It feels like every man and his dog has been hanging out for the latest Xbox Series X – and Humphrey Hanley and his beloved Siberian Husky, Whisky, are the perfect example. We love working with Humphrey, known to gamers everywhere as No Hands NZ, who you might have seen in 2018 talking about his experiences gaming without hands in Special controller changes lives of accessibility citizens in online gaming on TV’s Seven Sharp.
To mark the local launch of the Xbox Adaptive Controller, Xbox NZ worked with Kiwi ‘motivational streamer’ Humphrey Hanley. Humphrey has the rare skin-blistering condition epidermyolsis bullosa (EB), which means he has to spend four hours every morning bandaging his skin before he can start the day. Bullied at school, he found his fun in the PC gaming realm – he broadcasts to others online under the username NoHandsNZ.
Having never been able to hold traditional gaming controllers, the introduction of the Xbox Adaptive Controller has now given Humphrey his first ever Xbox experience.
And now this wonderful story has a new chapter, as we come to 2020 and see First (no) Hands On Xbox Series X Unboxing, as Humphrey shares his excitement as he unboxes the latest Xbox Series X – one of the first people in the world to experience the joy!
We were thrilled to have him and Whisky in the Microsoft Wellington office recently to catch up with our Azure Architect, Caio Tkalec on how he’s loving the new console (connected to his Xbox Adaptive Controller), and his amazing work to highlight accessibility issues.
For more information on Humphrey’s incredible work and journey please have a look at the beautiful story that Radio New Zealand created for Humphrey under the title Game Changer. Vlogger, photographer, accessibility consultant and accessibility advocate to thousands of people, he’s a total inspiration.