How much do we really care?

By Aiman Anwar| Monday, December 13, 2009

Earlier today, when Stevie Wonder wandered into the Spike VGA awards 2009 to announce the Best Music Game, all I had on my mind was the upcoming Halo Reach reveal trailer. I sat up all night, waiting with bated breath for the first look at Bungie’s next saga in the Halo universe. So when I saw this blind chap walk up to the mic, I really couldn’t help but feel impatient.

What the hell IS this? Can’t they just get over this nuisance and get to the real deal? My unnecessary fit of anger intensified as Mr. Wonder talked about how music games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero are helping bring music to a broader audience. What he said next, had my train of thought screeching to a halt.

In what was definitely a plea; a request to the gaming community, Mr. Wonder mentioned that 650 million of the world’s populace are physically challenged and it wouldn’t hurt to bring these amazing gaming experiences to those who are not lucky as us. That very moment, I started pondering on how much have we, as gamers and game developers, really done for the physically handicapped?

Our gaming industry is the fastest developing form of entertainment. Look how quickly we made the journey from the pixel to the polygon. From joysticks to gamepads to motion control. If we can innovate so much in so little time, why can’t we do a little bit to entertain the ones among us who are not as fortunate? Agreed that a few companies are trying to make inroads in this respect, but let’s face it…no AAA developer has tried to break new ground and develop games for the physically handicapped. And with big companies headed by money-hungry goblins like Bobby Kotick (who openly flaunts that he’d take all the fun out of game development if he could), we may not see any developments in this field for quite some time.

Frankly speaking, I myself am not sure what we can do to help. But the fact remains that something must me done. We hear you Mr. Stevie Wonder. Hopefully your plea will not go in vain. Hopefully.

P.S: For those who think its absolutely impossible for the blind to play a video game, check this out.