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PlayStation Experience 2016 Sees Its First Accessibility In Video Games Panel
PlayStation Experience is underway and runs through tomorrow, featuring a press conference at 1 p.m. ET this afternoon and several panels in-between. One of these panels will be discussing on the importance of accessibility in making video games more inclusive for not just disabled gamers, but for the community as a whole.
On the PlayStation Blog, the panel is described as follows:
Accessibility features help empower all gamers—not just those with disabilities—and we want to set an industry standard of inclusion. We’re bringing together some of the top minds from the accessibility community, PlayStation and NaughtyDog to discuss best practices for game developers and to share powerful stories about the broader impact of accessibility features in games.
This panel, which occurs tomorrow, December 4 at 2 p.m. PT, will feature some of the leading minds in video game accessibility. This includes Dagers editor-in-chief Josh Straub (who readers may remember as a former Game Informer intern), founder of the Able Gamers Community Mark Barlet, Naughty Dog UI lead Alex Neonakis, Gaikai technical project manager Tara Voelker, and creators of PlayStation Now. The panel will be moderated by Ian Hamilton, an accessibility specialist from the UK.
Some of the discussion topics will include the personal impact accessibility has on the gaming community, recent advancements for accessibility in game development, what progress should be seen, what's important for developers to keep in mind when making games more accessible, and what the community can do to help the cause.
Outside of the panel, Dagers will be running an accessibility booth at PSX which will simulate disabilities for participants as they play Uncharted 4, to give them a better idea of the impact of impaired gaming.
You can read about the full line-up of panels that will be happening at PlayStation Experience by heading here.
For more on accessibility and games, read Straub's opinion piece about why it matters for disabled gamers, as well as how Naughty Dog put emphasis on accessibility during the development of Uncharted 4.
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