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A blind man has stunned the gaming community by flawlessly churning through levels relying solely on sound effects. 23-year-old Colorado student Terry Garrett has beaten 2D platformer Abe's Exoddus several times despite his visual impairment. In an interview with Oddworld, Garrett said he followed sounds and memorised the …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Awesome

    Yeah, is there such a thing as a "genuinely awesome dude" award? If not, there should be!

    Pint for him.

    3 0
  2. Anonymous John

    Pinball Wizard

    "That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball",

    1 0
  3. Evil Auditor Silver badge

    An award?

    Maybe. Even better someone develops a game which purely relies on sound! Would also be interesting for the visually not impaired.

    0 0
    1. LuMan
      Reply Icon
      Pint

      Bop-It!

      How about Bop-It! That relies on sound and is nothing short of brilliant.

      A mega pint for this guy - Totally awesome and a real inspiration to everyone!!

      0 0
    2. Originone
      Reply Icon

      There are no new ideas.

      http://www.papasangre.com/

      No video only sound effects. I havn't played it but the concept is very cool.

      0 0
  4. Wommit
    Thumb Up

    The Who

    Tommy

    0 0
  5. lansalot
    Happy

    what?

    An award? Give him a pinball machine - let's see how that pans out! ;-)

    0 0
  6. Chris Waring

    This guy should try his hand at

    Pinball ;-)

    Maybe someone will write a musical about him.

    0 0
  7. Captain Hogwash
    Thumb Up

    Can he...

    ...play pinball?

    0 0
  8. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    A title is required.

    Wow! Nuff said.

    0 0
  9. Paul Dx

    Tommy

    But can he play pinball ?

    0 0
  10. Leona A
    Go

    Pinball Wizard!

    Springs to mind.

    Goes to prove, no matter what your disability, you can do anything you put your mind to. He isn't super human, just super determined, there are a lot of 'able bodied' people that could learn at lot from this, rather than sitting around saying 'oh wow is me!'

    Good on him, wish him well finding work, sadly there is still a lot of prejudice our there, despite achievements.

    2 0
    1. Paul_Murphy
      Reply Icon

      s/wow/woe/

      Unless they are also claiming to be awesome I guess, but I guess that was not your point :-)

      ttfn

      0 0
  11. Lottie
    Pint

    Dictionary

    I'm sure in the dictionary, this guys picture is next to "Awesome".

    1 0
  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tagline

    Surely "he's the real pinball wizard" is more appropriate?

    9 0
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Troll

      Congrats

      On being the first to break the tape during the Pinball race. The 10 or so other commentards below must be feeling sheepish.

      Or if I can quote Nelson: "Ha, ha!"

      0 0
  13. nobby

    cue descending chords

    But....

    can he play pinball?

    0 0
  14. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Wow....

    ....life copying art. Are the Who going to do a new soundtrack to a game for him?

    0 0
  15. Loyal Commenter Silver badge
    Coat

    Something something...

    ...pinball

    What, I'm not the first? Whodathunkit?

    2 0
  16. James Pickett

    Rock opera

    Where's the Acid Queen when you need her? :-)

    He's not deaf, dumb and blind, though, is he..?

    0 0
  17. Graham Bartlett

    In other news, Chuck Norris

    ... was reported to have said he's a bit worried about this guy. Apparently his guide-dog can roundhouse kick you through a wall too.

    3 0
  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Actually

    Actually I did see a while ago in an issue of Linux Format that someone had developed a game set in the dark, pitch dark - where only sounds were given as feedback...

    0 0
    1. Goat Jam
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Yeah

      That was called Doom 3. Great tech, mediocre game tho.

      Yes, I'm leaving now . . . .

      0 0
  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Credible.

    There was a meme a few years back with people trying to play through the Thief series of games with no monitor.

    0 0
  20. Pirate Dave Silver badge

    Ah

    the Force is strong in this one.

    Karate too? He must have ears like a bat...

    0 0
  21. juice

    Sound-based games

    All credit to the guy - he's obviously got sharp ears and a good memory.

    If anyone's interested, there are a few Indie games on the Xbox 360 where the only feedback is audio

    (minor disclaimer; the following link to my website/reviews of said games):

    In The Pit - http://www.xboxindiegames.co.uk/review.html?reviewee=inthepit

    Walketh - http://www.xboxindiegames.co.uk/review.html?reviewee=walketh

    There's also a few which take it the other way by "simulating" sonar:

    BlindGiRl - http://www.xboxindiegames.co.uk/review.html?reviewee=blindgirl

    CRON - http://www.xboxindiegames.co.uk/review.html?reviewee=cron

    And on a related note, there's also the "one switch" initiative, which attempts to produce games which can be played with just a single button:

    http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/

    0 0
  22. Graham Marsden
    Happy

    Anyone remember the old Dragon's Lair video disk game?

    Not to denigrate this guy's achievement at all, but the moves on DL were a fixed sequence such that I could stand with my back to the machine, hands behind me and all I'd need was for someone to say "Ok, it's the Lizard King starting to the left" and I could go through the whole level without looking :-)

    0 0
  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    a touch of blindsight seems likely

    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindsight>

    0 0
  24. Richard Jukes

    wow

    Just as I gain confidence in myself and start to think that I havent done so bad, along comes a blind kid whos; better at video games than me, better at fighting than me, better at playing the guitar than me and not to mention the chap is studying for an aerospace engineering course. I bet he's got a hotter misses than me too, and that is just wasted on him!

    It makes me feel very inadequate! Imagine what the kid could do if he could see...

    Kudos to him, and in all fairness he should make the rest of us feel ashamed for not embracing life to the uptmost!

    0 0
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