Blind Gamer

As someone who cannot extol enough the virtue of Helen Keller, I find the following article, fascinating:

Brice Mellen is a whiz at video games such as "Mortal Kombat." In that regard, the 17-year-old isn't much different from so many others his age. Except for one thing: He's blind. (I'm a bit slow on this too: news came out Wed.)

I guess 2D audio (3D is it now?) tech is good enough for a blind person to play reasonably well. Once 3D audio gets common enough, being blind may give one an extra edge since there are less distraction then if you were able to see.

I mean, if you think about it, magicians (or illusionists) work because they make us focus away from the behind-the-scene tricks. Game play might be better without the visual distractions.

[scanning the yahoo discussion is just as amazing: how silly can people get? I'm glad such folks don't visit vox and voxologisti... However the best comment was when folks were making fun of the blind gamer wanting to get into game design, someone posted "Beethoven was deaf" -- great comeback!]