Is Nintendo excluding gamers with accessibility needs from tournaments?!

Nintendo has changed it's tournament community rules to exclude gamers with accessibility requirements, and more stories today on Thursday 26th October 2023.

INDUSTRY

Nintendo’s new tournament controller rules are ‘a huge step back for accessibility’, it’s claimed | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)

Nintendo is shaking up its Community Tournament Guidelines to lock down issues it has with the current protocols, but it has had an unintended consequence to a large sub-section of the gaming community.

New rules added to tournaments with Nintendo games are a 200-participant cap on events, banning the sale of goods, banning third-party compensation after sponsorship and players can no longer use third-party controllers.

It's this last stipulation that has the accessibility community in uproar. You might be aware the Nintendo Switch joycons aren't the easiest controllers to handle - this is significant for players with accessibility needs and without third-party modifications, this will exclude them from competition.

Arevya on Twitter has spoken out strongly about this change to advocate for the accessibility community in games.

I'm sure we all understand, and aren't surprised, that Nintendo are pushing for their own products to be the only valid tourney standards but inclusion is an extremely important aspect of games and community today. They may not see it as such, but hopefully there's a change coming to enable accessibility in community tournaments soon.

Nintendo details more aggressive social media guidelines | GamesIndustry.biz

But the Nintendo news doesn't stop there! They've also changed their social media guidelines. This shift means that they will be able to target unauthorised content with DMCA takedowns.

Unauthorised now means "[Content that] features unauthorised game consoles and/or software not licensed by Nintendo or features video, images, sound sources, etc. that cannot be used in regular gameplay, extracted through game software via data mining and other methods".

So they want to come after emulators, mods and other content displaying Nintendo IP. Like they needed a bigger legal team anyway…

Here's everything featured in the Xbox Partner Preview showcase | Eurogamer.net

The Xbox Partner Preview aired yesterday, and here's a quick rundown of what we saw.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a side-release from the popular series, and seems to be like Animal Crossing.

Futurlab, developer of Powerwash Simulator, has announced Iakro: Will Not Die - a staisfying flow-state rogue-lite action title.

Developer The Chinese Room announced "Still Wakes the Deep": a spooky first-person horror title set on a 70s North Sea oil rig.

RoboCop: Rogue City saw some fresh gameplay before its release on the 2nd November.

Ark: Survival Ascended is the remake of its predecessor, Survival Evolved and it's currently in Steam Early Access.

Honorable mentions also include The Finals, Manor Lords, Spirit of the North 2, Dungeons of Hinterberg and, of course, Alan Wake 2.

For trailers and more, jump into the show notes.

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