not exactly 360 related but .........DAMN!

Holy sh........

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thats weird, im looking at it now but if i try the link it says its expired too.............anyways

this is what it says:

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.

"I'm getting bored," Mellen said in jest as he won game after game.

Blind since birth when his optic nerve didn't connect because of Leber's disease, Mellen honed his video game skills over the years through patient and not-so-patient playing, memorizing key joystick operations and moves in certain games, asking lots of questions and paying particular attention to audio cues. He worked his way up from games such as "Space Invaders" and "Asteroid," onto the modern combat games.

"I guess I don't know how I do it, really," Mellen said, as he continued playing while facing away from the screen. "It's beyond me."

Mellen knows this much: He started playing at home when he was about 7.

"He enjoyed trying to play, but he wasn't very good at first," said his father, Larry Mellen. "But he just kept on trying. ... He's broken a lot of controllers."

When the question of broken controllers comes up, Mellen flashes a smile and just shrugs.

"I used to have quite a temper," he said. "Me and controllers didn't get along very well."

Now they get along just fine.

While playing "Soul Caliber 2," Mellen worked his way through the introductory screens with ease, knowing exactly what to click to start the game he wanted.

He rarely asked for help. Once the game started he didn't need any help.

"How do I move?" an exasperated opponent, Ryan O'Banion, asked during a battle in which his character is frozen in place.

"You can't," Mellen answered before finishing him off.

"That's what happens. It's why I don't play him," O'Banion said after his blood-spattered character's corpse vanishes from the screen.

How Mellen became so good is a mystery to his father.

"He just sat there and he tried and tried until he got it right," Larry Mellen said. "He didn't ever complain to me or anyone about how hard it was."

Mellen hangs out any chance he gets at the DogTags Gaming Center in Lincoln, which opened last month. Every now and then someone will come in and think he can easily beat the blind kid.

That attitude doesn't faze Mellen.

"I'll challenge them, maybe. If I feel like a challenge," he said, displaying an infectious confidence. "I freak people out by playing facing backwards."

There's nothing he likes better than playing video games, Mellen said.

He will be a senior in high school next year. After graduation, he plans to take a year off because he wants a break from school.

When he does go to college, Mellen wants to study — what else? — video-game design.



I just thought it was kinda cool, and wanted to share the story.

he's blind?!?!

heh thats a cool story one of my cousins cousins was blind everytime me and my other cousins would play him in the first mortal combat god he beat the hell out of us man the old 2D games..those were the days

Im trying to figure out how does do it though.................thats amazing

In the picture of him playing, he was playing one of the current gen mortal kombats.

Pushing buttons , plus most games have autoaim crap.

I read about this guy over a month ago.
And that article has Soul Calibur 2 confused with the latest Mortal Kombat.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/games_blind_gamer

I don't understand how he can study video game design if he can't see. I mean, maybe playing videogames, but you cannot design stuff when blindfolded.

You'd be surprised...

Also, he probably (unconsciously) listens to the buttons his opponent hits. You know, the D-pad sounds different from the triggers and the A/B/X/Y buttons.

Hes not phychic, he jsut knows how to play without seeing what hes doing. He doesn't listen to the opponents buttons
Also, yes, yes I would be surprised if he could design a game with a mouse and keyboard and know what he's doing. If you think designing a game is as easy as pressing a few buttons blindfolded (All tehy are are button combos, might I add), then you've got a lot to learn.

Well he won't be designing the game with mouse and keyboard. He will probably have some kind of the new device that lets blind artist to create 3d modes but finger touch (just something like the books they have). In some sort of that I guess, but don't take my words. Howvere, if he will designe with mouse and keyboard (regular), then he probaly has some kind of ability to see (image) things. Maybe he is superhuman in some sort (annanuki). lol

You are a sad little child.

its pretty amazing, its going to be tough coding, but it is hard playing blind... so you never know.

