SpecialEffect today announced that the first of their three premium in-game items for Team Fortress 2 has been released in the in-game store through Valve’s Steam Workshop platform.
The item, called The Virtual Viewfinder, produced as a result of their initiative with SEGA Europe Ltd., is available for purchase for £2.99 in the Mann Co. Store, where SEGA’s proceeds of each sale will go direct to the charity.
Mark Saville, Communications Officer at SpecialEffect, said “This is a huge day for us in terms of how the gaming community is able to support our work helping people with disabilities to play video games. It’s the first in-game donation stream that we’ve had, and we’re excited that gamers now have such a direct and engaging way of helping.”
James Schall, Director of Digital Distribution at SEGA Europe, said, “We’ve been blown away by the support from the community. The wonderful comments across the web supporting what we’ve done are incredibly humbling for the team and now gamers can directly support SpecialEffect and get their hands on some great items in one go.”
He added, “I’m a proud ambassador of SpecialEffect and a huge fan of the way they use technology to enrich the lives of those with disabilities. We enjoy a fruitful and collaborative relationship with Valve based on mutual respect; it’s great to be able to use this relationship to drive awareness and revenue for this fantastic charity.”
SpecialEffect, the charity that enables people with disabilities to play games through adapted technology, have today appealed to all gamers to support their first ever crowdfunding project, codenamed PLAYING WITH YOUR EYES.
SpecialEffect aims to raise £5950/€6955/$9190 in order to purchase one new specialist Eye Control unit. This equipment will help many people with severe disabilities to enjoy and play games, levelling the playing field and creating a better quality of life. If they raise double the amount, SpecialEffect will buy two of these amazing pieces of equipment. Eye Control technology can be particularly helpful for those suffering from locked-in syndrome, motor neurone disease, muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy amongst many others conditions. Together with the technical and medical expertise of the SpecialEffect team, Eye Control technology can not only enable people to access and play games, but assist with rehabilitation, build self-esteem and help create a better quality of life through playing games.
But it’s not all one way. In return for the pledges made by supporters, apart from the amazing reward of knowing that your pledge will help many people with disabilities to enjoy games, SpecialEffect have designed a range of rewards. Whether it’s being included on the ‘Roll of Honour’, being featured in the ‘Video Credits’, or a place on the ‘Virtual Plaque’, there are unique rewards available for all supporters. At the top of the list is being invited to visit for a full day at the SpecialEffect National Accessible Games Centre’ where supporters get to meet the team and see the fantastic work they do.
And here’s what a difference this campaign can make – “The look on Henry’s face when he first used the eye-gaze to control something on screen was indescribable… for the first time he could play with something completely on his own. It was a landmark moment for us as a family.” Rob, Henry’s Dad.
CEO of SpecialEffect, Dr Mick Donegan commented – “We set up, create, lend and support the use of specialist games controllers from our library of equipment. Everyone we work with is different. Some of the people we work with find it difficult or impossible to control parts of their body other than their eyes. In these instances we use computers which are controlled just by moving your eyes.
“The demand for this work is growing all the time, so we are asking the gaming community, who have always been enormously supportive of our work, to help SpecialEffect through crowdfunding. The PLAYING WITH YOUR EYES project will help us meet this growing demand and enable us to purchase this very special piece of eye-controlled equipment in order to reach and help more and more people with disabilities to play games”
The crowdfunding project PLAYING WITH YOUR EYES launches on Gambitious at 10am on 13th September 2013 and will run for 30 days until Saturday 12th October 2013 and you can watch the video and pledge your support here –www.gambitious.com/projects/3576
To meet the team and see with your own eyes the amazing work that SpecialEffect do and to try out Eye Control game playing for yourself, please visit the SpecialEffect team at The EuroGamer Expo between 26th September to 29th September at Earl’s Court, London.
