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First Adroit accessible controller, 'Switchblade,' revealed

by JC Fletcher on Aug 29th 2011 11:45AM

You might know the name "Switchblade" as the tiny, currently concept-only laptop by Razer. However, it's also the first in Evil Controllers and AbleGamers' "Adroit" line of controllers designed for easy accessibility for players with disabilities.

The Switchblade is basically a big black box, with 19 ports to which sticks, buttons, rumble packs, and other attachments can be placed in any configuration. It comes with two joysticks, but as Thrifty Nerd reports, it's possible to make a directional pad out of four buttons as well, if that works better for the owner's needs. You can also program macros for each individual port.

The Switchblade is built for Xbox 360, but adapters will be available for use on PC and PS3. There's no date yet, and no official price, but Thrifty Nerd reports that it'll be "a few hundred dollars." It's pricey, but not compared to the cost of having your own customized controller built.

Source: ThriftyNerd

Tags: ablegamers, accessibility, adroit, evil-controllers, microsoft, pax-2011, pc, playstation, ps3, switchblade, xbox

Reader Comments (22)

That's awesome : )

@xxdfgf I hate spammers. GO TO HELL!

@Warlock234

He just said that it's awesome!

Geez people these days...

@Marco le Polo
might wanna take another look there and see if what you thought was going on truely went on

@Protege420

lol yea I know it's just usually when a spammer gets removed you're put into a new comment and not a reply. This one just backfired in a most comedic way.

Handicap accessible controller? Awesome!
Charging an arm and a leg? F you.
There's nothing people who are permanently disabled have more than disposable cash. It's not like health insurance is pricey for them.

@ijustw1n "It's pricey, but not compared to the cost of having your own customized controller built."

I really hope I took your comment the wrong way and you're being sarcastic. Yeah, it's a high price, but at the end of the day, for product to be viable, so does the company, and if the company isn't breaking even at the very least, they're not going to last. Which means, yet again, handicapped people will be left with a more expensive option.

@ijustw1n
Unfortunately, controllers such as this are not cheap to make, so disabled gamers are forced to pay a premium. As far as I know, this is the cheapest controller available to disabled gamers: http://www.xoxide.com/access-controller.html

That's pretty cool. I built basically the same thing for myself but only for PS3. I am currently using it for a DDR pad, but have plans for using it on a custom fight stick.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmfoley/6012529946/in/photostream

Not trying to sound like a douche but who exactly does it make it easier? maybe i just cant see because i'm not handicapped or anything but i just dont see how this makes it easier.

@originalzombieslayer888
I can agree I'm not entirely sure how this helps I must be missing the idea here so if someone could please hlp explain how this is helping handicapped people plz let me know.

@originalzombieslayer888

Got one arm/hand? Have fun gripping a normal controller as their designed then.

@originalzombieslayer888 Because it has a customizable base it can be configured to suit the handicapped persons needs, and as quite a few disabilities can be unique this means it can suit the person.

@originalzombieslayer888

This alleviates the hassle of using default or unmappable controller settings with a standard controller.

You can't remap the dpad to suit your need in the game because the game only has three configs and the controller design doesn't work for you? Then use this to MAKE your own physical controller design to satisfy the game's restrictions.

I love it.

Good. Everybody should be able to appreciate the joy of playing a video game.

I don't know why they would charge more than $100 for this. I designed and built one of these in college for a design contest and the bill of materials was only about $40 for the final product.

Really regretting not patenting the design now (IT LOOKED EXACTLY THE SAME)

@(Unverified) yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Its not hard to make really. I built one similar for PS3. But I suppose you can charge whatever you want when there isn't competition.

@(Unverified) One big thing that they have done is to get their device certified for XBox 360. I think that's not been possible until very recently, and it's possibly an expensive process for a company that might only sell thousands of the product, not millions. A basic XBox 360 controller currently goes for around $60+. I'd say that around $200 would be reasonable for this product; although you could clearly make your own for around $40 in components, there's also the matter of construction time, testing, and marketing.

hey the more people get to play games, the better for all of us.

It makes me a bit sad knowing disabled gamers have to buy a seperate equipment, instead of the devs allowing customizable button inputs.

If anyone wants to aim with the up button on d-pad and jump with the right trigger, then it should be their choice. Chances are, it's more ergonomic to someone who is disabled.

As an update, everyone may like to know that our Adroit Controller is up on the site.

http://www.evilcontrollers.com/products/evil-accessibility/adroit-controller.html

The $399.99 price point may seem rather steep to people that haven't looked into the cost of custom controllers, but we are always looking to find ways to reduce the cost for the end user. We believe all of the options that this controller allows for easily makes this a solid deal.

The Adroit features the following functions:
Remap Ability: Change any Xbox 360 Controller function to any switch of your choice.

Toggle Ability: Functions can be customized to allow switches the option of imitating “hold functions” (example: Crouching in Call of Duty: Black Ops)

Turbo Ability: Functions can be customized to allow switches the option of imitating “Rapid button presses” while simply holding a switch.

Multi Button Press: Use one switch to press Multiple Buttons.

Looking at that, has anyone else thought of a device that would,
on the fly, produce Brail?

Feed in a word document, and it would have a million little pegs
that would make it readable.

Breaking News

First Adroit accessible controller, 'Switchblade,' revealed

Reader Comments (22)

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 11:51AM maxxgold said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 1:14PM Warlock234 said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 2:48PM Marco le Polo said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 4:00PM Protege420 said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 5:08PM Marco le Polo said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 12:15PM ijustw1n said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 12:53PM Jordan94jb said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 12:53PM trendscenedental said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 12:15PM Mickfo said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 12:30PM originalzombieslayer888 said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 12:44PM Grimbear13 said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 12:46PM This Little Man Says His Name Is said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 12:55PM Jordan94jb said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 1:25PM CaptainProtonX said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 1:04PM mlg rules said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 1:24PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 2:25PM Mickfo said

Posted: Aug 30th 2011 6:32AM Tom Anderson said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 2:59PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 29th 2011 5:40PM Dhexodus said

Posted: Aug 30th 2011 4:01PM Evil Carlos said

Posted: Oct 3rd 2011 6:20PM GlassAgate said

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