impact that Animal Crossing had on an ill family member. We don't want to spoil it, so check it out for yourself. The story is from "a member in IGN" and illustrated by ONESOUND from This Is Game. If YTMND isn't your thing, you can also view a full-sized copy of the comic here and save it for later, or print it out and show your loved ones.Update: As reader RySenkari has warned, the YTMND link had been "altered" to shy people away from the link, and the subsequent imagery was NSFW (try going to the site via Digg and you'll get an idea of what we're talking about). If you're sending this to family members or just don't want to risk seeing such things, we recommend either typing the URL in a separate window or just taking a look at the full-sized comic that we're hosting at the moment.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