UK independent gaming news, reviews and previews site, StickTwiddlers, have announced the details for this year’s StickTwiddlers Eurogamer Expo After Party to raise funds for the charity SpecialEffect.
Sponsored by NCSOFT, ArenaNet and Carbine Studios, the StickTwiddlers Eurogamer Expo 2013 After Party is set to be a celebration of the past and current generation of gaming as we head ever closer to the release of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles, due for release later this year.
The event is taking place on Saturday 28th, September at The Pembroke where the gaming industry and public can enjoy an evening of drinks, prizes, tournaments and more with some of gaming’s most iconic characters. Music is being provided once again by the fantastic GamerDisco with other surprises to be announced on the night.
“We’re consistently blown away by the volume of requests we get around Eurogamer Expo time to throw another Eurogamer Expo after party,” says Ben Cordell, co-owner and editor of StickTwiddlers. “We’re hoping to make this year even better than the previous two as well as raising plenty of funds for our favourite charity, SpecialEffect. It’s truly going to be a night to remember for a fantastic cause.”
Entry to the event costs a mere £8 with proceeds going to SpecialEffect, a charity that helps those with disabilities enjoy gaming. Attendees will also be provided with 2 free drinks on entry as well as the opportunity to take part in the charity raffle and gaming tournaments, featuring fantastic prizes up for grabs.
Last year’s event brought Earl’s Court to a standstill as an army of zombies took to the streets before entering the party. Tickets sold out in a remarkable 6 hours and the event raised an astounding £2,100 for SpecialEffect. You can see a gallery of last year’s party on the StickTwiddlers website.
For more details on what to expect at this year’s StickTwiddlers Eurogamer Expo After Party and to purchase tickets, check out the FAQ on the StickTwiddlers website.
Thanks to all the work that gaming charity, SpecialEffect, have done they have been able to help a young man named Mitch.
Mitch has cerebral palsy which makes it difficult for him to use the triggers on the back of his controller which would have a huge impact on what games you are able to play.
SpecialEffect have remapped the triggers to two small switches under the controller, and attached it to a heavy duty clinical mounting to reduce the effect of the tremor in his arms. This has allowed Mitch to be back on a level playing field with his friends and he is able to now give as good as he gets!
Mitch was ecstatic with the results saying “It puts the fun back if you can be just as good as someone else.”
You can see how happy Mitch is in the video below
We at Train2Game are very happy to support SpecialEffect as much as we can and will continue to do so to keep helping people like Mitch.
SpecialEffect the games charity who helps the disabled to play games again is holding a charity Football tournament.
At the Wembley Stadium Powerleague venue on 5 September, you can battle for the SpecialEffect Trophy in a Football Tournament.
You’ll only need to raise a squad of seven for this Champions League format competition, which has full event management from Powerleague, including referees! The entry fee is £250 per team, which includes a donation to the work that we’re doing to level the playing field for gamers with disabilities.
Kick-off is at 1pm, and there’s a licensed bar for essential rehydration afterwards.
SpecialEffect do amazing work to get people with life changing disablities to play video games again. Allowing them to enjoy themselves much the way we do when playing our beloved games.
Dr Mick Donegon, CEO of games charity SpecialEffect, has taken the charity global and started helping people on an international scale.
The video game charities founder has been visiting San Camillo Hospital, Venice, to train staff and collaborate on assessments with their patients who have a range of complex neurological conditions. He got the pleasure of working with Albert Einstein World Award of Science Winner Niels Bierbaumer who is a Professor of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology.
This was a great chance for Dr Mick and Professor Bierbaummer to learn from each other and in addition Dr Mick got to spread the word of SpecialEffect to Italy.
SpecialEffect at home
Thanks to all the work that Dr Mick and his team do they are able to help people like Ray who has spinal muscular atrophy which makes it very difficult for him to move.
Ray was introduced to the SpecialEffect team when they were visiting a young man named Jacob who they helped to play FIFA again.
When the team returned to help Ray his face lit up and he said: “All my Christmases have come at once!”
