FunTimePartyTeam Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/07/...r.ap/index.html Blind teen amazes with video game ability LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) -- 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 Calibur 2," their video characters were killed 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 video game design. I dont care if he's tommy the pinball wizard. I am the master of my domain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLIK$ Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Who the fuck is going to hire the blind kid to design video games? "Oh you see that spot there its not rendered right... oh fuck, wait." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UriGellar Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 he must just high speed button bash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLIK$ Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 yo MOOGLE? fuck this kid up. forill, cant have his blind ass thinking hes king of kombat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatbastard Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Well wasn't beethoven deaf? Or was that mozart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
source Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 mozart was insane, beethoven was def, but at least they could see what the fuck they were doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLIK$ Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 I think it's a hoax. Wouldnt you just be able to like back away from his character the whole fight? STICK AND MOVE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ODS-1 Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Originally posted by source@Jul 29 2005, 02:08 PM mozart was insane, beethoven was def, but at least they could see what the fuck they were doing. Quoted post Haha that made me laugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeRVe54 Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 if this blind dude was whoopin my ass in some mortal kombat id unplug his fuckin controller. bet he never trained for that move Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CACashRefund Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 I would fuck this kid up, ive been playing mortal kombat since that shit came out, still go it on the SNES and have it on the PS2. Imma challenge this blind nigga, them im gonna PWNZORRZ HIM!!1one!1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAGS156 Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 just unplug his controller he'll never know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAGS156 Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 sorry that was low Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theGOON Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 yeah... i'm thinking he's a button pusher. what's better than being blind and kicking ass at MK? seeing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnomeToys Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Since most modern fighting games are an excercise in jamming every button on the pad at the same time while rotating the stick as quickly as possible, I can see how not being distracted by the graphics would actually help. Kr430n5_666 is reading this thread. All hail Kr430n5_666. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCRAWBURRY Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 I read about this guy in last months EGM...I cant pull off fatalities with my eyes open. :haha: Props to this guy for being able to pull them off just from sound alone...That's awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunTimePartyTeam Posted July 29, 2005 Author Share Posted July 29, 2005 Those MK fast jabs really were good for 5 yr old button pushing tactics. Fools would just walk into it. Id have to ease up close and sweep this dude. But MK cant even hold a candle to the brightness that is: Shits bonkers. I wish I had the arcade version at home, I'd be wasting away the laundry quarters like nobody's biz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fondles Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Street fighter alpha 1 had the best combo system in all the SF's. And yes, I would crush you in that shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boogie hands Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 anyone who has played drunken video games with a girlfriend will not be impressed by this.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeedependency Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 i'm hardly ever impressed with the endeavors of blind 17-year olds, but why the fuck is he playing Mortal Kombat to begin with? as if it's enriching his blind universe or some shit. it's a slap in the face to visually enabled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JambaJuice Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 i'm sure the fact that he's "unbeatable' has a lot to do with if someone did beat him, you know everybody would be like "dude....why'd you do that? we all just let him win cause he's blind....now he's crying. good job asshole" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gone gone forever Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 Originally posted by fatbastard@Jul 29 2005, 05:40 PM Well wasn't beethoven deaf? Or was that mozart? Quoted post :haha: :haha: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synaps Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 video game design :haha: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dumy Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 laughing at Glik0's comments..you set it off right..haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEROJUANA Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 YOU SEE...I COULD NEVER PLAY VIDEO GAMES WITH THIS NIGGA. CUZ I GET VERY UPSET WHEN I KEEP LOSING AT VIDEO GAMES. AND JUST LOOKING AT THIS ASSHOLE WITH HIS SMUSHY EYELIDS JUST SITTING THERE ALL HUNCHED OVER NOT EVEN GIGGLING. I'D KICK THIS NIGGA IN THE FACE...NO ACTUALLY I WOULDNT EVEN DO THAT. ID JUST DESTROY THIS NIGGA (IM FILTHY AT MORTAL KOMBAT) AND BE LIKE "OH SHIT NIGGA! YOU SEE THAT!, YOU SAW THAT MOVE?! OH YO MY BAD YOU CANT SEE SHIT" THEN I'D WHISPER ALL LOUD "I FORGOT THIS NIGGA WAS BLIND AND CANT SEE SHIT LIKE THAT BITCHES FAT ASS IN A THONG STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO ME"..."YOU NEVER SEEN TITTIES BEFORE? HAHA YOUR LIFE MUST BE TERRIBLE NIGGA. DO BLIND NIGGAS GET ANY PUSSY? DO YOU JUST FUCK ANY BITCH SINCE YOU CANT SEE WHO'S UGLY AND WHO ISN'T?" AND I WOULD JUST CONTINUE ON THAT NOTE UNTIL THE NIGGA HUNG HIMSELF WITH HIS CONTROLLER...THIS NIGGA IS PROBABLY ALL GASSED BECAUSE THAT VIDEO GAME SHIT IS ALL HE HAS. I BET THE LAST PERSON TO TOUCH HIS DICK (THAT WASN'T HIM) WAS THE NIGGA THAT CIRCUMCISED HIM. BLIND ASS HERB. FUCK THIS NIGGA. M E R O E NO MERCY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnomeToys Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 Before that post, I thought Mero had limits of some kind. I was wrong. Awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trackstand Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 Fuck the bullshit, that kid is rad. That was cold Mero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEROJUANA Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 Originally posted by Biggus Dickus@Jul 30 2005, 04:41 PM Before that post, I thought Mero had limits of some kind. I was wrong. Awesome. Quoted post MY NIGGA I HAVE NO RESPECT FOR ANYTHING OR ANYBODY. MEROOOOOOOO MLB TEAM NIGGA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tough Love Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 he couldve spent 10 years of his life learning to do something better.. who the hell cares about being good at the video game..its just a fucking button smasher anyways Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeRVe54 Posted July 31, 2005 Share Posted July 31, 2005 Originally posted by JambaJuice@Jul 30 2005, 02:49 PM i'm sure the fact that he's "unbeatable' has a lot to do with if someone did beat him, you know everybody would be like "dude....why'd you do that? we all just let him win cause he's blind....now he's crying. good job asshole" Quoted post :haha: :haha: :haha: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_habiT Posted July 31, 2005 Share Posted July 31, 2005 Originally posted by FunTimePartyTeam@Jul 29 2005, 11:25 AM I dont care if he's tommy the pinball wizard. I am the master of my domain. Quoted post I am the ultimate ownz at SF. So that means that you can't be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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