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Games Entertainment

Gaming With a Headmouse? 487

Posted by timothy from the kbounce-is-certainly-addictive dept.
seanbhoy writes "Do you have any information on games that can be played by myself? I am disabled from the neck down, and use a headmouse to access the Internet, etc. To get an idea of my disability, I have almost the same injuries that Christopher Reeve had. Can you point me in the direction of similar would-be gamers and computer users? Also do you have any information on games that may work with the headmouse I use?"
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Gaming With a Headmouse? More

Gaming With a Headmouse?

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  • Quality Suggestions? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:16PM (#11740774)
    I am disabled from the neck down...

    You might be disappointed by the quality of the suggestions you get to your question, since most Slashdotters are disabled from the neck up.

  • DUCK HUNT!!!!1 (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:16PM (#11740775)
    Yeah, seriously. Use VirtuNes or the like, and have the zapper set up thru the mouse. I work in a facility with people that have your situation. Using the same setup, I had some of the guys playing Operation Wolf and Lazer Invasion in no time. Good luck!

    • Java Duckhunt (Score:4, Funny)

      by goodgoing ( 810124 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @10:06PM (#11741103) Homepage
      [plug] Java Duckhunt: http://www.goodgoing.org/pages/games/java-duckhunt .html [goodgoing.org] [/plug] :)

    • Re:DUCK HUNT!!!!1 (Score:4, Informative)

      by demachina ( 71715 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @10:28PM (#11741196)
      If you want something mentally challenging chess always works, and backgammon if you want something a little less challenging.

      I use the KDE based knights GUI interface on top of gnuchess. It can also hook you up online with a plethora of chess clubs for online matches.

      Should be no problem for a head mouse since its more thinking than interaction. Chess isn't for everyone though.

      knights source and packages are at:

      knights.sourceforge.net

      Alpha Centauri is the king of turned based strategy games in my book. It does need some keyboard interaction, though being turned based you can take your time making moves. Other problem is the AI's are a little weak once you master the game and of course its Windows based and not free.

    • Yeti Sports (Score:4, Informative)

      by Alien54 ( 180860 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @10:46PM (#11741316) Journal
      at least the early ones, are typical one click two click type games, and moderately addictive

      otherwise, maybe some of the text based adventure games, or even something like the old Trade Wars on Telnet, or webified versions.

      These are meant to be safe suggestions, as I imagine that things that require fancy key combos and timing might be frustrating

      Tradewars 2002 [eisonline.com]

      Official Site [tradewars.com]

      Trade Wars was/is an excellent strategy type game. (old style graphics, tho)

    • Re:DUCK HUNT!!!!1 (Score:5, Informative)

      by dasunt ( 249686 ) on Tuesday February 22, 2005 @01:36AM (#11742111)

      You mentioned virtual NES but I think you are limiting yourself unnecessarily to games that require the lightgun.

      Reading up a bit, a headmouse (4-directional movement) could be combined with a sip/puff stick (two switches). Compare the NES controller: A D-Pad, an A button, and a B button. Most games marginally use the start/select buttons, if at all.

      As long as its possible to map the movement of the headmouse to a button, it seems that any game which requires two buttons and a directional pad would be playable.

      In addition, there is always the MAME project. In addition to many games that are mostly mouse based (the lightgun gams, and trackball/spinner games such as arkanoid, etc), many games use only a joystick and less than two buttons.

      And there is always the old Atari with paddles. Two-way movement (mouse) with one button. Gameboy games as well.

  • I've got to ask (Score:5, Interesting)

    by digitalgimpus ( 468277 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:18PM (#11740783) Homepage
    What is the perfered method of typing for someone with that disorder?

    I'm assuming the postere typed their own question.

    • Re:I've got to ask (Score:5, Interesting)

      by stuffman64 ( 208233 ) <stuffman@[ ]il.com ['gma' in gap]> on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:23PM (#11740827)
      Probably with Dasher". [cam.ac.uk] Definately worth checking out, even if you are not disabled.

    • Re:I've got to ask (Score:5, Funny)

      by gnovos ( 447128 ) <gnovos@ c h i p p e d . net> on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:27PM (#11740855) Homepage Journal
      I'm assuming the postere typed their own question.

      It's ironic that the guy who can't type at all has better typing skills than the guy who can.

