stoney wrote:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6448213/did/8731861/

Blind teen amazes with video-game ability
Gamer developed skills over years of playing
Updated: 8:09 p.m. ET July 27, 2005

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.

© 2005 The Associated Press

Tommy can you hear me ....... that deaf dumb and blind kid ........ sure
plays a mean pinball ......

stoney wrote:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6448213/did/8731861/

Blind teen amazes with video-game ability
Gamer developed skills over years of playing
Updated: 8:09 p.m. ET July 27, 2005

Tommy can you hear me ....... that deaf dumb and blind kid ........ sure
plays a mean pinball ......