The organizers of E3 announce a new event called iicon, but it's not open to the public and you probably don't want to go anyway - Related to one, hobbies, ceramic, organizers, event

How a small team is helping to move accessibility forward, one thumbstick at a time

What's the state of accessibility in games at the moment? When it comes to console platform holders, two of the three main players have made serious contributions. The release of the PlayStation Access Controller in 2023 was a thoughtful response to at least some of the barriers presented by the Sony's controllers, allowing players to remap buttons to more effective suit their needs. And since 2018, Microsoft's Xbox Adaptive Controller has allowed players to customise inputs with remarkable granularity.

This has made me think deeply about accessibility over the past few months, specifically about what other approaches might provide real advancements for players with disabilities. Maybe it's less a question of the advancements but who might be making them. Is progress still reliant on a radical shift in thinking by corporate giants, or is there room for innovations from smaller organisations, third-parties and start-ups?

Crucially, is there more that can be done to transform the experience of using the standard controllers that consoles already come with? Taking Sony as an example, the current PlayStation controller cannot be adapted out of the box. Many disabled players without the Access Controller will be stuck if they struggle to use the DualSense, due to the shape and size of it, or if they lack the muscle strength to move the sticks or physically press a button.

But this area is exactly where a handful of companies like Thumb Soldiers are making a difference. Last year I sat down with David Chapman, an inventor and the founder of Thumb Soldiers, to talk about his work, and the solution he offers for the lack of control many disabled players face with their own out-of-the-box gaming setups.

Thumb Soldiers wants to disrupt what it sees as the current "one size fits all" mentality in controller design. Rather than creating full adaptive controllers that allow for button remapping, it seeks to empower players to modify their own controllers to suit the games they're playing and their physical abilities.

The team does this by exploring a hidden niche in accessibility: controller adaptations for the sticks, equipping players with a new range of tools to allow them to play their way. I can't help but believe that thinking like this, and products that emerge from it, should be the first port of call for disabled players who require assistance. After all, it's stressful and disheartening to face accessibility issues preventing you from enjoying a beloved hobby.

I always measure the level of compassion in my interviewees with the question: Why is accessibility crucial to you? "It's a no-brainer," Chapman tells me when we chat. "If you can [do something about it], why wouldn't you? It's not from being disabled myself or having a sibling who requires accessibility products, it's just something that's obvious to me. As soon as the idea for the product was born, one of my first thoughts was, 'How can this be used to help gamers who need assistance with their gaming?' I wanted to help those that may struggle to enjoy the things I enjoy."

I ask Chapman if Thumb Soldiers initially set out to enter the gaming accessibility industry. The answer is: not exactly. "The very first design was the steering wheel [attachment]," he explains. This is, like all Thumb Soldiers creations, a device that clips onto the analogue sticks of a controller to give the player more options and control. "It was not necessarily intended as an assistive product." Chapman sees Thumb Soldiers as being unique in the accessibility space for this reason: "We are not solely an accessibility product, nor are we a non-accessibility product," he explains. "We simply have an inclusive product [website] suit a user's requirements best."

That Racer kit is a case in point. With its mounted ring attachment, It's useful for racing games in general, and it's advantageous to many gamers due to the security it provides by allowing the user to insert their thumb into the ring element and therefore prevent the thumb from slipping off the thumbstick. "Likewise," Chapman says, "the sticks [attachments], though designed for gamers with limited dexterity, also allows gamers to interact with the controller like a retro joystick, or for games requiring controlled inputs."

The Racer kit is now joined by other product lines such as precision attachments for the likes of FPS games, and the wonderfully named Shrooms kit, which provides a bigger surface area to the sticks for players with conditions like multiple sclerosis, arthritis and cerebral palsy. I would have benefitted from using stick extensions or differently shaped attachments like this when I first detected issues with gaming when I was younger. It's a reminder that struggling to play games when you love the artform can make for a lonely and depressing time. You can feel like the world is against you.

Accessibility products require collaboration and testing, which is where gaming charities such as Special Effect or Everyone Can often come in, offering vital knowledge and experience and feedback. I ask Chapman whether experts like this have been of use. "We contacted Special Effect early in the development of the products," he says. "As soon as we had trial kits to send out, Special Effect was one of the first to receive them, and the feedback we received was overwhelming. It was so significant to get that feedback from those guys." It sounds like it went well. "To hear how positively they referred to what we were doing, how well the product works, the quality of the product, we knew we were absolutely onto something special."

The controller adaptation field is currently in its infancy, but it has the scope to improve gaming for disabled gamers. While Thumb Soldiers can provide stick attachments already, being able to adapt buttons or triggers would clearly be the next step, and is one that other teams are already experimenting with. And the accessibility space will still require the aid of gaming charities such as Special Effect for serious adaptations such as soft-press buttons. Still, Thumb Soldiers would be a great way for a disabled player to enter the realm of accessibility and find some semblance of hope again.

As I look over Thumb Soldier's line-up, I realise that, ultimately, accessibility innovations don't have to be radical. Innovation can come from someone at home playing a video game who happens to have a small idea. And it can often be these small ideas, which may be considered simple to some, that can provide the greatest result.

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The organizers of E3 announce a new event called iicon, but it's not open to the public and you probably don't want to go anyway

E3 died in 2023 but the Entertainment Software Association is still around, and it's just unveiled its new idea: "a first-of-its-kind event designed to connect visionaries, thought leaders and innovators from across industries to harness the power of interactive entertainment" called iicon.

Two things right off the start: No, this is not a reborn E3, and no, I didn't spell it wrong. Iicon is a snappy abbreviation for the Interactive Innovation Conference, and its goal is to provide attendees ", engaging discussions and workshops, and elite networking opportunities with executives shaping the future of entertainment, business and technology." Those executives will come from companies including Amazon Games, Disney, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Microsoft, Nintendo of America, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft and Warner Bros.

