Blind teenager amazes with video game ability

[norml]

Blind teenager amazes with video game ability

Associated Press
Jul. 25, 2005 10:15 AM

LINCOLN, Neb. - Brice Mellen sure plays a mean pinball.

More precisely, the 17-year-old Mellen is a whiz at modern video games such as Mortal Kombat and Soul Caliber.

In that regard, Mellen isn't all the much different from any other kid his age.

Except for one thing: He's blind.

And as he easily dispatched foes who took him on recently at a Lincoln gaming center, the affable and smiling Mellen remained humble.


snip


http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0725blind-gamer25-ON.html

[norml]

1. USA Today: Blind teen amazes with video-game skills

Posted 7/28/2005 10:52 AM

By Scott Bauer, Associated Press


LINCOLN, Neb. — Brice Mellen is a whiz at video games such as Mortal Kombat. In that regard, the 17-year-old isn't much different from so many others his age. Except for one thing: He's blind.


Mellen intends to use his prowess at games such as 'Mortal Kombat' to study video game design at college.
Bill Wolf, AP

And as he easily dispatched foes who took him on recently at a Lincoln gaming center, the affable and smiling Mellen remained humble.

"I can't say that I'm a superpro," he said, working the controller like an extension of his body. "I can be beat."

Those bold enough to challenge him weren't so lucky. One by one, while playing Soul Caliber 2, their video characters were decapitated, eviscerated and gutted without mercy by Mellen's on-screen alter ego.


snip


http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-07-28-blind-gamer_x.htm

[lazarus]

2. Pinball Wizard?

Ever since I was a young boy I played the silver ball
From Soho down to Brighton I must have played them all
But I ain't seen nothing like him in any amusement hall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball

He stands like a statue, becomes part of the machine
Feeling all the bumpers, always playing clean
Plays by intuition, the digit counters fall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball

He's a pinball wizard, there has to be a twist
A pinball wizard's got such a supple wrist
How do you think he does it I don't know
What makes him so good

Ain't got no distractions, can't hear no buzzes or bells
Don't see lights a-flashing, plays by sense of smell
Always gets a replay, never seen him fall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball

I thought I was the Bally table king
But I just handed my pinball crown to him

Even on my favourite table, he can beat my best
His disciples lean him in and he just does the rest
He's got crazy flipper fingers, never seen him fall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball

[Elidor]

3. I had the same thought

It would never have occurred to me that you could play a game solely on the basis of sounds, but obviously that's what he's doing.

[Goldom]

4. I've been shown this article tons of times

and besides the amazingness of it in the first place, I have a few thoughts for it...

1) There is -no- blood in Soul Calibur 2, let alone decapitation, etc. Unless they limited it to only one of the other two systems I don't have it on.

2) Would he thus be utterly easy to beat using Charade? ;)
(for non-SC-players, Charade is a character that every battle randomly becomes another one of the characters, but also, does not make nearly any sound, compared to the normal peoples' screaming all over the place. Thus, he would have no sound-cues to play off of.)