Expert Accessibility Styling Tips: December 27, 2006

Judge Robert Florio has graciously let us see the steps he goes through from starting a game until he is finished playing. Robert, a quadriplegic, laid it out for all of us:

1. Ask somebody to grab me a table that will fit my controller & mouth controller. That table has to be the right height and/or be adjustable and so on.
   
2. Make sure I am sitting in a wheelchair that can put me in the right position for the controller to be used best with my mouth. Some wheelchairs don't allow the angle as much manipulation -- Some people
   end up being stuck laying back or straight up with Chairs that allow them to stand upright
   
3. I must have the table readjusted and ask someone turned the TV on and putting the game into the computer/console.
   
4. Saving the game is very important and often times requires many scrolls
   through options to go back to save menus. I will save the game and then
   move away.
   
5. When I am finished someone must move my table and device to a safe area.
   
6. Someone must turn off the computer or console for me.
   

Damn...now that's some hard core love of the game!

Expert Accessibility Styling Tips: December 20, 2006

Coming soon...

Expert Accessibility Styling Tips: December 13, 2006

Coming soon...

News from the Road: December 11, 2006

Hello? Did we get this right -- Co-Host Richard Van Tol was spotted having lunch at a cafe in Amsterdam?

Yes -- that's right -- fans from Holland are rejoicing since the rumors were confirmed last week that Van Tol is, indeed, Dutch. While we think that this is a completely unneeded update, we know that you have an absurd fascination with anything and everything "Accessibility Idol" (AI for the most rabid of fans) and we're committed to providing you every last bit of trivia about the show so you have no reason to go to any other news source or pay any attention to any other reality show on any other network!

News from the Road: December 7, 2006

Known as the "terrible twosome" of the game accessibility world, it was no shock to industry insiders when it was announced that Michelle Hinn and Richard Van Tol would be the Co-Hosts of the latest reality show to somehow slip through the network censors: Accessibility Idol.

Rumors flew all about the hottest clubs in Brighton, England this past summer when Van Tol was spotted at the "Fortune of War" with fellow Dutch celebrity Eelke Folmer and Hinn, the American former riotgrrrl of the Seattle scene. Naturally we assummed that Paris Hilton would no doubt be there -- that until the word got out that Lindsay Lohan was planning on making an appearance there later that evening. Truth be told...the only Hilton involved was the Brighton Metropole Hilton across the street. Reps on Ms. Lohan's side were not able to be reached for comment.

Expert Accessibility Styling Tips: December 6, 2006

Coming Soon...

The Rules for AI (A.K.A the boring legal junk)

So our lawyers said something about us having to say something at some point about the rules of the show so we've finally gotten off our asses and posted it here:

There are three simple rules that our contestants have been challenged with (warned about?):

(1) The game design you present MUST be designed with your audience 95% in mind; that is to say, your game design must be designed to maximize the gaming experience for gamers who are quadriplegic to a level of 95%. Forget everyone else. Marketing has told us that our demographic is solely quadriplegic gamers and, therefore, it must test well with our expert panel of judges or it will be given an immediate "no go" from the management, which will be a humiliating production in front of a live audience so you don't want to go there.

(2) The game design MUST include a multiplayer feature because marketing tells us we cannot release a title that does not include a multiplayer feature. This is not to say that the game need to be or should be entirely multiplayer -- even if it's added the night before the live finale**, you must include a multiplayer option. Failure to comply with the wishes of marketing MAY result in your design being eliminated from the competition.

(3) The game design MUST be fun. Although we're not sure what this means, exactly, this will be determined by a live audience vote that may or may not agree with what our expert panel of judges say. We are aware that we cannot control for every potential gamer but this live audience may or may not include industry peers with or without quadriplegia. Marketing has ensured us that as long as the game design is designed solely with our demographic -- gamers who are quadriplegic -- in mind (at least 95% of the time) that it will be automatically fun for all potential gamers even if they are not quadriplegic.

We hope that this statement of the rules has cleared up any confusion our original advertisements may or may not have caused. We recognize that it was potentially irresponsible of us to suggest that our show may or may not result in weight loss or weight gain. We apologize for any misunderstandings you may have incurred.

** (i.e., half assed. Although our lawyers have advised us against using the term "half-assed" as it may result in a lawsuit by those with half an ass, we have decided that we needed some kind of negative publicity to boost sales from the fully assed. Please do not sue us.