Casual Gaming the Real Next Gen? 80
The Guardian Gamesblog wonders aloud about the ramifications of casual gaming; could it be that the wave of casual and mobile games is the real next generation of gaming? Author Keith Stuart interviews Matt Spall, of UK studio Morpheme, for an insider's perspective. From the article: "People buying the DS to play Brain Training, and Nintendogs are probably not even aware of Metroid or Advance Wars which kind of suggests this might be a one-way street — the hardcore aren't likely to buy these 'ultra casual' titles in great numbers, because they're fairly simplistic, and don't offer a great deal of depth for a hardcore player. Hopefully though, some people who would never normally play games now own DSs, and may 'graduate' to more advanced titles over time. Having said that, the fact that the DS market can support things like Electroplankton, which can keep anyone charmed for ages, is already encouraging."
De(S)Liteful (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:De(S)Liteful (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:De(S)Liteful (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:De(S)Liteful (Score:2)
Re:De(S)Liteful (Score:1)
Games are evil, remember that. People who waste their precious, God-given time trying to level up in World of Warcraft are the cancer of society. Fucking social rejects should be out getting drunk, contracting an STD from some random slut or watching foo
Re:De(S)Liteful (Score:1)
Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:5, Insightful)
why just one next gen (Score:3, Insightful)
There is also an addressable market of several tens of million people interested in spending a couple hundred dollars a year and a couple hours a week on video games.
It's like any other recreation market. There are cyclists who will drop five grand on a carbon-fiber frame, and those of us who like to take a ride around the lake on our three hundred dollar m
Re:Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:2)
But other than that I agree that there are more casual gamers than hard-core gamers.
Re:Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:2)
Re:Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:2)
Re:Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:2)
The only thing you have to realize about WoW is that if you have a life, you will not be one of the top players on your server, or even in the any of the top
Re:Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:1)
Re:Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:1)
Re:Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:2)
Re:Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:2)
Re:Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:2)
Seriously, which demographic do you think Rare is counting on to buy pinata sweaters on Xbox Live?
Re:Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:2)
Re:Casual doesn't make as much money (Score:5, Insightful)
Casual gamers are the ones who buy those $20 download games that the rest of us scoff at. They also purchase those $3 ringtones, or shell out $8 every couple of months for a new mobile game.
A little bit here and there definately adds up. That's why casual gaming is one of the largest growth areas of the industry, and why a lot of people are now taking notice.
just a thought (Score:2, Insightful)
this is just porting that popularity into a medium where someone can pay a reasonable price for unlimited access to lots of different types of activities and iterations of these activities.
Re:just a thought (Score:2)
The generation that popped all those quarters into Pacman and Gala
Re:just a thought (Score:2)
I doubt any of these ppl count themselves as hardcore no matter how many hours they play
HOT GAMES players
Bejeweled 2 4,463
Mah Jong Tiles 2,639
Solitaire 1,838
TextTwist 2,694
Zuma 2,903
Bespelled 1,739
Scrabble® Blast 1,948
Cubis 2 2,115
Luxor
No (Score:2, Interesting)
No no no no no no no. This is just wishful thinking on the developers' part.
Look at the greater casual game industry in general, which is far older and more mature than what we've seen on the DS thus far. Even after years upon years of casual gaming, the vast majority of users are *still* playing their Bejeweled clone #5758, and *still* doing the Solitaire thing. I have seen *very* few casual gamers get into even slightly more complex games.
IMHO there's a real ache in the industry for casual-hardcore ga
Re:No (Score:2)
Re:No (Score:1)
Re:No (Score:1)
I haven't owned a handheld since the ancient days of the Game Boy, I was more referring to PC/Mac gaming. Small, downloadable games that can afford to be slightly more complex than a d-pad and two buttons. Business sims, strategy games, etc - all the things that the GBA's format doesn't allow.
I imagine I'd be a much happier gamer if a good game cost $10. I'd imagine developers would be much happier if they could sell games at 1/5th the price of a AAA title, but with budgets far lower than 1/5th of a AAA a
Re:No (Score:1)
I imagine I'd be a much happier gamer if a good game cost $10. I'd imagine developers would be much happier if they could sell games at 1/5th the price of a AAA title, but with budgets far lower than 1/5th of a AAA act
Re:No (Score:2)
Chrono Trigger IS a hardcore game, very hardcore. Pretty much any single-player RPG is almost exclusively made for hardcore gamers, as they require many many hours to complete. Even Final Fantasy I takes a good 10 hours+ to beat, and in half-hour dosages at the very least. If I remember correctly, the first time I played through Chrono Trigger, it took me about 28 hours... that's on the short end for an RPG in its day in age (FF6 is a good 35 hour game).
