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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 07/28/2005 : 01:41:18
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Having no interest in such things, it is unlikely that I ever will. But I'd really like to see this kid operate:
quote:
Blind Teen Amazes With Video-Game Skills By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jul 27, 5:25 PM ET
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.
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.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 07/28/2005 : 04:50:39 [Permalink]
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Wow, I am more amazed by your lack of play than the blind kid.
You dont know what your missing. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
Posted - 07/28/2005 : 06:32:18 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by filthy
Having no interest in such things, it is unlikely that I ever will. But I'd really like to see this kid operate:
quote:
Blind Teen Amazes With Video-Game Skills By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jul 27, 5:25 PM ET
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.
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.
Even at my favorite table, he can beat my best.
His disciples lead him in and he just does the rest.
Got crazy flipper fingers
Never seen him fall. |
Cthulhu/Asmodeus when you're tired of voting for the lesser of two evils
Brother Cutlass of Reasoned Discussion |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 07/28/2005 : 06:58:54 [Permalink]
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"That deaf, dumb and blind kid,
Sure plays a mean pinball!" -- The Who
I think that he has a distinct advantage over his sighted opponents. He's working by sounds that are familiar to him and has the reflexs of youth. And he is never distracted by lights and images, never slowed down by the story.
I'd love to watch him play.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 07/28/2005 : 07:56:22 [Permalink]
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| Wow... impressive. Really impressive. |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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AKM
New Member
Canada
31 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2005 : 20:59:57 [Permalink]
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Hold on a minute. Is he totally blind or does he meet the minimal definition of blind? I can understand him being able to go through the sequence of buttons to start a game. I cannot understand how he can actually engage in combat without actually seeing his opponent and anticipating moves and then responding. If he can't see where his opponent is, how can he defend or counter an attack, or even find the opponent's position onscreen to mount an attack?
Even in pinball, I would think since the blind person's other senses become more attuned, in this case feel. One can feel the position of the silver ball from the vibration caused by it rolling or hitting targets. On a video game, I don't think there would be any vibration whatsoever that would tell him the position of his opponent.
The only thing I can think of is that he meets the legal definition of being minimally blind. He can make out shapes and perhaps certain colors and shades, but if he's completely blind, someone please explain to me how he can pull this off? |
"Leadership is not magnetic personality—that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not "making friends and influencing people"—that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations." Peter F. Drucker
"If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we'd all be millionaires." Abigail Van Buren |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2005 : 21:03:44 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by AKM
The only thing I can think of is that he meets the legal definition of being minimally blind. He can make out shapes and perhaps certain colors and shades, but if he's completely blind, someone please explain to me how he can pull this off?
He plays with his back to the screen to intimidate his opponents, so he isn't seeing anything. How he does, even he does not know.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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AKM
New Member
Canada
31 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2005 : 21:26:17 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by H. Humbert
He plays with his back to the screen to intimidate his opponents, so he isn't seeing anything. How he does, even he does not know.
Perhaps he has memorized sequences of button combinations during the game that usually produces a win. It might be worthwhile to log every move he uses and see if he repeats certain combinations in multiple games. |
"Leadership is not magnetic personality—that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not "making friends and influencing people"—that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations." Peter F. Drucker
"If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we'd all be millionaires." Abigail Van Buren |
| Edited by - AKM on 07/29/2005 21:27:41 |
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2005 : 22:33:43 [Permalink]
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I haven't played a video game since Asteroids first came out, but I'm willing to bet that this kid's been playing one game--Mortal Kombat--for a very long time. I'd also guess that the game has a limited number of variables with sound effects accompanying movement.
In this case, his handicap has become his strentgh. He navigates life through memory. How many steps to the sofa? Always put the needle and thread right between the scissors and the cologne four fingers from the left on the second shelf from the bottom in the medicine cabinet. The round box of oatmeal ALWAYS goes in front of the round box of cornmeal and directly behind the round box of bread crumbs. A blind person's life must be exceptionally structured relying on memory, timing and cues sighted people rarely excercise.
Perhaps, the cues he reacts to in this particular game are far superior to the cues sighted people react to.
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"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2005 : 08:34:07 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by AKM
Hold on a minute. Is he totally blind or does he meet the minimal definition of blind? I can understand him being able to go through the sequence of buttons to start a game. I cannot understand how he can actually engage in combat without actually seeing his opponent and anticipating moves and then responding. If he can't see where his opponent is, how can he defend or counter an attack, or even find the opponent's position onscreen to mount an attack?
Even in pinball, I would think since the blind person's other senses become more attuned, in this case feel. One can feel the position of the silver ball from the vibration caused by it rolling or hitting targets. On a video game, I don't think there would be any vibration whatsoever that would tell him the position of his opponent.
The only thing I can think of is that he meets the legal definition of being minimally blind. He can make out shapes and perhaps certain colors and shades, but if he's completely blind, someone please explain to me how he can pull this off?
Well, the game of mortal combat can be won by just pushing random buttons. I would always to use strategies in my attacks, while my opponent would just push random buttons, and they would win.
