Gaming as a disabled gamer

Most articles out there are written from the perspective of an abled gamer. Their cost of living is way down that of us, with the hidden costs of medication, therapists,… all the way down to that of special controllers and other tools. Most other gamers don’t have to deal with these choices when they want to spend their money, so I thought about it, based on my own life as a gamer and what others could spend their money on, if they want to game. I have a few options below:

The most bang for your buck (or euro whatever)

Today, and the future, most will be done by gaming through streaming, so when you are at home or on the go, gaming will be done with a streamingservice and your device. You device can be a cellphone and a controller, or a basic computer (chromebook even) and a controller, a tablet and a computer,… things we already own and a peripheral we had to buy especially to game.

My recommondation? An xbox controller.

Just the xbox controller will enable you to enjoy a game like fortnite on your phone and tablet, easily for free, and will also enable you to play Destiny 2 for example free through stadia. If you want more games, an easy upgrade besides the controller, and which is still very cheap, would be a gamepass subscription. Gamepass offers you 100+ games that you can stream to your phone, or tablet and play with a standard xbox controller. You don’t need anything extra (besides an internet connection, but that is a given with all the options I am going to suggest). If you will never upgrade to a console, buying games through Stadia is another great option, which is also playable off of your phone, or tablet, or chomebook, or basic computer.

A slight upgrade?

Go with the series S. Why? Tom’s hardware for example advises against it, but I am not Tom’s hardware, and I am also disabled, and with cost effectiveness, we have to look for the most bang for your buck still. The series s goes for 299,99 euro (which has the same dollar equivalent I presume). This gives you a home-console with great speed, great graphics and a controller. All out of the box. You still need to add the subscription or the seperate bought games. It can run Stadia through it’s browser so if you have Stadia games and you started through the previous step, this is an easy upgrade. What you don’t get is 4k graphics, and not a lot of storage, but you will have the basics to game, and many fun can be had with 4 games. An easy upgrade for this is an external harddrive (not th ssd slot one) just an usb 3.0 or 3.1 usb hdd that will get you plenty of storage for your games. You will need to juggle X/S games from the internal hdd to the external (as the x/s games will only play from the internal not the external, I have tried). so for 300 euro you can already game a ton, and with a slight upgrade of 50 euro you get a 1 tb hdd that holds a ton of games as well.

Why you don’t need the series x (yet).

First of all: your tv will probably not be a 4k tv. If it is, it doesn’t have the capability to run 120 frames per second, which the series X supports as optimal output. Those are expensive, and most of us, won’t have the money. If you do, this guide is not for you, obviously. Because your tv doesn’t support the framerate yet, you won’t need the series x, as of yet. You will do fine with just the series s for this time, until the series x gets cheaper.

What about the expansion card?

You will only need it when you want to play more next-gen games, which there aren’t that much of anyway, and the seagate exclusive deal is soon to end, which will open the market to other products with the same capabilities as the seagate expansion card, so that the price of those will go waaaaay down of what they are now, so that they become more affordable down the line, so another reason to buy the series s as it is now, and just expand it when needed.

Conclusion:

For as little as 70 euro for a controller you can start to game. For 80 euro you have a controller and 100+ games easily accessible and for 300 euro you have a console that sets you up for the rest of the generation.

Also: if you are one of those gamers that can not handle a standard controller, Xbox has developed a special controller for disabled people, the xbox adaptive controller, so they can enjoy gaming too, which also lets you access the same gamepass subscription through a chromebook, tablet or phone. Sadly it is not as practical as a controller would be to take on the go, but it is possible. I still have to see other console-manufacturers keep disabled people in mind when developing products. Slightly more expensive than a regular controller, so there is another hidden cost there, and you have to buy all the needed peripherals, but at least they took a first step towards making gaming accessible to everyone.

I hope you liked my little guide to make disabled gaming more accessible for disabled people, and guides you towards a ton of fun and a great community to join.