The LauraKBuzz Podcast

We're back from GA Conf, and we sure have some games to discuss. 00:00 - Intro 02:14 - Oblivion 10:40 - Laura tried the Switch 2 13:09 - Donkey Kong Bannanza 14:35 - Mario Kart World 16:20 - Drag X Drive 28:50 - Metro Prime 4 33:42 - Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 37:15 - 1000xRESIST 40:00 - PS5 audio boosts including voice boost 42:31 - Steam A11Y tags 52:00 - Microsoft increase price of XBOX but not Adaptive controller 52:48 - Godot 4.5 improves accessibility support 54:42 - Days Gone Remastered accessibility features detailed 58:41 - World of Warcraft introduces Rotation Assist with Single-Button Assistant 1:01:44 - Where to find us

Expecting professionals to deliberately subject themselves to illness triggering material in order to protect others down the line from those same harms is not sustainable. We need to take seriously the fight to reduce risks before playtesting with illness impacted players.

Spider-Man PS4 demonstrated in 2020 that PlayStation can backport accessibility settings for free into older versions of titles. Their approach in the years since has placed accessibility upgrades behind a paywall.

A pretty promising selection of features available on first boot of the zombie hoard combat adventure game.

A huge step toward standardisation of an important feature industry wide, but that annoyingly misses the mark on doing so in the most industry standardised way.

This new set of audio boost features on PS5 is a game changer, both for those with hearing loss and for autistic gamers.

I spent four hours this past weekend going hands on with the Switch 2 in London. It certainly feels like a premium step up for the hardware, but it's the specifics that stuck with me in the days that followed.

An open and honest discussion about the fact I'm probably not going to be reviewing Xbox games for a while, and why that's tricky to do when accessibility coverage is my job.

This past week, two more games crossed my radar, where tonal subtext for dialogue subtitles are made explicit, as accessibility.

Affordably priced, perhaps to a fault, this new accessibility peripheral undeniably improves the state of accessibility on Xbox, while sacrificing features in the pursuit of price reduction.

After four and a half years of making videos advocating for this, a big budget developer finally implemented emotional tone tags in their game!

In a huge step forward for video game accessibility tag standardisation multiple publishers are joining forces to help create standardised accessibility tags.

Not without its limitations and drawbacks, but a very promising website worth keeping an eye on going forward as a potentially useful tool.

A rapid fire exploration of ways video game developers could actively target making their games more accessible for Autistic players.

Could not have predicted I'd have this many positive thoughts to share about accessibility in a From Software title, but here we are.

Speedrunning video games is great as an outside viewer, but even more fun as a player. Learn how you can get into speedrunning, in ways that accomodate gaming with a disability.

A small design tweak, but with the potential to allow accessible play while on the road.

Did yesterday's reveal hint at a possible solution for avoiding mandatory motion controls in Nintendo's next gen titles?

The Byowave Proteus Controller is finally available to purchase. After several months, a second dongle, and use in a split handed setup, I finally have more formalised thoughts on this expensive but versatile accessibility controller.

If nothing else, making sure you correct for colour blindness rather than recreate it is vital for games looking to be more accessible.

It's the end of the year. Here's the 18 games from the last 12 months I thought were most interesting. Only a small handful of them are games I have to disclose a conflict of intrest for, which I think is a pretty decent ratio honestly. 00:00 - Intro 01:30 - Indika 04:40 - Another Crab's Treasure 06:51 - Hellblade 2 09:11 - Shadow of the Erdtree 10:49 - Ode to Castlevania 13:42 - Thank Goodness You're Here 14:40 - Balatro 16:18 - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown 18:35 - Pacific Drive 20:43 - Mouthwashing 23:43 - UFO 50 25:50 - Echoes of Wisdom 28:44 - Astro Bot 30:43 - Life is Strange: Double Exposure 33:50 - Dragon Age: The Veilguard 37:22 - Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth 39:18 - Metaphor Re:Fantazio 42:13 - Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth 45:47 - The Sujimon Rap

Another year is over. Let's rattle through all the most important video game accessibility updates of the past 12 months.

A bit of insight into what I do for work, when not making videos on the internet.