Let me Repeat.
fighting games like soul calibur etc are probably the easiest games to play without any visual support. It's hard, but easier than playing, lets say, a puzzle game like tetris or a fighting game like super smash brothers.
In these fighting games, like mortal combat etc, your opponent is always either on your right or on your left. You just have to know the right button combos etc.
I'm not saying its easy, I mean, this kid has been playing for many, many years, but plays fightning games for a simple reason.

Anyone understand what I'm saying?

And spearfree, he is not superhuman, you retard.

I feel like I'm in Southpark or something where I am the only sane person who can understand this situation .Twisted symphony or deftech, please help me out here.

I know what you are saying. You can button mash/random combo and still win. But I don't think he could play Halo too well.

Thank you for understanding!!!

good point...........wonder if he can play fps'

It sounds to me like your the retard

He may not be superhuman but he has definately got special abilitys
I cant belive u trying to put the blind kid down
how many times have u tried to play a game blinfolded and beat many people that have challenged u ?

Even just button bashing and winning skilled none blind people would take some doing
so doing it blind is one hell of a achievement

So no i dont understand what u are trying to say

I never said it was easy to be good at a fighter, but if I was blind, that would be the type of game I'd be able to play. I'm not putting the blind kid down, retard. He doesn't have special abilities. He's done something for a long time and has gotten good at it. It's not like he picked it up one day and started owning +1gamers in competitions.
He cannot play a game like super mario 64 or Starcraft. I'm the one being realistic. Sure he knows good button combos and knows if he's hitting his opponent or not (who is always beside his playable character), but he cannot do the same in a game like starfox64 or even super smash brothers.

I don't even know why I try to explain simple things to you. You and spearfree are now on my ignore list. I do not want to lose my hair over individuals who are so dillusional and immature.
- Carlo

To end the war...Carlo...u r RETARDED. BTW, google about annanukis, and THEN do some reading on abilities they've could do, and find out how many ppl (human to be called) can do today. How? I don't know (acctually I do know, but cannot do). There is mnore in this world than most of u think as well as "not everything is the way it seems to be".

Oh, I am sorry...I must be the one: RETARD!

Ah, the reason why you are in my ignore list exactly.
If he has "super human powers', why oh why is he playing videogames? Hmm?
Oh yeah, my buddy got brought aboard a ufo from a distant galaxy. You read about those, don't you? He told me he saw videos of George bush making secret pacts with Osama Bin Laden about plotting the U.S's downfall. Then when he came back down, he was able to read peoples minds and their futures.

I'm not lying, I Swear.

Thanx for understand my point. I might not said it the right way, but believe me I've seen with my own eyey when a blind woman "sew" (I might have used the wrong word, but in that concept--she draw a picture of my face).

U r an idion....say anything u want, I won't replay anymore.

It's easy for blind people to do that. they feel your face and get an idea of what you look like in their minds. < Any of us can do that.

She's also a good drawer, which means she can easily transfer her thoughts on a picture onto paper very effieciently, which is what she did.

I took you guys off my ignore list because I thought you guys were joking about this, but you guys seriously need to learn a bit more about the creatures we are and the world around us.
So young and immature.

sorry for being an idion. i r sorry for making you not want to replay anymore. will u b my friend?/?//??slash/??question mark??/

You mean 'drew'. Nice grammar, hotshot. Looks like you got super human powers to spell incorrectly!

lol that was funny

this topic is giong nowhere- ***LOCKED***

o wait i cant do that, not yet neways ***UNLOCKED***

neho heres my two cents:



i wud v much like to see u draw ne1s face from touch, try doing ure own without a mirror, scan it and post it- that is the only way to settle this. That or a good old fashioned gunfight- pistols at dawn?

Oh a gun fight! can I join in!!