"The Entertainment Software Association and its member companies are among the innovators and leaders shaping the future of culture, business and human connection," ESA chairman Doug Bowser mentioned. "It’s a natural role for ESA to host and support an event that fosters an open exchange of new ideas with our peer industry leaders.

"Iicon is bringing together changemakers from across industries to envision how the strengths of the interactive entertainment industry can break entirely new ground."

It doesn't sound like much fun in the way that E3 was, even in the days before the public was allowed to attend. There was an excitement to those events, as game and hardware makers showcased their wares to throngs of journalists, and we all eagerly read about what they saw in our favorite magazines or websites. And even though E3 was a fading star by the time it opened its doors to the public in 2016, there was genuine enthusiasm for it among gamers who wanted to know more about the next big (or even small) thing.

Iicon, by comparison, sounds more like executives talking to executives about executive stuff: Industry trends, share prices, how to make more games with fewer developers, maybe a little M&A, that sort of stuff.

But that's really a improved fit for what the ESA does. Its mission, , is "to help expand and protect the innovative and creative marketplace for the videogame industry here in the United States," through actions like "educating policymakers and regulators about the power of play and videogames' positive impact on society."

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It also works as a lobby group for the industry as a whole: Earlier this week, for instance, the ESA issued a statement criticizing US president Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on products coming from Canada, Mexico, and China, saying they "would negatively impact hundreds of millions of Americans and would harm the industry’s significant contributions to the US economy. Last year it also lobbied against libraries and educational institutions being able to provide remote access to games for research purposes, claiming that such easy access to classic games "would present a serious risk to an significant market."

Iicon clearly has a very different mandate than that of consumer-focused events like The Game Awards or PAX, one aimed primarily at investors and regulators rather than, well, you. Think of it this way: Phil Spencer might wear jeans and a t-shirt when he's up on stage with Geoff Keighley, but you enhanced believe he's going to be in a suit and tie if he displays up at iicon.

So, setting aside the tiresome tradespeak—iicon will provide "a key opportunity to drive innovation and foster collaboration across sectors"—the conference makes sense, at least as far as a justification for the ongoing existence of the ESA. What makes less sense is it being held in Las Vegas just two months after DICE, another businessy, industry-only event. But the ESA doesn't control DICE, which may be exactly why it's aiming to jam another conference into the arena.

One estimate says the global videogame industry is set to surpass $300 billion in revenues by 2027, and it's a very normal and unremarkable thing for big players in such a lucrative business to get together and plot out the future. But will it mean much for the rest of us? Are we likely to see Keanu Reeves walk out on stage and tell the crowd, "You're breathtaking?" Probably not, no.

If, despite all this, you're still eager to attend and see what's cooking, you've got until April 2026 to become one of the "visionaries, thought leaders and innovators across industries that intersect with interactive entertainment" the ESA will be letting through the doors.

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The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Adds Tattoo Artist Career And Ceramic Incense Burners

As part of The Sims' 25th anniversary celebrations, Maxis has announced the next expansion pack coming to The Sims 4, Businesses & Hobbies. After subtly teasing the upcoming release throughout its 25-hour livestream, the studio finally revealed an official trailer and release date earlier this morning. The expansion is currently set to release on March 6.

In a move that has been somewhat contentious with Sims fans--just check the video's comments--Businesses & Hobbies seems to vastly expand and improve 2015's Get to Work expansion, as well as incorporate elements of The Sims 2's beloved Open for Business expansion into it. The expansion pack adds two new hobbies, tattooing and pottery-making, as well as the ability to completely own and manage various businesses and services. Though the trailer highlighted two businesses in particular--Branche Tattoo studio and a one-man pottery business--it looks as though there will be numerous goods and services sims can offer for a profit.

While the pottery-making skill seems relatively straightforward and similar to skills such as painting, baking, and knitting, the tattooing skill allows players a great deal of artistic freedom thanks to its new Paint Mode. Once in Paint Mode, players can draw, place stencils, and fine-tune colors and patterns as they imbue their sims with some sick ink.

In addition to running a tattoo parlor and pottery studio, the trailer confirmed that sims will be able to manage their own gym, own a candy shop, and operate an art gallery. The video also highlighted sims' ability to teach classes for profit, turning high-skill levels into cold, hard cash. Though a comprehensive list of businesses sims can run has yet to be revealed, the variety of small business icons located in the Edit Small Business Menu seem to indicate they will be able to manage arcades, casinos, waterparks, animal shelters, bakeries, laundromats, beauty parlors, and more.

One of the most exciting aspects of Businesses & Hobbies take on running a business is that your sims will be able to do so from home. Rather than having to own a separate community lot, players will now get the option to designate certain areas of their home as residential, public, or employee-only. The trailer also makes it seem as though sims will be able to pass on both their knowledge and businesses to their offspring, creating a family trade.

A screenshot of Businesses & Hobbies Edit Small Businesses menu. Players are able to pick a logo, adjust prices, and select their target customers.

Businesses & Hobbies marks the 18th full-size expansion for the game, which is poised to remain the series' core title for the foreseeable future. Though Maxis is currently working on a new iteration of The Sims, Project Rene, the game is being pitched as an online, multiplayer experience--a statement that sounds eerily familiar and has us skeptical.

In other Sims news, Maxis made news last month when it finally released Legacy Collections of both The Sims 1 and The Sims 2, the former of which, pardon my language, kicked my ass. However, players have reported a slew of frustrating bugs that has made playing the nostalgia-inducing titles a bit frustrating.

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