No Barriers to Fun!

We met our friend Giddeon at the AbleGamers Accessibility Arcade in Atlantic City, New Jersey. When he first sat down with the AbleGamers crew, Giddeon didn't want to play any games. He told us that with his disability gaming was difficult. Giddeon has a rare disease that caused the growth of his arms .. Read More
A Window to the World

Shepherd University invited the AbleGamers Foundation to come on campus and do one of our Accessibility Arcades for the students and local disabled community. The event was a roaring success with hundreds of children and adults coming out to see the technology and in some cases experience gaming the first time. Read More

About the AbleGamers Foundation

Since 2004, the AbleGamers Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity, has served more than 56 million members of the disabled community by advocating greater access in video games. Today, AbleGamers is a leader in the development of equipment, programs and services to those living with disabilities, hardships, and quality-of-life issues that are a result of chronic illness or trauma. It is our goal to ensure that all people, regardless of their disability, can use gaming as a tool to have enriched social experiences with friends, family, and the world at large.

Blizzard ramps up its new MMO, Midway goes bankrupt, and Amazon is in hot water!

Written by Steve Spohn

Published on 12 February 2009

Today around the Internet, World of Warcraft loses a lead developer, Midway files for Chapter 11 protection, and Popcap entertainment pulls its games from Amazon.com; this and more in AbleGamers news.

Blizzard

On the World of Warcraft forums Tigole aka Jeff Kaplan announces he is leaving WoW to work on the still unannounced new MMO from Blizzard entertainment. Mr. Kaplan has been responsible for many of the recent changes to WoW and served as Game Director for the latest expansion Wrath of the Lich King.

The implications of Tigole joining the new MMO are not entirely understood. However, you don't have to be an industry insider to recognize a lead developer being moved to a new project. Hopefully, we will learn more about the unannounced MMO in the coming months.

Midway

Midway, one of the gaming industry's leading juggernauts, publisher of unreal tournament 3 and creators of Mortal Kombat versus DC, files for Chapter 11 protection while reorganizing. The company's cites a "difficult but necessary decision" in order to relieve the pressure of having to pay their creditors.

The press release goes on to say that, Midway intends to look forward and successfully reorganize. Midway's European affiliates will not be affected by today's Chapter 11 decision. For more information on Midway, please visit www.Midway.com.

Amazon

The casual gaming industry had its annual meeting in Hamburg this week to discuss various industry issues. Casual Connect had a particularly hot issue to discuss involving Amazon selling casual games for $9.99. The general industry standard for so-called casual games is $19.99.

Amazon has recently started selling casual games for $9.99, which some developers find irresponsible and inappropriate. Two such distributors, Popcap and Iwin, have pulled their games from Amazon. Sandlot Games chief executive Daniel Bernstein says, "Once the price is down, it stays."

Venture beat did an excellent write up outlining the finer points of the casual gaming industries argument. The industry is extremely worried that once the price of an older game dips below