Now everybody can play with an adaptive controller inspired by wounded warriors

Monte Bernardo is an avid gamer. "I always wanted to be in the military," Monte said.

Gaming has always been one of his escapes from reality. But Monte's reality drastically changed on the front lines of Afghanistan as a cavalry scout. "It was 4th of July 2012, and I found a 10-pound jug of homemade explosives with my right foot," Monte said. "I remember thinking, what was that, what was that and then I hit the ground 25-feet away."

He landed on his left shoulder. "And I was like, I just blew up," Monte said. "And I tried to stand up and I couldn't stand up."

His buddy ran up to him and in that moment Monte knew. "I could see on his face something was really messed up, and I was like, 'Hey man are my legs gone?' And he said, 'Yeah, your legs are gone.' And he started putting tourniquets on," Monte said.

Then the most bizarre thought raced through his head as he was bleeding on the sand. "Gaming has always been a big part of my life," Monte said. "I remember I looked at my left hand and half of it was gone. I remember thinking, how am I going to be able to play video games?"

The last thing he remembers was the military hospital in Kandahar when the pain kicked in. "And I remember seeing a doctor, and I grabbed the doctor and I'm like, 'Doctor, this hurts, put me out' and it was like somebody turned off the TV," Monte said.

Monte was medevacked to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. "There was like a day or two where I was like, like half my body is gone what am I going to do with my life?" Monte said. "What am I going to do with myself?"

Then Monte met occupational therapist Erik Johnson. "He said, 'Erik give me life,'" Erik said. "Show me. Convince me that I still have the ability to do."

Monte found the right guy to help him through his new reality. "He had a personality that clicked with mine and we had a lot of things in common," Monte said.

The therapy, learning to walk again and using his new hand wasn't easy. "It was as annoying as hell honestly," Monte said.

But Erik wouldn't take any excuses. "We're going to hit the ground running," Erik said. "I may have used a couple cuss words to reel him in. I knew Monte was a gamer from the get-go and I knew that he was disappointed about losing that gaming initially."

Then Erik made Monte a bold promise. "Oh, I'm going to blow your mind," Erik told Monte. "You're going to game and it's going to be effective."

Erik is also the chief medical officer for Warfighter Engaged.

Warfighter Engaged's mission is to provide enabling solutions and independence for wounded and severely wounded soldiers.

So, Erik's team started breaking down and rebuilding game controllers. He's got every controller and game system you could imagine. Erik didn't focus on Monte's disability, instead he focused on the possibility. "He's got two legs, above knee amputations but he's got two legs that move," Erik said. "He's got a left residual limb that's at the wrist, so I can use that. I can use his right hand. I can use his head. I can use anything."

Monte was back in the game.

And Erik's real-life experiences with Warfighter Engaged led to a relationship with Microsoft and limitless possibilities. "Make this a little bit rounder, flatten this side, make sure you have sticky things on the bottom," Erik said.

This relationship led to the Xbox adaptive controller. "And that's where all these buttons and switches come in," Monte said as he gestured to a table full of gadgets.

Then he picked up a unit that was basically flat with two drum-like pads on them with a bunch of holes on the side. "It's got 19 inputs here that each control a certain function," Erik said.

From running to shooting to building, these inputs can be modified to do almost anything. "That's just amazing to have that potential in a small box," Erik said. "It's huge for that one percent that can't game traditionally."

Monte says it was life changing. "By giving me video games back that was something l loved in the first place it was like decompress time for me," Monte said. "It helped me quite a bit."

Now like Microsoft's tagline says, "When everybody plays, we all win."

"I can do everything you can do," Monte said.