In its day, Chrono Trigger was a huge game that took
Re:No (Score:1)
There'
Re:No (Score:2)
But when I have time to game, I occasionally like to play something long and complex. Even though I've been busy, I still have found time to play Oblivion recently (although I'm nowhere near done with it).
Oh, and I must agree on the music...there's a time for short pop songs, and then there's that hour you set aside on Sunday afternoon to LISTEN to Close to the Edge, or Mahler's Symphony No. 2, o
Re:No (Score:2)
Definitely. I take long bike rides, or car rides and put on whole albums: Tales from Topographic Oceans, Lamb Lies Down, Flower Kings - Unfold The Future, John Adams - Harmonhielere, Bartok - Music for Strings Perc
Casual Gaming (Score:5, Insightful)
What some companies are discovering, Nintendo comes to mind, is that games do not have to take hours to become proficient in, and many many hours to complete. Those of us in our thirties, the ones that grew up on Atari 2400's and Pong attached to our TV's through RF splitters, don't have that kind of time anymore to set aside for gaming. But we still like to occasionally sit down (stand in line, etc.) and play a little here and there. But our kids have lots of free time.
Instead of targeting a console or handheld at the 'hard core', make it appeal to both the young and old. There is nothing wrong with having the latest 'OMGL33T' game on the same console as something that takes little time to play.
As to TFA, I think that they are mistaken in their assumption that someone playing a non hard-core game is going to 'graduate' to a more advanced title. I imagine alot of us have 'graduated' outside of the more advanced titles and are looking for something with a little more depth that doesn't take away from the lives that we live in terms of time.
2400? You meant 2600. (Score:2)
Re:2400? You meant 2600. (Score:1)
Re:2400? You meant 2600. (Score:2)
Why does everything have to be another generation? (Score:2, Insightful)
It's like the people who come up with a new genre of techno music for each song. It's called variety, people.
Re:Why does everything have to be another generati (Score:2)
This mainstreaming of videogames really hit me yesterday when I was in the dr's office lobby and 3 out of the
Re:Why does everything have to be another generati (Score:1)
You must shop at the music stores where they only have Rock, Alternative and Electronic (wait..nvm...they still know it's not techno)
Secondly, Casual gaming is becoming a huge industry hit. The only problem is that until now it's all been free/shareware and free trials. I spen
World of Warcraft (Score:2)
Re:World of Warcraft (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:World of Warcraft (Score:2)
Re:World of Warcraft (Score:1)
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Re:World of Warcraft (Score:2)
Last I checked, you couldn't even *get* to 60 as a casual gamer.
I play CoV/CoH, and I'd have to consider myself casual when it comes to it. I play maybe once a week for a few hours at a time. In the 9 months I've had it, my highest level character is only level 35. Each level in these games takes more and more time to accomplish. So when I sit down to play, I often play a lower level character because it's a lot more fun. That level 35 tak
Undoubtedly (Score:2, Insightful)
As time goes by, a larger and larger percentage of the population plays video games. Yes, there is the young male crowd (including some older ones who continue being "hardcore"
Not "casual" just time limited (Score:1)
The problem is the games aren't designed for those of us that have half an hour to an hour to play. Well at least in games with some depth. I can't commit to 2+ hours between save points, or long levels. In fact I've heard similar complaints from others I've talked to online. Two Towers got fairly bad marks because of the sparse savepoints in Helm's Deep
Your sig (Score:1)
Re:Your sig (Score:1)
charmed for ages? (Score:2)
Casual Gaming is interesting though. I heard how those "10 in ones" are a monstorously huge market. Too bad there's not more of an indy movement w/ standalone hardware...
not sure.. (Score:2, Insightful)
One reason is where is the line drawn between hardcore and casual? its not a black and white world folks. I consider myself a casual gamer because I play for about 2 hours a day. Ask my girlfriend though, and Im a hardcore gamer. Ask my other friends who play WoW all day, and im casual. So does that mean people like me will define it? Or people playing brain teaser will define it? There has to have a line drawn somewhere.
Another reason is that this is not
Re:not sure.. (Score:2)
What about jogging?
How about cooking?
Painting?
These are just a few hobbies I can think of off the top of my head, I would not call somebody who did any of them for 14 hours a week casual. A lot of people argue it is the type of game, which can be argued, and in the terms the industry talks about it is the case; I still think it is more accurate to look at time and think of it as a hobby.
