Konami Working with Leading Prosthetics Artist to Produce Bionic Arm for Amputee Gamer

Konami Digital Entertainment has announced it is working with one of the UK’s leading creators of prosthetic limbs to create a bespoke bionic arm for a young gamer.

Inspired by the bionic limb of legendary war hero, Big Boss found in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, 25-year-old James Young will be given a multi-functional and highly stylised prosthetic limb, thanks to renowned prosthetics artist, Sophie De Oliviera Barata and a team of engineers, roboticists and product designers.

James tragically lost an arm and a leg when he was dragged on to the train tracks, between two carriages of the London DLR as it was pulling in. Despite his loss, James refuses to let it interrupt his life and hobbies of travel and love of video games. Since the accident, James has adapted to playing games with one hand; he was carefully selected by Sophie as someone who would be comfortable with the idea of an eye-catching alternative limb, benefiting from all of the new capabilities that it will offer..

To give you a little background on the project, a press release detailing Konami’s involvement has been released with the following to say:

Sophie De Oliviera Barata started her career making hyper-realistic prosthetic limbs for amputees, but realized there was huge demand for more unique adaptations; ones that reflected the personality of its user. This lead her to establish the Alternative Limb Project, wherein users could have a say in their prosthetic, creating limbs that people look at in amazement instead of looking away. Her past designs have included SteamPunk arms and cyborg-inspired legs, and she also designed the crystal leg used by amputee performer Viktoria Modesta during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympics. She enjoys a reputation as an innovator and a free-thinker and has given talks at TED and the Wired Medical Event about her work and its effects

The production and development of James’ limb is being tracked in a very personal documentary, which will follow the creation and production of the limb, with Sophie and James working together on the project. James is a huge fan of Konami’s Metal Gear Solid series and is aware how many of the themes in the game parallel the challenges and opportunities he faces. Konami has also created a dedicated blog to the project – http://thephantomlimbproject.com/ – and this and the documentary will showcase the technology being used, the design process from concept to reality, and James getting to grips with the bespoke prosthetic.

The ‘Alternative Limb Project’ blog will go live from today with the documentary to follow after the completion and successful use of the limb in January.