Hello,

I'm a long-time gamer with spinal muscular atrophy. I'm trying to to figure out if there's a way I can play first-person shooters like Bioshock and Half-Life 2.

Let me briefly describe my current set-up. I use a device called a HeadMaster to move the mouse with my head. I use two piezoelectric switches (P-switches) to left-click and right-click; one under my thumb and the other just above my ear. Along with an on-screen keyboard, this is how I do all my gaming.

I've already figured out most shooters will let you use the left mouse button to move forward. With the mouse sensitivity turned up all the way, I've discovered I can move around pretty well.

Here's my idea :I'll buy a bluetooth headset and use that to issue vocal commands like "jump", "use", "switch weapon" and the like. I have an old copy of Game Commander, but I could also try Say2Play.

Would this work? Could I also play Fallout 3 using this method? Other ideas? Let me know what you think.

Mark

I know Say2Play is a good product, but I would not get a bluetooth headset. Get a wired one of good quality, the bluetooths are a PAIN to keep charges and the mic is not great for S2P. I use a logitect G35 and love it.

There is also a free alternative called Shoot at:
clans.gameclubcentral.com/shoot/

Also, a combination of Dragon NaturallySpeaking or Windows speech recognition plus vocola could work.

You might also give the NIA a try. I haven't used it much, but I had success with it playing Portal. (I also have spinal muscular atrophy and have a similar setup as you, except I use the SmartNav for head tracking)

As a quick follow-up, can anyone recommend a good one-ear USB headset? I don't want something that covers both ears because I find that too bulky.

I would recommend taking a look at emicrophones and/or KnowBrainer as they both have quality microphones for speech recognition.