      • Not really (Score:5, Insightful)

        by EmbeddedJanitor ( 597831 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @10:48PM (#11741336)
        It's a matter of care. A dyslexic bloke I know generates very coherent documentation, emails etc - especially when compared to his peers. Why? He *knows* he has limitations and checks everything he writes three times. His peers just bang out their emails etc and hit "send" with no editing/spell checking etc, because they are not aware of their imperfections.
    • Well I would assume s/he is using some kind of speech to text engine, anything else would seem to be tedious.

    • Try neverwinter (Score:4, Informative)

      by PepsiProgrammer ( 545828 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:39PM (#11740946)
      If you can press a single key (for pause) pretty reliably, neverwinter should work pretty well as it can be completely mouse controlled. But you will definately want to pause it a good bit if your response time/accuracy is limited. But this will depend on exactly your set up.

      Similarly, if you like this style of rpgs I believe baldur's gate two should work well also, its turn based, and mouse controlled. I think you can also set it to autopause on turns.

  • Try Online Game Sites (Score:5, Informative)

    by robocrop ( 830352 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:18PM (#11740784)
    I don't know much about the headmouse, but I assume it has axis-based control and some form of button input. This seems perfect for many of the games you'll find on sites like Yahoo! games or RealArcade.

    Note that this isn't an endorsement for either site - I don't know what kind of extra junk they install when you install their games, for example - but these type of games meant for the "casual gamer" usually work with minimal input, and the people who play them certainly seem to like them.

  • Can you click? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:18PM (#11740787)
    Do you have a way to click? If you can move your head relatively fast I would imagine that you'd be pretty good at any FPS since you pretty much aim by looking...

    • Re:Can you click? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Golias ( 176380 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @10:41PM (#11741286)
      I have not used one myself, but as I understand it, head mouse selections are made by hovering on the spot you want to select for a second. You configure it to read a pause of a certain length over an active spot to be a "click."

      This means a slower response time, which makes "twitch-based" shooters a bit of a challenge, but then again, for somebody who has as many challenges to overcome as the author of this question, it might not be beyond the bounds of reason.

      Personally, I'm rooting for big advancements in non-invasive brain interaction systems. Many of us are living longer, so the chances of all of us spending part of our lives partially or completely disabled continues to climb. Computer games might offer a great way to push the envelope in this field. Were I a gaming programmer or a biofeedback specialist, I would be awfully tempted to write a grant proposal for a project along these lines, and see if some University wanted to fund it.

  • wait... (Score:4, Funny)

    by gustgr ( 695173 ) <gustgr@gma[ ]com ['il.' in gap]> on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:18PM (#11740788)
    Isn't /. a game?

  • Headmouse (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nbert ( 785663 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:19PM (#11740792) Homepage Journal
    How precise are those btw? As you might have noticed many strategy (turn) based games don't require much speed and accuracy.

    • nethack (Score:3, Informative)

      by hawk ( 1151 )
      Which brings up, of course, nethack--the only computer game that actually *matters*.

      I'd guess that you would want one of the graphical interfaces, but even the text version should be doable with just a little bit of help.

      A text-based game with over twenty years of development behind it . . .

      hawk

  • DDR (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:19PM (#11740793)
    I have no idea what a headmouse is or how it is used, but I'm guessing playing DDR with it on the highest setting will eventually make your head fall off...

  • Headmouse not used like a normal mouse? (Score:4, Informative)

    by notque ( 636838 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:20PM (#11740803) Homepage Journal
    Not to be rude, but doesn't a headmouse work just like a normal mouse?

    And if so, wouldn't games like Civilization be good?

  • Medical School (Score:5, Informative)

    by erick99 ( 743982 ) <homerun@gmail.com> on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:21PM (#11740804)
    Try to find a contact at the School of Medicine at Carnegie/U of P/ in PA. They have some folks there that can help you with this and some other areas as well. I sure hope you find what you need. You can start with

    http://www.medschool.pitt.edu/

    Good luck.

  • Plenty of games... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Audent ( 35893 ) <audent@ilov[ ]scuits.com ['ebi' in gap]> on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:21PM (#11740809) Homepage
    You're going to need something that will work mostly with a keyboard, I take it...

    and you're not going to want a first person shooter - too much need for quick reaction times.

