Solution? A doorbell attached to a drum stick that acts as the kick pedal, making legs-free Rock Band kicking possible. Kinetic has published the details of its mod online, including the list of required materials and the how-to. Cost? About twenty bucks. Who else is now super duper excited about accessibility?!

Rock Band Drum Kit Accessibility Mod [Kinetic Communications - thanks, Jay!]

"Those kind of games were never designed to be played by users with physical disabilities," Niemeijer said, "but with universal access software, such as on-screen keyboards, they can be played also by people with physical impairments."

Niemeijer became a developer of universal access software for Mac in 1996, after a friend of his was paralyzed in an accident. With a number of websites already available for PC gamers with physical impairments, Niemeijer decided that the Mac gaming community needed its own centre of support, too. Niemeijer calls the website a collaborative effort, right down to the website's banner (partially shown above), which was created by an individual who can only move his head.

All of the website's team members, currently four editor/contributors and three contributors, use assistive technology to interact with their computers (all Macs). They speak from experience in their articles on hardware and software using assistive technology for the Mac, reviews of Mac games, and other issues that arise with assistive technology. Anyone who uses assistive technology on a Mac is welcome to contribute to the website, which Niemeijer says has received very positive feedback so far from the assistive technology community and the website's users.

According to Niemeijer, the games that work best with assistive technology are ones that offer a windowed mode of gameplay, otherwise the assistive software won't be accessible during gameplay. He also said that games which allow for multiple forms of input and output work well.

"Games that can be played with keyboard or mouse or joystick or game pad will allow many more people to play then those that only accept keyboard input or only joystick input," Niemeijer said. "Similarly, games that rely only vision or hearing in terms of output exclude people. If a hint or story line is only spoken by the game, deaf users will be left out. If information is only visual, vision impaired users will be left out."

Once the barrier of accessibility has been lifted from the world of gaming, Niemeijer says that online games provide a world of options to people who can't otherwise go outside to play soccer, golf, or travel to other countries. It provides them with new experiences they may not have without assistive technology.

"The nice thing about many of the online games is also that no-one knows you have a disability," Niemeijer said. "In the virtual word there are no disabilities."

To give you an idea of the impact that assistive technology can have, Niemeijer's company AssistiveWare has created a video of one of Assistive Gaming's editors, Michael Phillips, playing a number of video games, including Unreal Tournament 2004 and World of Warcraft.

All of this accessibility talk comes down to reducing barriers — to entry, to engagement, blurring the line that separates gamers from non-gamers, the 'core from the casual. The goal is to make a game that both the 60-hour-per-week grind maniac and the bite-size session gamer can enjoy, with neither missing out; to bring gaming a little closer to mainstream entertainment — and vice versa ....

One thing's clear about this year, though — the era wherein the majority of games are being made for and marketed only to gamers is ending.

It's an interesting look back at some things that have happened in '07 and worth a read through. I'm not big on retrospectives, but it's been nice reading other people's thoughts on the industry's important events.

2007: The Year The Wall Fell? [Sexy Videogameland]

It's a very interesting look at accessibility issues in gaming, and the KQED people did a nice job with it. Check it out. Brian Crecente

Why do they suck? According to Ernest Adams' recent Gamasutra column, they're too hard for anyone but hardcore gamers and suffer from the action genre's arcade heritage. That heritage, Adams contends, unnecessarily forces players deaths and leads to frustrating gameplay.

Adams says that action games need to be accessible, not just to new players, but to disabled gamers as well. Certain design decisions can broaden the audience for the action genre, many of which he outlines in his Gamasutra article. Anyone with a passing interest in the genre and accessible gaming should take five and give it a read. Michael McWhertor

Why Action Games Suck (And What To Do About It) [Gamasutra]

GameSetWatch points us to Game Over!, a 21-level game built to illustrate the frustrations of inaccessible game design by making each level an example of how limiting certain design decisions can be for disabled gamers. The game, available for Mac OSX, Windows and Linux, is a free download for anyone looking for educational punishment.

From the official Game Over! site:

"Game Over!" is the world's first (and hopefully only) universally inaccessible game. This practically means that it is a game that can be played by no one. But why was such a game created? Well, the goal of Game Over! is to be used as an educational tool for disseminating, understanding and consolidating game accessibility guidelines.

Game Over!'s levels feature such game ruining challenges, with suggested best practices, like the following:

Hunt and Peck
Gameplay: The control keys have been randomly redefined and the player has to find them.
Guideline: Allow redefining the controls.

And:

Piano Man
Gameplay: The player must use awkward key combinations to control the spaceship (e.g., Shift + L + Left Arrow to go left).
Guideline: Avoid simultaneous button pressing.

More info on Game Over! and accessible gaming is available at the official site. Michael McWhertor

Game Over! [via GameSetWatch]