It is a story sure to warm even the coldest of hearts. Overnight Dead Space 2 creator Visceral promised to enable the re-mapping of key bindings for the PC version of its superb action horror game after a disabled gamer complained about not being able to play.
Yesterday an online petition calling on developers to enable custom button re-mapping saw an influx of signatories after disabled gamer Gareth’s plight went viral.
He had asked fellow gamers for assistance on the overclockers.co.uk forum after finding he couldn’t map ‘walk forward’ to a mouse button in Dead Space 2. Gareth, who is unable to use his hands, plays PC games using a mouse and his chin.
His forum post sparked hundreds of replies and fuelled an online petition that currently sits on over 24,000 signatories. Now US studio Visceral has answered the call.
Posting in the overclockers forum”, a Visceral developer promised to patch in re-mapping in an upcoming update.
“Hi Gareth,” the post reads. “I’m a developer from Visceral Games Australia, the studio responsible for the PC port of Dead Space 2. Sorry to hear about your issue – I’ve spoken with a few key people here and we’ll do our best to include a fix for it in the next patch. In the mean time, please PM me. Cheers! Michael.”
Then, in a message to Joystiq, Dead Space 2 executive producer Steve Papoutsis went one further.
“Dead Space 2 PC Players,” he said. “The Dead Space 2 team is aware of the issue that disabled players are having with Dead Space 2 PC. In fact a number of folks on our team are so passionate about getting this fix done that they are currently working hard to allow players to re-map key bindings to the mouse which should help disabled players enjoy the game.
“I’d like to say I’m very proud of the people on the Dead Space 2 team for coming in today and jumping on the fix first thing. Working with such a talented and compassionate group of people is incredible and makes me proud to be a part of the Dead Space 2 team, Visceral Games, and Electronic Arts.
“In addition to the key binding fix the patch will include other fixes for PC players. Thank you for taking up the cause for our disabled players and letting us know about this problem. Once the patch is fully tested we will announce a release date.”
Gareth will be delighted. Dead Space 2 is superb.
Published: Feb 8, 2011 12:00 am