    A turn-based game would do the trick. Start off small and addictive with that evil NetHack (nethack.org) and in ten or twelve years time when you're done work on the Total War series - Medieval and Rome are both bonza games and not necessarily reliant on twitchy relfexes... but start off with Shogun (www.totalwar.com).

    Best of luck. Enjoy.

  • Bio Feedback? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ebbyfish ( 759832 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:21PM (#11740812)
    I don't know if this would work, but you may want to look at http://wilddivine.com/ [wilddivine.com]. It works on Bio feedback (no joystick), maybe they can help you out.

  • Frozen Bubble! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Mr. Jaggers ( 167308 ) <(jaggerz) (at) (gmail.com)> on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:24PM (#11740829)
    I think Frozen Bubble could be modified to be playable with left-right panning and a click type movement. It may already be possible. My wife *loves* that game; it has tetris-like addictivity. The developer is a nice guy too...
  • "funny" posts here. I've already seen some that I would consider cruel and heartless.
    Having a disability is not a funny thing.
    Believe me...

  • Hmm (Score:2)

    by Apreche ( 239272 )
    For games, just about anything that only uses two axes of movement and as many buttons as you have available will work. I especially recommend anything turn based since speed and accuracy wont be a problem. Anything else would probably be an old classic like space invaders, pac-man, etc.

    Besides games, I hope you know about and are using Dasher or something like it for typing.
    http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher /
    • I got as far as "For games, just about anything that only uses two axes" and thought 'why axes -- wouldn't two swords work just as well' followed quickly by 'wouldn't it be easier to control with but a single ax' followed even more quickly by 'continue reading, stupid.'

  • Well (Score:3, Informative)

    by Nine Tenths of The W ( 829559 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:24PM (#11740835)
    If you're looking for hardware this [64.233.183.104] claims to be game compatible and there's an article here [bbc.co.uk] which touches on disabled gaming.
    If software, really you're probably going to be looking at non twitch turn based stuff. As I don't know which genres you're into or what sort of PC you have, I can't really recommend anything.

  • Freelook (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:24PM (#11740837)
    Not sure how helpful this will be, but it appears there's a community of folks with similar interests/needs centered around developer Glen Murphy's Freelook, at:

    http://freelook.org/

    It appears you can join the forum and post questions to a group which will probably have lots of good answers to your questions. By the way, the technology is pretty interesting: it appears to only require a cheap webcam and some sort of target, which can as simple a small white paper patch on the user's cap, or under poor lighting conditions, an LED or small light source.
  • It's not played in real time and most GUI implementations are mouse only. I guess you lose the ability to enter text, but that's really only rarely used for engraving and naming items.

  • Text adventures with Dasher for text input (Score:3, Informative)

    by Teppy ( 105859 ) * on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:26PM (#11740846) Homepage
    There are hundreds of beautifully crafted text adventures [ifarchive.org] these days, and Dasher [cam.ac.uk] is a text input system that addresses your exact condition [cam.ac.uk]. Basically, letters fly by and you "steer" the pointer to each letter's region. The genius here is that Dasher learns the things that you tend to input a lot, and makes those regions take up a large convenient part of the entry area, while pushing unusual sequences to the margins.
  • What limitations do you have as to speed and accuracy and your range of motion? Do you have the ability to click? If so how many buttons can you similate? 1, 2, or 3 button mouse? What is comfortable for you? Do you have use of the keyboard at all?

  • Try asking the guys at PDXLAN.com (Score:3, Informative)

    by Teh Anonymous Coward ( 809263 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:27PM (#11740857)
    Over the past year, PDXLAN has had a few gamers show up to their event using a headmouse (or some form of a headmouse) and play many of the games played at that event.

    I've seen Counter-Strike work :)

    You may try asking a question on their site forums [pdxlan.com]. Chances are they'll have a good answer for you, or know how to contact the people that do use headmice.

    Best of luck :D

  • Voice command gaming? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ylikone ( 589264 )
    I wonder how well voice command gaming would work? See here [gamecommander.com] for one example.
  • I tend to think that card games came to the PC primarily because they are easier with a mouse than trying to work with a real deck of cards.