Call of Duty and FIFA 13 are top of the playing wish list for many people at the moment, and Ray was desperate to play them as well. So after an intense session working with his abilities and trying a handful of different access strategies, the SpecialEffect team settled on a set-up that included two switches on his PlayStation joypad, two in his palms and two head-switches on his wheelchair headrest.
It was a hit. Ray’s occupational therapist asked: “On a scale of one to ten, how happy are you?” Ray replied with a hugely ecstatic “Eleven!!”
For Ray this means much more than simply having fun. His disability means that he’s incredibly limited in doing any sort of activity, let alone one that gives such a sense of achievement. The benefits aren’t just personal – while he was playing, an off-duty member of staff jumped at the opportunity to pit his gaming skills against Ray. I’m sure he’s just the first of many new friends, offline and online, that the gift of gaming will give to Ray.
SpecialEffect have an exciting opportunity for a talented programmer from the Train2Game student pool.
SpecialEffect are working on a very exciting, helpful new project. The games charity is creating a fully accessible chess game for absolutely anyone to play, no matter what disability they may have.
The plan for the game is to be able to use any body part to play the game or even using the power of the mind thanks to technology such as the EPOC system. SpecialEffect specialise in creating hardware and software that is simple to use for people with all abilities.
The charity require a programmer to help finish off the work they have been doing on the project. This could be a once in a life time opportunity to work on an amazing project and really make a difference in the lives of so many people who may have trouble playing games in the fashion we are all so used to.
The charity are looking for a C++ programmer and the programmer who has developed the software so far will be available to give support.
This is an unpaid position but working on this project would be a brilliant addition to your CV as it will get some a lot of attention from the games industry media and possibly national media.
Dr Mick Donegan, Founder and CEO of SpecialEffect, said “Anyone who is potentially interested is welcome to get in touch and we’ll happily send the existing code for them to look at. We’ll also demo what we’ve got and talk them through what’s required to finish off the game.”
SpecialEffect is asking for the help of Train2Game students who use Valve’s Steam system! The charity who provide video gaming equipment to people with disabilities need your votes.
A few select artists from the Steam community have created SpecialEffect themed items for the game Team Fortress 2 and with your votes they can be in game this summer! The items that have been designer are: a viewfinder, cabinet and belt pack. 99% of the profits from these items will go to help disabled players enjoy games to the best of their abilities thanks to the work done by SpecialEffect.
This idea is the brainchild of James Schall, SEGA’s Director of Digital Distribution.
“Demand for SpecialEffect‘s help is rocketing,” said James. “And I’m excited about the potential of these generous artwork donations to kickstart a big-hearted response from the TF2 community to help meet that demand.”
“It’s a fantastic gesture,” said charity CEO Mick Donegan. “Gamers get what we’re trying to do, and to get that support from artists within the community is a real endorsement of our work.”
“We need £750k this year to give people a fighting chance through specialised games control equipment. We’re bringing this technology directly into the homes and hospitals of the people who need it most, and transforming the lives of people with the most severe disabilities through cutting-edge equipment like eye control and brain control.”
You can vote for the items to be in Team Fortress 2 by going to the link below:
You can also find the items from within Steam itself by selecting Workshops from the Community menu. Hit the link in the grey text below the main ‘Create, Discover…’ heading, and on the next page type ‘special effect’ in the search box (note the space between the two words!). Then hit the Rate button.
If you would like to check out the pages of the artists who created the items for SpecialEffect you can view them in the links below:
Train2Game’s friends at SpecialEffect have had an amazing opportunity put forward to them. They have the chance of getting a charity bucket at Chelsea F.C’s grounds.
SpecialEffect has been chosen in the Military Charity category for its work with injured military personnel and it would be great if you can donate a few seconds to click and fill in a few basic details to vote for SpecialEffect. The gaming charity is up against some really stiff competition and this sort of cash contribution is exactly what the charity needs.
