Microsoft does a lot of bad things, but I got to give it to them here. Their push for accessibility in gaming is definitely a good thing. They’ve been pushing multiple modular controllers in order to allow people with disabilities to play games in a comfortable way. Having the support of a major player in the gaming market like Microsoft will definitely help with support for these products.
Also, if you can use it for gaming, you can use it to control a shitload of other assisting technologies.
Also they made it open source to work on PlayStation, Switch, and PC. Pretty cash money move by Microsoft.
This looks funky. Hope it helps disabled Gamers enjoying this hobby more.
This thing looks cool even without a disability, TBH. I can’t judge its usefulness for disabled people, of course, but I hope it’ll be the tool they need to mitigate the issues life has cursed them with, at least for a little while during game sessions.
It has hall effect sticks and triggers which is very cool but $300 is a big chunk of money.
It’s a ton of money when comparing it to mainstream electronics, but I’d imagine that $300 single payment is a drop in the bucket for something medical. Anyone who needs it probably spends similar amounts or more adapting other everyday things for ease of use.
It’s a niche probably low volume product that requires a good amount of hardware and software engineering.
Agreed, imagine what it would cost custom (though not necessarily DIY) or from a medical device manufacturer (shudder).
Lots of people make valid criticisms of Microsoft and Xbox, but one thing that no one can criticize is their dedication to making products for people with disabilities. They have been consistently releasing these products for people despite a small market for them.
It looks like with multiple power cubes you can break it up. My favorite thing about the switch is the separate joy cons. This is far far far less painful for me to hold than traditional controllers. If this worked on Linux, Mac, PlayStation, and my Steamdeck, I might try it, as long as I could return it if it doesn’t work out.
I struggle with buttons in general. My palms are too small so I can’t wrap my hand around them very well. I have to death grip with my palm or I drop it, but I am constantly shifting around as my fingers can’t reach certain things easily either. The off-axis joysticks on an Xbox controller is a no go as I have to hold the controller rotated a bit which means that up isn’t up. I do much better with PS5 controllers, but still get a lot of pain in my hands if I play too much.
A one handed controller. That certainly will have some uses.
… for people with disabilities you mean?
Does it fix stick drift?