    There's an awful lot of places you can play against the computer, and if you are fast enough moving the cards around with the headmouse you could compete against other players on the internet. (I'd mention the MSN Gaming Zone [msn.com] except that this is Slashdot, and I'd be lynched)

  • A Few Thoughts (Score:5, Informative)

    by garwil ( 841790 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:32PM (#11740902) Homepage Journal
    **Disclaimer: I've not researched this at all, consider this post merely a brainfart!**

    You did not say what hardware/software you are using so I don't know if this is any use but if you're running Windows (and I assume that your hardware just emulates a standard mouse anyway), here's a few ideas.

    Most RTS games can be played mouse only so you should be OK with anything Command-And-Conquer-esque. I'm not sure how quickly/accurately you can move a cursor but you can adjust the speed of most RTS games to suit. Turn-based strategy games would be good too, and you can play both types online.

    There are loads of online games (cards/board games etc.) which you only need a mouse to play. If you have an onscreen keyboard you will be able to chat as well.

    Most FPS games will likely be out of the question as you generally require a keyboard AND mouse to play. Having said that, the original Doom/Wolfenstein games can be played without a keyboard.

    Also, try to find out if there's a disabled gamers group either online or near you. I would imagine there must be SOMEONE out there in a similar situation to you, so maybe they can be more helpful than me!

    Good luck!

  • Poker? (Score:3, Informative)

    by SpamapS ( 70953 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:32PM (#11740905) Homepage
    Its a truly challenging game, and it can be played online for fun. A mouse is all thats needed, and the ability to pay close attention to what people do. :)

    I like www.pokerroom.com, as its java based and the action in the "play money" area is actually pretty good. Don't get sucked in to putting your cash online though. Too many bots and cheaters. ;)
  • Games like maniac mansion, day of the tentacle, escape from monkey island. They don't have any quick-reflex types of interaction with the game, but do require a mouse. They are very story oriented though, and the mouse is used in a "point on the word to complete the sentence" type of interface. An example is a classic, clicking on "use", then selecting the "hamster" icon, then selecting the microwave from the picture window.

    Anyway, if you're already using a head mouse, that seems to be completely within
    • In a similar vain - I would suggest something from the Broken Sword [brokensword3.net] series. (sorry for the crap website link - but Wikipedia is down at the moment).

      Simple point-and-click game like above suggestions - and I found them fun enough. They also make you think a bit - but aren't as annoyingly tricky as other similar games (IMO).

  • Popcap games (Score:3, Informative)

    by mboverload ( 657893 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:36PM (#11740930) Journal
    I REALLY suggest the games from PopCap (http://www.popcap.com/ [popcap.com]). They are all controlled by mouse clicks and if you make the games fullscreen I think it would be very easy for you to control.

    Astropop and Bejeweled 2 are the most worthwhile 40 bucks I have EVER spent on games (each is 20 dollars, but you can also get a free trial version or play online for free).

    • I second that. Even though they seem dumb to a lot of people Bejeweled and Bejewled 2 are some of the best and most addicting games ever. Yes it is a good $20 to spend.

  • How about mind games? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by GillBates0 ( 664202 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:41PM (#11740958) Homepage Journal
    Not recommending psychedelic drugs or anything of that nature here, but:

    Your mind is a greater computer than we can ever create with our current technology. It is also capable of far higher planes of entertainment than we are used to.

    Being restricted in your body movement does not restrict you from exploring the depths of your mind. You could try playing these "MindGames (TM)" by yourself. What I'm referring to is exploring "higher planes of consciousness", as Eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, etc) call it, and "trips", as druggies (no offence intended) call it.

    These elevated states of consciousness are achievable through meditation and trancendental techniques (lots of Google results when I looked) and to a certain extent (with obvious side effects) through psychotropic drugs. In my experience, these techniques really result in peace and tranquility, at the very least ..... and what's more, you don't need anything more than your mind to play them.

    Just wanted to offer an out of the box suggestion which I thought might help....Good luck.

