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"They don’t care": Inside the triumphs and failures of accessible gaming hardware
(www.rockpapershotgun.com)
this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
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Great article and it sums up my feelings pretty well. I'm incredibly grateful for the XAC. What it has allowed me to combine together to play games, it's wonderful. But it's been a bumpy, expensive road to get here. I bought it on launch and the accessories that Microsoft offered at the time of launch were laughable. I only bought a single $60 big red button for it. I get it and the button is so sensitive I think I could set it off by breathing on it. I needed to use it with my feet so that's no good.
The whole thing sat for a good year or more collecting dust until I came across Logitechs adaptive gaming kit. A great selection of buttons and everything you need to mark and manage them. It's $120 (ughhhh) and to get all the buttons I want for how I use it, I'll need 3 of them. My whole setup for it is over $400, ridiculous. Thankfully I am able to work with my disability and can afford that, but back when I was on SSI, no way in hell. I guess it's cheaper than all the controllers I have bought in the past trying to find one I really enjoy using.
What I came up with, also using foot controls for WASD. https://i.imgur.com/30F9NUi.jpg
Some general rambling, the Xbox Accessories app needs a major overhaul, it's a mess. Last time I checked Microsoft's support site for the XAC was a bunch of broken links. Also the XAC stopped working shortly after the warranty expired. It has an internal battery the failed. Opening it up and disconnecting/removing that battery got it going again. Couldn't find the battery anywhere for purchase, so it only works hardwired now but that's not really a problem.
I was incredibly sad to see that Sony decided to launch it's own product instead of just allowing the XAC to work natively on their device. While I'm sure Sony's will work for some people, I just don't see how and I'm not interested in buying another device. I'll just stick with PC. It's also weird how Sony has yet to show anyone using it, disabled or not.
Hi Termus, I've worked in a non-profit that dealt with this kind of thing; half of our focus was on people with disabilities. What I like about the XAC is that it has a 3.5mm jack for every button that the XBox controller uses, and the advantage of that is that you can use ANY accessible input that is available under the sun. You didn't have to buy the MS or Logitech accessories for them. I'm wondering why you felt you had to do that?
I agree that Sony's effort is not as good. I feel like it was created for marketing and coolness first.
At the time of launch, Microsoft was the only vendor that had buttons in stock. All the accessibility sites that sold custom ones were sold out. I did buy a mix of loose arcade buttons with the idea to create my own. I gave up on that once I saw the Logitech kit. It's built nicer than what I would have been able to build myself, with way less effort. I've bought one joystick off Etsy to use with my feet. It's custom made with a 3d printed shell, it's nice but it was also $45 for a single input. Ughhhh.
Ah, I see. I'm quite sure we're in different parts of the world and I guess my experience with parts availability was different. Here the problem is more of cost, as I'm sure your experience has shown, these do get expensive very quick, sadly.