Sometimes, fluctuating disabilities mean you have to pivot plans, and that's okay x 00:00 – Intro 03:52 – Arevya played Super Market Simulator, Botany Manor 05:30 – Steven Spohn and Mark Barlet are leaving AbleGamers 08:40 – FDG 2025 will have the theme "Accessible Worlds, United Through Play" 10:35 – Laura and Arevya have consulted on Sorry, We're Closed 12:05 – Arevya consulted on Life Below 14:43 – Lauras take on the PS5 PRO 19:15 – Laura has played Mario & Luigi Brothership, Super Mario Party Jamboree, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and LEGO Horizon Adventures 36:25 – Where to find us

Let's try something new for the first time...

I am obviously biased about this game, but I still wanted to show off what the accessibility settings are.

This is very much not a review, because conflict of interest, but I still wanted to show off what settings are here and how they work.

Bloober, you surprised me, not just by having interesting accessibility support, but also by not screwing up sentively handling complex mental health themes.

While not as robust an update as I had hoped to see in a paid rerelease, the changes here undeniably make this a more accessible version of a horror game that stands up well to the test of time.

Echoes of Wisdom makes non-speaking Link more directly canon than seen before in the series. A lot of it is well handled. Some of it feels a little closer to fantasy. A huge thanks to JadeBarefoot on BlueSky for giving this a sensitivity read and accuracy pass.

Sometimes, we just need uncomplicated, joyous, fun factory games in our lives. 00:00 - Intro 01:21 - Arevya Chat 01:31 - Outer Wilds 05:44 - Astro Bot 11:37 - Thank Goodness You're Here 16:56 - Mobile Gaming 25:45 - Laura Chat 25:48 - The Plucky Squire 32:27 - Zero Zero: Perfect Stop 34:26 - News Headlines 35:01 - God of War Ragnarok Audio Descriptions and Hints 37:31 - Tales of Kenzera: Zau Update 39:41 - Easy Surf Cabernet Assessment 44:06 - Satisfactory Arachnophobia 45:36 - PS5 Pro 1:00:29 - Outro and Question

I can very much pinpoint the game that made my motion sickness worse. Trying to "power through" was the wrong call to make.

A few of Astro's Playroom's hard accessibility barriers are now fixed, with a new soft accessibility barrier unfortunately introduced.

Last week at Gamescom, I purchased an early unit of the Byowave Proteus Accessibility controller. Some teething issues aside, there's a really promising controller here, mostly caveatted by price.

With Gamescom right around the corner, now seems like a good time to discuss how large gaming conventions could make queuing experiences more accessible for disabled attendees.

A story many years, and one trip to the opticians, in the making.

While accessibility should first and foremost be designed to benefit disabled people, thinking in broad terms about accessibility impacts means accepting that there are other people with valid use cases who benefit when accessibility is broad in scope.

Summer Games Fest 2023 had me hoping we'd see more accessibility announcements from the 2024 livestream season. Why do I think that didn't materialise?

OpenDyslexic becoming more commonly offered by game developers is great, but it can't be the entirety of the conversation when it comes to dyslexia support.

Proof that Dark Souls could have an easy mode without it breaking the intended tone. A beautifully accessible souls-like, with one dimly glaring issue.

The PlayStation Access Controller's highly customisable nature can make it daunting to set up initially? Would offering layout presets be benefitial, or cause more problems than it fixes?

Now that the PlayStation Access Controller has been out for a few months, I spoke to disabled content creator and accessibility advocate Arevya about her experiences finding a place for the device in her gaming life.

This audio only game does a great job translating first person gameplay to audio navigation, even if it relies on stereo hearing without ssist features to compensate.

Multiplayer online games with player vs player elements provide unique accessibility challenges. However, those unique challenges can be overcome creatively.

This week on Access-Ability, we try something a little different. Join me for a 35 minute chat with Arevya, a disabled and chronically ill content creator, talking about PTSD and video game accessibility.

When community torunament organisers have to create an opt-out for an attack, something has gone very wrong.

Nintendo's new rules ban a tournament organiser from having discretion to allow use of unlicensed inputs as part of a Hori Flex setup.

Xbox needs to address the accessibility implications of this move, in particular whether unlicensed Xbox Adaptive Controller peripherals are impacted.

Accessibility is about more than just game settings, and it's important to take time to appreciate that ocassionally.

Could we see a one handed Xbox controller? And, if so, who might it be useful for?

A step sideways rather than forward, the PS5 Access Controller is great, if its design suits your needs straight out the box unmodified.