  • Nethack [nethack.org] can be played by the blind, so you might be able to find a way to play it also. The problem is that it is very annoying to play without being able to use a keyboard, so I'm not sure it would be worth it unless you can type at a reasonable rate. If so then you are in luck since it is the best game of all.
  • How quickly can you click with a headmouse, and is right clicking as easy as left clicking? Diablo 1 or Diablo 2 may be possibilities, assuming that fairly rapid clicking is not a problem. Diablo 1 has a bit of a slower pace, and with both games you can access just about everything, including the main menu and inventory, using only the mouse.
  • It really depends on what kinds of games you like, of course, but if you like classic point-and-click adventures, I'd really recommend getting ScummVM [scummvm.org] and some of those old LucasArts classics (you can get those for cheap on eBay, for example). I've got to admit I have no idea how a headmouse works, but if it's anything like a regular mouse in terms of flexibility and immediate control over cursor movement, I think you'll find those very playable. ^^

  • Have you tried a good text-based game? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Keebler71 ( 520908 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @09:51PM (#11741034) Journal
    I would highly recommend some all-text adventure games. I have extremely fond memories of the Zork series, Planetfall and the like. They do not require fast reflexes but are still challenging, fun and addictive. Most of the common commands can be abbreviated to a single letter ("n" for "north", "i" for "inventory", "l" for "look" etc...) and I imagine that your user-interface is tuned for text anyway. Oh, and the games can be downloaded for free [infocom-if.org] from infocom's site. And of course, full solutions abound on the net should you get stuck. Enjoy!

  • I prefer head games with a traditional mouse.

  • Starcraft is PERFECT for your situation. Only requires a mouse, it will take a lot of getting used to, especially only using your head, but man, starcraft is THE RTS of ALL TIME! Any other rts would do you as well, but i have found, although this is just my undisabled findings, i can still play starcraft nearly 10 years after its been first released and still get the same rush from it. Its fun. Your disabled. You have a reason to play this game 24/7. Dont miss out on the opportunity of a LIFETIME.
  • I have no idea how the "headmouse" works.. but I imagine games like nethack and liquidwars should work fine..

    Depending on how the mouse works then games like neverwinternights that are realtime/with the option to pause and issue commands should be playable as well...
  • DISCLAIMER: I work for Sports Mogul.

    If you like sports, there are a number of managment-style games out there that are mostly mouse driven and don't require quick reflexes.

    The games that my company puts out are used by the blind due to our taking care with the interface to keep it accessable. You should find them easy to navigate.

    You can download demos from out products here: http://www.sportsmogul.com/

    Do a Google for "sports simulation" to bring up a whole list of other companies.

    If you hate sports

  • Ideas... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Cytlid ( 95255 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @10:08PM (#11741112)
    Let me just start out by saying, this is one of those posts that makes you step back and realize there's a niche that needs to be filled, that falls outside of one's own personal paradigm. I felt so dumb, not even knowing what a headmouse was.

    With much thanks to the person who posted an example of a headmouse, from a tech perspective, I can think of it sort of like a touchpad or normal mouse (aka, movement of a cursor and possible right/left click). The website said it had a common USB interface... the machine must see it as a normal mouse.

    Which brings me to my suggestion. One of my favorite games on the Amiga was some "walker" something or other... you actually had to control it with two controllers. One joystick controlled the walking machine, the other the cursor on the screen, a shooting type of targeter. What made this game so fun to play wasn't the fact that you needed two joysticks (and literally two hands) to play, but the fact that you could play it with someone else, simultaneously!

    In other words, you controlled this StarWars 2 legged at-at thing, and one guy got to let it move and the other controlled it's gun/targeter/whatever.

    Is the option to play with someone else available? It could be interesting! Play a FPS where you control the mouse and someone else controls the keyboard... a new level of gameplay, and the best part... you don't have to even modify exsisting games.

    I'm not trying to be cruel or anything but I remember having a great time with that old Amiga "walker" game (if someone can remember the real name, I'd appreciate it). I actually remember having to use a D-pad style joystick in my left hand then a "stick" style joystick under my right leg, to control the game. It was actually easier (and more fun) to play with two people!

    To sum up a long and boring post: just because most modern games are designed with one person, or two people "competing" doesn't mean you can't have a good time using the game in a non-traditional cooperative mode. I've always personally enjoyed cooperative games more than competitive. (But that's just me.)

  • Here's a good list... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Moryath ( 553296 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @10:11PM (#11741124)
    I'm assuming heavily mouse-based titles will be your games of choice, and probably not twitch-based ones. Therefore, most online multiplayer games (unless they're turn-based) will be right out.

    That being said:
    Activision's Total War series
    Any game of the Civilization series

    If someone codes a set of keypresses for you, games on emulated systems (Final Fantasy titles on NES/SNES/PSX for instance, or turn-based games on a GBA emulator like Advance Wars) would likely be doable.

