The LauraKBuzz Podcast

With the announcement of Project Leonardo, all three major console manufacturers now support official accessibility controlers. But, how does this new contender stack up?

The video game industry is always improving in terms of accessibility, but those improvements need to eventually become standards that disabled players can reliably count on.

2022 is nearing a close, so it's time for me to talk about accessibility wins, and some losses, from the past year.

In the past 2.5 years, Accessibility has progressed leaps and bounds in the video game industry. Let's take a moment to let that progress sink in.

Accessibility settings options seen in The Quarry are missing from the latest Dark Pictures release, a situation that hopefully will resolve before season 2's debut.

Introducing even more ways for more people to play Street Fighter, at least for local play.

Removing audio and visual cues is an accessibility downgrade to appease a vocal gatekeeping minority.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are three steps forward, one step back. An ambitious step in the right direction, that disregards aspects of Legends Arceus, and feels constrained by the base Switch hardware.

Some neat new accessibility features, with a few audio visual cues needlessly removed.

A few months post release, let's look at one of the first Non-Sony AAA games to attempt High Contrast Mode implementation.

Right up there with the best of our industry, Ragnarok has some small misteps, but represents a huge step forward for the series.

No matter how accessible your software is, PC offers tools simply not offered on console.

This indie game demo demonstrates how Audio Descriptions SHOULD function in video games.

Building off the groundwork laid by Street fighter 5, to help sightless blind fighters compete.

Return to Monkey Island does a lot right in terms of Accessibility, perhaps most notably with subtitle sizing options.

Video Game Emulation Is Accessibility - Access-Ability by LauraKBuzz

Another small insight into God of War: Ragnarok's accessibility settings offering.

Laura Kate Dale and Steve Saylor discuss the accessibility settings found in The Last of Us: Part 1 on PS5, as well as the wider state of accessibility in the industry today.

One of the industry's best examples, but with a lot of room still to improve and innovate going forward.

What almost was, and some day might be, discussed by the man himself.

An accessibility controller targeting a different area of the disabled gamer space.

More portable games need to support High Contrast Mode.

Everything in there is great, it's the one thing not there that's dissapointing.

Another step forward in accessibility for The Last of Us as a series.

t was too hot to be on camera, so you get cartoon Laura and small bites of news this week.

Robust accessibility features, plus a mode that plays itself.

Resident Evil: Village and The Last of Us might be locking accessibility settings behind a paywall. That's a worrying sign.

After several months of waiting, I'm quite impressed with this accessability focused update.

Making Street Fighter more like Super Smash Bros, and it works!

Progress is happening within an inacessible genre.

More The Last of Us 2, less Gran Turismo 7.

A wonderfully accessible Side Scrolling Roguelike.

A promising concept we hope works well in practice.

After some time to sink in the track, my thoughts on MCR's first piece of new music in nearly a decade.

Disabilities can come, go, and change in the support needs they require.

I am seeing My Chemical Romance in concert next week. I have autism Infodumping I need to do excitedly about this.

We're still taking baby steps forward.

More than 20 years later, this game is being made more accessible to more players.

Should older games come into the modern accessibility age?

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the latest game to lie to you for your own comfort while gaming.

It's technically an easier mode, but not what people had hoped for.

Great in theory, but lacking in practice.

A device that makes accessibility somebody elses problem to fix.

A predictably unwelcoming experience

A step forward for the series, but not Sony's best accessibility offering quality.

Finally, you can save before a shiny and walk away without fear.

When making games addictive and moreish without limitation is the goal, disabled gamers suffer.

A cause of chronic pain and muscle weakness that will impact a lot of us eventually.

A year defined by companies sticking to their existing stances.

While not intentional, one of Forza Horizon 5's design choices can result in unintended deadnaming of trans players.