Re: Nintendo accessibility
@Sanslash332, I didn't say adding TTS was impossible merely was pointing out that it would be unlikely and implausible for Nintendo to do so without some extremely convincing reasons to do so. I don't know what your experience is with the tech industry, programming, etc but I can't help but feel as though you gravely underestimate the costs and work involved in carrying out your requests. It may not be as simple or as easy as you claim.
For example, you mention open source TTS systems. The problem is that open source software such as Espeak have restrictions that prevents it from being used in a commercial product. So Nintendo can't just grab something like Espeak which is licence by the GPL and port it to the 3DS or Wii-U without violating the software's license agreement. So it would not be an option for them.
So if we consider the fact that the open source solutions such as FreeTTS, Espeak, and Festival are all off limits for a commercial de veloper like Nintendo that means they have to put the time and money into developing their own TTS engine and voices. That is neither cheap or easy. Either that or they can contract with a company like Cepstral but would cost lots of money to license the technology. That's easier than developing their own TTS engine and voices, but probably much higher in cost.
Even assuming Nintendo went ahead and did that, something I find pretty unlikely, there is no absolute guarantee that a certain game developer will be willing to go back in and add it to the game you want. Most console game developers write the game, sell it, and forget about it. They aren't in the habit of releasing regular updates for their games, patching them, because it is assumed to be complete the moment it is released.. They are not likely to pay some employee to add TTS support to the game after the game was presumably completed and has been selling for weeks or months. How do you, a blind gamer, just ify to the developer that it is worth their time and money to go back and update the game and resell it with this new update?
In short, while I agree with you that it is a good idea, I'd love to see these companies do this, I also believe it to be unrealistic. I have worked enough with software development and have talked with professionals in this field to know what you are asking for is beyond what these companies will be willing to do without a very convincing reason.
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