    Some of the older MAME titles - not fighting titles like Soul Calibur, but scrollers like R-Type - could be mapped to your headmouse incredibly easily.

    You might be able to convince someone to code you a custom interface to use EQ, WoW, or FFXI if you're interested in them; most of the hotkeys are fairly straightforward and could be bound to a wheel-type mouse interface pretty easily.

    Steer clear of FPS play, as you'd need (at least) fingers capable of WASD to do them.

    If all else fails, there's always games like Go, Chess, and the like to be played out on Yahoo Games or elsewhere. Yeah, they're somewhat old school, but it's always possible to find a game.

    Oh, and I did mention a lot of "someone would have to code up the interface", but for most of them it's just remapping joystick axes/hotkeys to certain mouse movements.

    Happy gaming!

  • I have a headmouse: Here's the lowdown. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 21, 2005 @10:12PM (#11741131)
    I use a headmouse sometimes to reduce hand-strain. (I can't even use a mouse with my main writing hand anymore, because of the unbearable pain.) My headmouse is one of the Naturalpoint models (http://www.naturalpoint.com/). Their TrackIR product is designed with gamers in mind. They list a number of games that work well with the headmouse on their website. Also, they have forums (http://forums.naturalpoint.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb .cgi) where you can find a lot of discussion of headmouse gaming.

    I find that some games work better than others. I like using it for strategy games, for example. It's not so good for games like Star Wars Galaxies, where you have to push the mouse left and *leave* it there, to turn left. With a headmouse, this results in you tipping further and further left, until you can't go any further (or turning your avatar back right, if you want to straighten your head back up). D'oh! With pretty much all games, you will probably have to recenter it frequently, regardless of how well they get along with the headmouse.

    Another thing that complements a headmouse is the wonderful Shoot program (http://clans.gameclubcentral.com/shoot/). It's a free voice recognition program intended for use with games. Because it's intended for use with a very small vocabulary, the performance is vastly superior to what you'd get from Dragon, and the overhead is much smaller, to boot. It's designed so you can assemble different profiles for all of your favorite games, and it works surprisingly well.

    The last thing I recommend is to keep an eye on the Game Accessibility SIG (http://www.igda.org/accessibility/) of the IGDA. They're dedicated to spreading awareness of accessibility needs in mainstream games and sharing methods for making accessibility easy.

    Good luck!
  • Mainly good for flight sims. You will need someone likely to help you configure it: http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/ [naturalpoint.com]

  • Resources for accessible games (Score:3, Informative)

    by MalachiConstant ( 553800 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @10:24PM (#11741182)
    After a little googling I found this site.

    Switch Gaming [oneswitch.org.uk]: They sell hardware and have game reviews for PC, console, and emulated classics. Sounds like just what you're looking for.

  • Visually pleasing breakout game from Reflexive Entertainment [reflexive.net]. They have a community of level makers so it's nearly infinite gameplay as far as your natural interest is concerned.

    Alien Sky from Kraisoft [kraisoft.com]. Awesome Galaga remix.

    The last suggestion is Swarm from Reflexive Entertainment, again. The only reservation that I have with Swarm is that there are very fine sudden movements required of a much different kind than the first two suggestions. Try it.

  • RPG and Turn-Based Strategy Games (Score:3, Informative)

    by The_Dougster ( 308194 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @10:49PM (#11741342) Homepage
    Games like Baldurs Gate I&II, Icewind Dale I&II, Fallout 1&2, Planescape Torment. There isn't a whole lot of typing required other than entering your character(s) names. AFAIK you can play these games entirely with a mouse and there is a lot of content here, this is maybe a year or two worth of gaming if you played each of these through a couple times.

    Look into Jagged Alliance 2 also, another turn based combat game. I don't think you need to really use the keyboard for anything except entering the initial activation code for your IMP merc, and that game is loads of fun.

    The Fallout and Jagged Alliance 2 combat engines would be well suited because they are totally turn based by nature. However, by setting auto-pause on the BG/IWD games you can get the same effect. I suppose I should mention Fallout Tactics also which can be played in turn based mode just like Fallout1&2.

    You could probably also play Neverwinter Nights just with a mouse, although playing online is 90% of the fun, and it would be hard to type/chat with other players with just a mouse. If you could manage to let them know its hard for you to type you could probably get in with some adventurers who would work with you.

