Ben Underwood just made my day. I've never seen anything quite like what he can do with a controller, much less the awesome stuff he can do outside of that. The next time you bitch about not being able to beat that score or win that match, I bet you'll remember this guy. Apparently he's mastered something called echolocation - the same thing that dolphins use to place their position within their surroundings. Chad, are you listening?
It does my heart good to know that games can still be enjoyed and loved by all kinds of people - the right ones don't let impediments get in their way.
not the first time ive seen this
there is a gamer in britain who does the same thing
but he plays ff7 too
and he beat a lead designer of mortal kombat at mortal kombat
so our blind gamer is better
TheLordRandom: He said he listened to the different voices yelling on screen. I dunno how well it would work on say, Super Mario Bros, but 3d games seem to be fine for him. That said, that's bloody amazing. I think I'm going to try playing some games with my eyes closed and depend completely on the sound. That's just awesome, and I want to do that too.
Do I even have to ask if he plays Ecco the Dolphin??
Biological life and the power of the mind, once again proves to be beyond extraordinary and this kid goes further, like they said, with his attitude and perseverance.
This post is a rare treat for this site. It also made my day slash year - great find Colette, thanks for filtering through all those early morning shows and horridly designed CBS video clips brought to us by Wal-Mart.
That's pretty amazing. Wouldn't it be sweet if he entered a gaming competition and won? I'd pay to see that. I remember seeing 2 blind gamers play each other on AOTS. That was an even match.
I have a cruel/funny story. My school recently started doing the whole king and queen voting garbage again. They stopped when everyone voted for a blind girl as a joke. It crushed her but it makes great fodder. If she's reading this i'm sorry. LOL! No offense to all the blind Dtoid viewers out there but what are you doing on the computer anyway?
That was great. Amazing to see what some people can do when most would consider them defective. I work with special needs kids, but I've never seen anyone who was blind do anything like this.
@Deathsaw
Not funny at all. Horrible? Yes. I'm not generally the PC type, but mocking people with disabilities and/or special needs is where I draw the line. The next time that you think something like that "makes great fodder", imagine if that were your sister, or your friend, or God forbid, you.
@wilbo yeah, I've seen the blind british gamer. He doesn't do anything like this guy. Mr. blind brit just memorizes moves and combos to perfection and then lets someone hit first, blocks/counters, then does the same combo til death. this guy is something completely different
@qwerty
Didn't mean to make anyone think that joking about disabilities isn't funny, because it is. Most people with disabilities can tell the best jokes about them, and I find some of those helen keller jokes hilarious. Making fun of a generality or a group is fine to me, but to be cruel and humiliate an actual person because of their disability (as in Deathsaw's example) is wrong to me.
I have a friend with no arms. He games with his feet. He sucks at most games though, his favorite is Nintendo DS just because he can control the stylus with his foot and he doesn't have to worry about pushing buttons on a lot of those games.
Amazing, but the media isn't telling you the whole story. I think I saw this on CURRENT TV. This English guy runs a school for blind people. He teaches them that echo location thing. That kid was one of his pupils. It just kind of pisses me off that they had to sensationalize it and not report about the school. Maybe another blind kids parents could have got the info they needed to get their kid into that school.
@ dv8withn8
Yeah, I remember seeing him there too. I'm still amazed at how he does it. I understand the echolocation thing, but playing video games is just beyond me.
Wow... That doctor was really right about what he said. Kids feel like they can't do alot because of their attitude. They feel like there are just people who are innately smart and talented that they can't best in anything.
I saw this awhile ago on the local news, I couldn't believe he could play games without even being able to see. I wonder if there is a limit to what he can play. Obviously, some RPG's are probably going to be difficult especially if they don't include spoken dialog.
Echolocation huh? Does anyone else wonder if he is possibly using echolocation along with some undetectable form of ESP? (Extra-Sensory Perception for those of you who are uneducated). It's possible. Otherwise mad props. I hope to be beaten in Teh Halos by this boy one day.
"there was some news about this guy last year before the wii launch, he got a wii like a month before the launch"
So that's why he has friends at his house! Ba dum psh.