The thing about mortal combat is that you are always facing your opponent, whether you want to or not.
Now there are sound cues you can listen for. I believe such things include jumping, landing, and special moves such as shooting a fireball or creating (I think?) a spark from rubbing two swords together and shooting it towards your opponent. Others I'm not too sure about. If memory severs me right, I don't believe that there are actually footstep sounds. |
Why continue? Because we must. Because we have the call. Because it is nobler to fight for rationality without winning than to give up in the face of continued defeats. Because whatever true progress humanity makes is through the rationality of the occasional individual and because any one individual we may win for the cause may do more for humanity than a hundred thousand who hug their superstitions to their breast.
- Isaac Asimov |
| Edited by - Ricky on 07/30/2005 08:36:42 |
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NubiWan
Skeptic Friend
USA
424 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2005 : 13:05:37 [Permalink]
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Who was that kid, Tommy ?!?
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2005 : 14:36:58 [Permalink]
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The videogame I like absolutely most is the MechWarrior II & III
It's a simulator, of BattleMechs. Huge man-operated war robots of 20-100 tonnes in a sci-fi setting, created by the Roleplaying game company FASA.
As it is a simulator, the game is at times a bit slow, and requires some patience. There are a lot of things to keep in mind while operating the Mech, and in battle situations it gets pretty intense, even for such a slow game.
You need to keep track of the other enemy mechs on the radar, watch the ground, keep a tab on the ammo (you wouldn't want to run out of them), if you're using energy weapons watch the reactor temperature, piloting the mech and twist the mech's torso (in a different direction) to aim at enemies. If the reactor runs too hot, override the emergency thermal shutdown, or flush the emergency coolant tank in order to avoid the auto-shutdown that temporarily makes you a sitting duck. Make sure you don't deviate from mission area (fleeing the battlefield is cowardice), checking the dammage control so you know how to operate the mech to minimize the exposure of critically dammaged parts of the mech to the enemy.
It's my call-sign from the Mechwarrior game, "Mabuse", that became my most favoured online handle.
Mechwarrior is the kind of game that a blind person would not be able to play with much success. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
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"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2005 : 15:55:23 [Permalink]
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quote:
Who was that kid, Tommy ?!?
Tommy, can you hear me?
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METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2005 : 20:26:26 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dr. Mabuse
The videogame I like absolutely most is the MechWarrior II & III
I played a lot of MechWarrior (the first version) on the PC.
Ten zillion different keyboard commands to remember. The only non-visual feedback was the sound of your weapons firing, and your opponents ripping through your 'mech. And along those lines, what was the non-visual difference between, say,- getting hit by a missle and being none the worse for wear,
- getting hit by a missile and losing half your weapons, or
- getting hit by a missle and having your 'mech fall over?
The answer: in the version of the game I played, there was absolutely no difference in the sounds you'd hear. The differences were entirely visual, until (for example) you'd try to fire a weapon and hear nothing happen.
But back to the thread: I'd like to see how well the kid does with the volume at zero and the controller vibration disabled. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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skepticality
Skeptic Friend
USA
105 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2005 : 00:08:07 [Permalink]
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quote:
But back to the thread: I'd like to see how well the kid does with the volume at zero and the controller vibration disabled.
Or just turn on some music and talk a lot when you play him...
I'm kind of confused though, unless the video game is in true surround sound, or something, how is there any spacial feedback?
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Derek Colanduno
host - skepticality
http://www.skepticality.com/ |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2005 : 02:42:43 [Permalink]
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Shit, break his fuckin' hands, why don't ya? Scorch his eardrums with a soldering iron, then anybody can beat beat him every time!
I think that it's pretty damned amazing that he's mastered just a couple of these games to the point where he's all but unbeatable. The kid is blind, fer the love 'a Rasputin! Yeesh!
Unless o'course, it's all just a big, fat scam & rip-off by the vidio game arcade conspiring with his parents to rake in them quarters....
What no one has yet touched upon, and I was hoping that someone more knowledgable than I (plenty of those around) would, is the compensations that the mind is capable of in making up for such a huge disadvantage.
And here is where it gets really interesting: this kid is not an idiot savant, but where and to what degree do the compensations his mental process' have made differ from those of retarded persons that have mastered mathamatics? It's not just math, either. I've read of one who taught himself to play classical piano, by ear, and another that is a fine sculptor, mainly of horses. If I remember right, the pianist was blind as well. All he had to do was hear a piece played once, and he'd be able to play it himself.
The speed at which the minds of idiot savants work is incredable, albeit limited in their scope, and this kid's must be working almost as fast, also within limits. What, I wonder might be the comparitive relationship?
I'll use myself as another example. When in the field, if I see a snake, I might not know what the species is, but I will instantly know what it is not. I don't need to see the entire animal. or even very much of it, to, let's say, reverse ID it. If I want to do positive a ID, I can simply grab it, and with impunity every time. I don't even need to think about it, and it has been this way since I was a kid.
With me and to a much greater extent, our latter-day pinball wizard, it is dedicated self training. I think that the same holds true for the idiot savants, but on a whole different level.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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