    I'm not even mentioning trivial games like card games, etc, because I tend to like action oriented games with guns, lasers, magic, etc, but I play a lot of turn based strategy games (most of them listed above) because I like the somewhat slower pace and how they give you time to think before each move.

    My wife suggests a bunch of Flash games like on shockwave.com or gameblast.com. and from the amount of time she spends playing them I suppose that is the other side of the gaming coin. You'd have to be pretty good with your mouse to play some of these, because they are click fests, but OTOH the only controls are the mouse.

    Other turn based games are Civilization, Heroes of Might and Magic, Alpha Centauri, X-Com UFO Defense. Some of the older ones like X-Com run great using DOSBox and its not too hard to set up a shortcut or something to get them started.

    I'd recommend setting up a way to at least invoke the [Esc] key with your head mouse so if you get stuck in a text entry box you can try and exit from it. I'm not sure what their capabilities are, but you need a couple keystrokes mapped like for Quicksave/Quickload, Enter, Esc, stuff like that.

    Good luck and happy gaming!

  • Also... puzzles (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Vireo ( 190514 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @10:56PM (#11741393)
    Obviously puzzles are often mouse-only and do not require fast reaction times. I guess there are plenty of Myst-type games; I dont remember very well, but aren't most the old LucasArt games (Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Sam and Max, Grim Fandango) mouse-only?

    For starters, maybe you could try the online classics at FASCO-CS [fasco-csc.com]: Crimson Room and Viridian Room. Maybe you could manage puzzles like Hapland [foon.co.uk] too.

  • Notes from Another Headmouse User (Score:5, Informative)

    by Wintermute2_0 ( 166842 ) on Monday February 21, 2005 @11:02PM (#11741428) Homepage
    I've been skimming this thread and I didn't see many replies from other users with disabilities. I also use a type of headmouse [prentrom.com] because of a neuromuscular disability. I've had this type of setup since I was 16 (I'm 31 now and work as an attorney). I've always been a gamer and I tend to gravitate towards games that don't require twitch reflexes. I'm a big RPG fan and most of these are mouse-driven. Check out some of the classics like Baldur's Gate [bioware.com] or Planescape. Planescape is especially brilliant. A more recent game I really enjoyed was Freedom Force [freedomfans.com], a rpg/strategy game that is also mouse-driven. Does your headmouse allow you to hook up separate switches for the left and right mouse buttons? These switches [prentrom.com] work really well if you have limited movement.

    If you do play games that require a few keyboard commands, check out Game Commander [gamecommander.com]. It allows you to program voice commands for games. It has a pretty customizable interface and you can even program macros.

    If you have an on-screen keyboard, you can always go old-skool with text adventures from Infocom.

    Stop by my blog [the19thfloor.net] if you have other questions. I've seen other disability-related questions posted on /. and the quality of the responses tends to run the gamut from troll to somewhat helpful. I hope other users with disabilities will see this and offer more ideas.

  • I'll try my best to help (Score:5, Interesting)

    by 3770 ( 560838 ) on Tuesday February 22, 2005 @12:12AM (#11741749) Homepage
    I didn't know what a head mouse was so I did a little research:
    HeadMouse® Extreme replaces a standard computer mouse for people who cannot use their hands. It operates from the top of a computer monitor, laptop computer, or augmentative communication device, and measures the user's head movements. The wireless sensing technology employs infrared light to track a small disposable target that is placed on the user's forehead or glasses. HeadMouse Extreme provides a wide field-of-view and superior precision, supporting even graphics-intensive applications like drawing and computer aided design.


    When used with mouse button software, such as Origin Instruments' Dragger(TM), mouse clicks are performed by positioning the pointer and dwelling for a selectable period of time. Alternately, selections can be performed using an adaptive switch, such as the Origin Instruments Sip/Puff Switch, or even through use of speech recognition software. HeadMouse Extreme also comes with a built-in infrared receiver that provides optional

    Text copied from here [orin.com]

    It does seem rather powerful, especially if it can be combined with voice recognition. Although voice recognition isn't perfect it could certainly be good enough to mimic the button pushes we make when playing a game.

    It probably won't be as fast though. So you probably want a game that isn't twitch based. Lets review the categories.

