Microsoft’s latest gamepad for Xbox to make gaming easier for differently-abled

• Microsoft unveils new Xbox gamepad titled Adaptive Controller.
• Adaptive Controller is easily customizable to the differently-abled gamers.
  
• The new gamepad priced at $99.99 will be available for pre-order soon.

It is not often that you see kids playing outdoors anymore. With the advent of the internet and giant leaps made in technology, human beings, regardless of age, are now glued to the screens.

If you’re a ‘90s kid, you’d remember playing the ‘Prince of Persia’ or the ‘Road Rash’ on your desktop computers and if you’re still into gaming, you would know how drastic the changes have been in the gaming industry.

As game developers marvelled in creating games that teleported players to different universes, the one thing that was not given due consideration, perhaps, is how the differently-abled will play.

Microsoft, the technology giant, however, gave this a serious thought. And now, that thought has culminated in a new Xbox gamepad called the Adaptive Controller, accomplishing the objectives of a project that began in 2014.
The Xbox Adaptive Controller was created keeping in mind the needs and struggles of the differently-abled and the product was designed in collaboration with various gaming charities, and after consultation with experts at The Cerebral Palsy Foundation and Craig Hospital that specialises in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) rehabilitation.

This welcome move by Microsoft proves that market leaders, indeed, care for the differently-abled.

The Adaptive Controller has more than 20 inputs on its top side. This is to make it easier to connect to the existing devices and thereby enabling the player to make more use of the new controller.

In the introductory video Microsoft made, an enhanced direction pad, a foot pedal and other additions and is said to allow players to play using “one hand and one foot, or one hand and their shoulder, or even one foot and their chin.”

The controller buttons on the Xbox controller have now been reduced to a few menu buttons, a direction pad, and two black, hand-sized pads. The gamepad design shows that Microsoft realised that the best way to help the differently-abled gamers is to give them enough options to customize the controller.

The internal battery of the controller is supposed to deliver 25 hours of wireless play. The Adaptive Controller can be charged using a USB-C cable.

The Xbox Adaptive Controller will be available exclusively through the Microsoft Store at a price of $99.99 and will be soon available for pre-order.