Are you telling me you've never seen blind people touch someones face in a converstation to try and understand what he/she might look like in person? Watch "MASK", not the one with Jim Carey, the movie about the child born with vigorous calcium buildup in the base of his skull. Also, watch "Ray". Also, go and meet a blind person. I know a few of them at my school who are in the audio-education course assistor classes which helps them learn by listening instead of seeing diagrams and pictures.
Maybe you should know a blind person or two before you tell me how they communicate with others.
You can get a pretty good idea of what someone looks like by feeling their facial structure etc, it just takes a skilled drawer to transfer them.

So please, know what you are talking about before you attempt to prove me wrong by insulting my intelligence.
Thank you.

ps. You can't really argue with someone when you 'tlak v much like dis to ne1'.

omg this topic is pathetic- carlo uve totally lowered the tone. is this not menna b about xbox 360, not how ppl spell or type.

but coming down to ure lvl (or 'level' to be grammatically correct in every way):

i didnt ask for URE life story
it was the fact that u sed i was asking u to prove that U can- i dont doubt sum blind ppl can do what u say. Where did u get the idea i was telling u how blind ppl communicate???

in fact, in my whole post, i never mentioned how blind ppl communicate- and about 'trying' to prove u rong-the fact that u havent drawn a pic of ure face from touch and posted it means i have proved u wrong

neho feel free to pick apart my spelling and the way i type but this is gettin lame- will some mod lock this, it going nowhere useful.

has anyone else noticed this topic should be renamed 'carlo210 vs everyone'
or maybe 'useless arguments about nothing, by carlo210'
just a thought

I can't believe someone actually thinks that the blind guy isn't doing anything special. FYI, he's not a button masher who's getting lucky every now and then, he's whoppin' anyone who challenges him - which probably mean he knows when to hit the 'block' button. I think it's awesome and I'd probably pay to play him.

deffo i think alot of people would be impressed by anyone who seems unbeatable at a game- but doing it blind

I heard this before but not this guy... this guy I heard of hes blind of course... so basically, the sounds the enemy makes in the game, like lets say jumoping, he may make a whoosing sound, and the Blind guy will know it and reacts to it, oh and to learn the combos, he prints them off the internet, by using a brazillian printing machine or something, and he reads the combos using his fingers.

It's a total shame to see a thread like this turn to shite...

I saw an interview with this same kid on the discovery channel recently. He's very good but he can only play games with audio ques for every action. Which means he can play games like Mortal Kombat and probably DOA very well but would be completely lost in say Halo or Final Fantasy, at least without additional equipment to help him (for instance something that reads on screen text or beeps to alert him to the location of nearby enemies, walls, etc)

Don't get me wrong he's extremely talented and it's somewhat baffling how he can learn to play these games having never seen them. It's not impossible or magic though. On MANY occasions I've been able to beat friends blind folded while playing my UMK3 arcade machine. Actually the monitor used to have a problem where it would black out if you'd been playing it for too long. Every so often I'd get bored and see how well I did playing just by sound. It's not terribly hard if you're familiar with the game already and if you were to spend some time practicing you could get quite good at it. Infact it can often help your regular game play because most audio clips start before there is a visual queue on screen.

The amazing part about this kid is that he's never seen the game. Sure I can play UMK3 blind but that was after spending years playing the game. He doesn't even know what any of the characters look like and learned to play by sound alone.

As for him being in the video game industry... Fantastic... All this guy has to go by is sound and good gameplay, in an industry that is moving towards empty games with amazing graphics someone like him would be vital to ensuring that games are not only graphically appealing but can stand on it's own without any graphics at all.

Laugh if you like but MS actually has a Windows programmer who is completely blind (another discovery channel special). It was kind of weird seeing him sit at and use a computer with the monitor off (the monitor was there so OTHER people could see his screen when he needed to show them things).

Nailed it once again, TwistedSymphony.

i think this was on dateline or something like that last night. messed up. thats a really bored kid. blind or not. cool though.

Lol, I tell you, the Blind kid would whoop my ass so badly at fighting games... pick any game he plays, and bet a million on the blind kid, welcome to the millionare world son...