    1) MMORPG. Although this isn't twitch based I'm reluctant to recommend it. I don't mean to be insensitive, but I believe that you will meet a lot of insensitive impatient people who will only hurt your self esteem. I don't know the average age of an MMORPG player. All I know is that many act like 12 year olds. Maybe if you find trade skilling rewarding. You could be a very good trade skiller, I'm sure. In fact, if you enjoy trade skilling then you can build your character to the highest levels and people want to do business with you. This category is different than the two below, because there is social interatction here. And if you want more of that, then this might be your choice.

    2) Turn based strategy. Civilisation... Oh the memories... I'd really have to recommend this genre. This is one of my all time game genres. And you can play it at any speed you like. You invest a lot of time in the strategy and you can ask a unit to do something which will take many turns. This means that later in the game it will do tons of stuff, that is really interesting to you, the player, but you won't actually be doing much pointing and clicking. Whatever else games you play, you should try to do this too. It is just too much fun to not do. To round it up, whether you win this or not _only_ depends on your thinking. Nothing else. You will be as good a player as a non handicapped person. It might take longer. But what the hey.

    3) Real time strategy. This is another one of my favorite genres. Although this really can be as much twitching as a first person shooter, you can normally set the speed to anything you like. You might find that this really gets your adrenalin pump going. I know it does for me.

    4) First person shooters. This might not work when you play with a random person from the Internet. But you could get a group going with the same type of problem as you. All that matters is that everyone is about similarly fast. This could be a lot of fun, _and_ it could also be super rewarding if you can organize and build a community and make friends. I currently play an MMORPG right now, and the part that is the most rewarding for me is to organize events and try to help people have fun. The game itself is secondary. You might want to look at games such as Ghost Recon which is more "suspense" and "one shot one kill" rather than the Quake "circle/strafe" "rocket jump" game play.

    5) Someone else mentioned Myst. Myst and other puzzle games might be good for you. It isn't for me, but many like it. Maybe you are one of them.

    And finally, good luck finding the game that is for you. I love it when I have a new game.

  • Here are some games (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Kentsusai ( 837912 ) <kentsusai.gmail@com> on Tuesday February 22, 2005 @04:36AM (#11742671)
    Got a friend in a similar situation.

    Here are some games
    * LOTS of RPGs - (good ones that are involving http://www.agdinteractive.com/)
    * Chess, shogi, other board games
    * card games
    * Plenty of net games available (like bejeweled)
    * some arcade plane fighting games like galactica, Raiden I & II & II, starfox
    * puzzle games like boulderdash, rockford

    Also recommend installing software that allows you to "turbo-fire" your mouse. That way you can play games where you have click very fast! On top of that we installed stuff like sticky mouse buttons.

    He can play old school games like DOOM and DOOM II, Wolf3D. Forward, backward, left, right, strafe button, fire, swap weapon. That's all he uses. You can do this with some new FPS (but your game play will be pretty limited)

    We also installed a media player for him! Keeps him entertained.

    Check out www.liberatedgames.com. They have a fair few commerical games which have been released to the public for free.
    My favourites on that site which I think you will like include
    Flight of the Amazon Queen (http://www.liberatedgames.com/game.php?game_id=31 )
    Civ 2 (http://www.liberatedgames.com/game.php?game_id=50 ) [BTW check out FreeCiv and Wesnoth! TWO GOOD STRATEGY GAMES YOU CAN PLAY WITH JUST A MOUSE! Wesnoth has a great story line! Well developed game! Online gameplay!]
    Beneath a Steel Sky (http://www.liberatedgames.com/game.php?game_id=30 )
    Treasure Island Dizzy (http://www.liberatedgames.com/game.php?game_id=81 ) [This one is a platformer, but if you get the hang of your headmouse you can play this without a prob! My friend does :-] )

  • RPGs (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Khelder ( 34398 ) on Tuesday February 22, 2005 @10:06AM (#11743901)
    A lot of RPGs are real-time, which I think would probably make them pretty tough, but not all are.

    My all-time second favorite RPG, Fallout, by default goes into turns when you enter combat. Other times it's real-time, but I don't think that should be a problem. It's also heavily mouse-based (and maybe can be played using only the mouse--it's been a while so I don't remember). Its successor, Fallout 2, is also a very worthy game and uses the same interface.

    My #1 all-time favorite RPG is Planescape: Torment. The NPC interaction and storyline are better than anything else I've seen before or since. I think it's always real-time, but pausable at will with the space bar.

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