Video game for disabled children developed in Spain

A NEW Spanish video game for PlayStation4 (PS4) entitled Arcade Land has been developed especially for players with disabilities such as cerebral palsy. Alongside traditional game play, the video game functions have been adapted to children with limited mobility.

Arcade Land, a joint production between the Spanish branch of Siemens Education Centre (SCE) and PS, have designed the game so that players can control the action and functions of their character, commonly known as an avatar, either by body movements recorded via the PlayStation camera or conventionally, using the PS4 joystick.

The main concept of this game, developed in collaboration with physiotherapists and doctors, is to ensure that children suffering from Cerebral Palsy are able to utilise a larger muscle group than they would normally do due to motor limitations. 

The fun mini-games hope to aid in diminishing common effects of the condition, such as muscle shortening and chronic pain, due to their requirement for the avatars to manoeuvre and perform throughout the various fun tasks and gaming levels.

Arcade Land is the brainchild of social marketing agency Helping who, led by Juan Jose Gonzalez Lopez-Huerta, were awarded €25,000 funding for the project by the Fundacion Obra Social La Caixa in 2015. 

The video game has been developed rather quickly, and reports claim that PlayStation hope that the game will be used as a tool to help improve the lives of people and demonstrate the company’s social commitment. 

Arcade Land will be equally entertaining for all children and will soon be available in Spain for €9.99 from the PlayStation store.