@Raidensolid: No, it's not ESP. You can do this as well. Sit at your computer, facing the monitor. Do that clicking thing. Turn your head side to side while doing it and see how the sound changes.
His sense with it is just well-practiced. Anyone can do this. Blind people just have a lot more motivation to. But I'd like to see him walk and chew gum at the same time!!1
I don't really mean to belittle his ability. It is amazing, compared to most of us.
"there was some news about this guy last year before the wii launch, he got a wii like a month before the launch"
So that's why he has friends at his house! Ba dum psh.
@Raidensolid: No, it's not ESP. You can do this as well. Sit at your computer, facing the monitor. Do that clicking thing. Turn your head side to side while doing it and see how the sound changes.
His sense with it is just well-practiced. Anyone can do this. Blind people just have a lot more motivation to. But I'd like to see him walk and chew gum at the same time!!1
I don't really mean to belittle his ability. It is amazing, compared to most of us.
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Contest:
2:39 PM on 10.03.2007
| 
there is a gamer in britain who does the same thing
but he plays ff7 too
and he beat a lead designer of mortal kombat at mortal kombat
so our blind gamer is better
Echo : The Dolphin for Xbox Live Arcade? No...
All joking aside pretty amazing!
PROTECT HIM FROM CHAD! He communicates with the dolphins.
Biological life and the power of the mind, once again proves to be beyond extraordinary and this kid goes further, like they said, with his attitude and perseverance.
This post is a rare treat for this site. It also made my day slash year - great find Colette, thanks for filtering through all those early morning shows and horridly designed CBS video clips brought to us by Wal-Mart.
I have a cruel/funny story. My school recently started doing the whole king and queen voting garbage again. They stopped when everyone voted for a blind girl as a joke. It crushed her but it makes great fodder. If she's reading this i'm sorry. LOL! No offense to all the blind Dtoid viewers out there but what are you doing on the computer anyway?
Thanks for the heads up, Colette!
Not funny at all. Horrible? Yes. I'm not generally the PC type, but mocking people with disabilities and/or special needs is where I draw the line. The next time that you think something like that "makes great fodder", imagine if that were your sister, or your friend, or God forbid, you.
Didn't mean to make anyone think that joking about disabilities isn't funny, because it is. Most people with disabilities can tell the best jokes about them, and I find some of those helen keller jokes hilarious. Making fun of a generality or a group is fine to me, but to be cruel and humiliate an actual person because of their disability (as in Deathsaw's example) is wrong to me.
I wonder how well he'd do in large open world games. I've only seen him play fighters and what not where everything is contained within a small space.
I wonder if the increasing presence of surround sound in games could help him play even more types.
but all jokes aside, pretty amazing.
clap....clap....clap....clap...clap...clap...clap..clap..clap
..clap.clap.clap.clap.clapclapclapCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPWOOOOOOO
YOU DA MAN!!!
Yeah, I remember seeing him there too. I'm still amazed at how he does it. I understand the echolocation thing, but playing video games is just beyond me.
So that's why he has friends at his house! Ba dum psh.
@Raidensolid: No, it's not ESP. You can do this as well. Sit at your computer, facing the monitor. Do that clicking thing. Turn your head side to side while doing it and see how the sound changes.
His sense with it is just well-practiced. Anyone can do this. Blind people just have a lot more motivation to. But I'd like to see him walk and chew gum at the same time!!1
I don't really mean to belittle his ability. It is amazing, compared to most of us.
So that's why he has friends at his house! Ba dum psh.
@Raidensolid: No, it's not ESP. You can do this as well. Sit at your computer, facing the monitor. Do that clicking thing. Turn your head side to side while doing it and see how the sound changes.
His sense with it is just well-practiced. Anyone can do this. Blind people just have a lot more motivation to. But I'd like to see him walk and chew gum at the same time!!1
I don't really mean to belittle his ability. It is amazing, compared to most of us.
This is pretty amazing by the way. Our potential is amazing, I always am in awe of savants.