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.

Rant - Diablo 3: Now with Rainbows

Written by Steve Spohn

Published on 21 July 2008

June was a triumphant month from the world of Diablo; fans across the world were delighted to hear of the upcoming third installment in the Diablo series. Rumors swelled across the Internet for days before the announcement, we were captivated by the splash images that kept us guessing until the unveiling of Diablo 3: and the earth shall tremble.

The great thing about the internet is that there is no shortage of people who want to complain about absolutely everything, after months, even years of anticipation awaiting the day when their new game will finally be released, some Diablo fans are not pleased. In this Diablo three petition, fans have decreed that the new art from the game is too "cartoony." Among the many complaints about the game that the petition alleges:

Cartoon'ish and unrealistic weaponry and armory, over-sized and stylish armors, over-sized weapons, items that look pasted directly from World of Warcraft.
Blocky, cartoon'ish graphic elements like big, over-sized fire braziers in dungeons, heavily influenced by the World of Warcraft art style, over-sized and cartoon'ish scenario decorations like smiling statues, Warcraft styled architecture and decorations.

The petition goes on to mention World of Warcraft and/or cartoonish several times, however, the one thing the Blizzard entertainment has learned from their experiences in making video games is that people like eye-candy. In the press release from Paris Blizzard entertainment stated that the series has and will continue to have a "Gothic feel", yet at the same time they have a game that has over 10 million subscribers monthly, why would they do not tap into the graphics that are obviously popular?

I am not condoning a lightning of Diablo 3, but if people like looking at swords that are colorful and armor that is a big and flashy, then what is the problem? In an article over at kotaku.com, which makes fun of the fact that there is a Diablo 3 petition, the writer insinuates that rainbows are the problem, I agree we need more rainbows in online video games.

Let's assume for a moment the blizzard decides that these people are right and they need to go back to the drawing board, that means at best Diablo 3 will take another two years on top of however much time there is left until it comes out.

I suggest we make a new petition called "we want rainbows" in which we tell Blizzard, more importantly the negative fans, that we would rather that they put their efforts on getting the video game to us with as little bugs as possible, as opposed to redoing the entire game and this time making sure there are none of those pesky rainbows!

Do you have a rant? Share it with the rest of the world. Send your rant to ioo -@- ablegamers.com with the subject "RANT!" If we like it will will post it. Please make sure you include your name, a valid email and if the rant is time dependent, please note it for us...