Excellent causes like Help For Heroes are in the running to receive the opportunity and although equally as deserving, SpecialEffect needs the games industry’s support to make sure its niche area of life changing charity work receives this funding.
To give you an idea of the work SpecialEffect does, SpecialEffect has worked hard to help some of the more unfortunate members of the military such as Lloyd. Lloyd is a young war hero who lost both legs and some of the fingers on his right hand while serving in Afghanistan. One of his passions was playing computer games with his friends, but he found that his injuries had devastated his ability to use a controller.
SpecialEffect loaned him a range of one-handed games controllers to try, and after finding one that’s just right, he’s been back in the game and competing with his mates ever since!
Mark Saville, Communications, SpecialEffect: “We’re dealing with something that’s often overlooked but that’s essential for rehabilitation, the fact that injured service personnel want to enjoy themselves, and in doing so regain the sort of quality of life that we take for granted. Time and time again we’ve seen hardcore-gamer servicemen who are desperate to regain a sense of normality, and regaining the ability to play video games competitively again is one of the very few activities that can absolutely level the playing field. It can be a huge step to increasing self-esteem and inclusion.”
If you would like to help SpecialEffect to get their charity bucket at Chelsea F.C then please click here to cast your vote: Vote for SpecialEfffect
I had the great pleasure of going to visit SpecialEffect at its headquarters in Oxford on Wednesday. The charity held a get together to thank supporters for their work during the Art Charity Auction back in December.
As I arrived at the building I was struck by how incredible it looked. I drove up a long road, flanked by trees all the way up to a Manor building where SpecialEffect is housed. I parked around the back and entered the easily accessible building where I was met by Hannah Whittaker, who works at SpeciaEffect.
As I entered the office I was greeted by Gavin Tan, who is a developer for the charity. I chatted with Gavin for a bit about games, that is the reason we are in this industry, and he then showed me some of the controllers they use to help disabled people to be able to play games.
The first controller I tried was the “EyeGaze”. This is a device which tracks your eye movements and lets you do all the things you want on a computer using nothing but your eye movement. Following a quick calibration I got to play racing game, Dirt. To control the vehicle you moved your eyes to the top of the screen to go faster, to the bottom of the screen to brake and reverse and direct your eyes left or right to turn. I am normally terrible at racing games but using the EyeGaze I managed an average time which pleased me!
Following on from the EyeGaze I got to experience voice activated controls in Street Fighter. A control was set up which is used for movement and can be controlled by your chin with a sensitive microphone for the voice commands. The commands were simple like “Punch” for an uppercut, “Kick” for a spinning kick and “Move” to do a Hadouken.
Seeing and experiencing these controllers for myself really showed me how helpful these can be for people trying to get back in to gaming and back playing games on a level playing field. It truly is an amazing thing that the people at SpecialEffect do.
Over the next half an hour several games industry people turned up to the office for the event. There were people there from Sega, Warner Bros, and Take-two. Once everyone had arrived it was time for the main event.
Everyone was welcomed to the event by Kirsty Payne, a Vice President of SpecialEffect, who can be seen in the picture above. She gave a quick run down of the event in December. The art auction featured games art from across the industry and was held at the London City Hall and was visited by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The auction managed to raise over £30,000!
The floor was then given over to Dr Mick Donegan, founder of SpecialEffect, who showed where the money will be going and who is being helped.
After the presentation SpecialEffect offered us drink and food. It was lovely just being able to talk with some of the games industry people who do so much for our industry and hearing their opinions on the games industry at the moment.
It was an incredible day and I will continue to do what I can for this amazing Charity! I will leave you with this amazing video of a young man called Alex who has been able to play games again and has used Special Effects help to be able to become a Train2Game student!
SpecialEffect today announced that the first of their three premium in-game items for Team Fortress 2 has been released in the in-game store through Valve’s Steam Workshop platform.
The Train2Game Blog 