Of I wouldn't call you hardcore, but certainly pretty se
Portables vs consoles (Score:2)
This is not the case with consoles. They're fixed to one location (how many people go to the trouble of moving a console and all its assorted cables and gubbins from one room to another?), more expensive (well, PSP aside
Don't forget the PC as a platform (Score:2)
Re:Portables vs consoles (Score:1)
Nintendo is being very clever at preparing new customers it hopes will be console buyers in the future.
Casual is the new hardcore. (Score:4, Funny)
So it turns out... (Score:2)
<watches next gen status fly out the window>
Strike that...reverse it... (Score:5, Insightful)
"might be a one-way street - the hardcore aren't likely to buy these 'ultra casual' titles ... some people who would never normally play games now own DSs, and may 'graduate' to more advanced titles over time."
My mom, who bought a DS for Brain Age, is not going to "graduate" to Metroid. I have friends that are addicted to Spider Solitaire, they are not going to "graduate" to Unreal 3.
On the other hand, I've seen plenty of my friends, who use to be hardcore gamers, start playing casual games. When you get girlfriends, jobs, car payments, a wife, kids, etc. suddenly it becomes much harder to justify the time and money needed to be hardcore.
If anything, hardcore gamers graduate to become casual games with lives.
Re:Strike that...reverse it... (Score:2)
Don't get me wrong, I'm halfway through
Re:Strike that...reverse it... (Score:1)
Jumping too far ahead (Score:1)
Casual Gaming is by definition Larger (Score:1)
But as a previously mostly untapped market, based on what has been happening in a number of countries, and specifically with the Nintendo DS, casual gaming is where the next growth area is.
More than 2 demographics... (Score:3, Insightful)
Columnists commonly group gamers into two wildly generalized stereotypes: the "casual gamer" and the "hardcore gamer". Now, for a second, let's forget about the extreme ambiguity of the label "hardcore", and the wide variety of demographics within the "casual gamer" catagory, and ask ourselves, "just really, what are we talking about?"
Are we comparing the amount of time put into video games? Are we looking at how people define themselves, socially, in terms of video games (ie: "I consider myself a gamer")? Are we talking about the TYPES of video games that different groups of people play (ie: Elektroplankton vs. Suikoden V vs. Half Life 2)? Even, possibly, are we looking at how a person views video games as an entertainment genre (is it a ligitimate form of entertainment equal to that of litterature and cinema)?
From a marketting perspective, it's not quite as simple as casual/hardcore. There are many gamers who will never leave the PC world, because of the additional hardware required. There are many people who consider themselves "hardcore gamers" (myself included), that will constantly be drawn to handheld systems because they seem to be more devoted to the roots of video gaming. There are some "hardcore gamers" (like a friend of mine) who are still struggling to embrace gaming as ligitimate, mature, entertainment form, and therefor only play early games, feeling that games are only relivent for nestolgic value.
I find this concentration on "casual gamers" to be very silly and a bit shortsided. There's a good chance that the Wii is going to be a hit all the way across the board, but my suspicions is that its biggest supporters are going to be life-long gamers, the emulator crowd (and the would-be emulator crowd): those that feel that the original ideals of gaming got a bit lost somewhere along the way, and thus the direction of gaming should back up a bit, and then branch out from there. Similarly with handhelds, some of the people I consider to be the "hardest-core" gamers I know are huge GBA and DS fans.
Re:More than 2 demographics... (Score:2)
I think you completely miss the point wrt to your argument about how hard-core gamers also like those (or similar) games. T
Re:More than 2 demographics... (Score:2)
The trick to snagging more regularly playing gamers (I'm getting sick of the "hardcore" label, it's meaningless), is to make a game that is both easy to flip on and off for a few minutes at a time, but also be interesting to play for long periods of time. Now, I know that there were some people who used to play games of Tetris over and over again for hours on end, but that subset of gamers is extremely few, most people played Tetris for an average of about 10 minutes at a time (yes, I know there are excepti
Re:More than 2 demographics... (Score:1)
I think those are termed lapsed gamers these days and include many "nongamers". Many people started out with an
Crazy in Japan (Score:2, Insightful)
Myself included, I have never owned a console before, but recently i bought a GBA, and a few games and was mostly a 'casual', but then i bought a flashcard (http://www.supercard.cn/ [supercard.cn]) and couldn't stop playing constantly. That has since wore off, and now
Is the DS Really a Game Machine? (Score:2)
From the article:
I don't know about Nintendogs, but as a hardcore gamer, I found Brain Training really appealing. I don't know if I would even really consider it
Re:Is the DS Really a Game Machine? (Score:1)
More importantly, Nintendogs isn't an "ungame" is a fairly traditional type of game, a life sim which focuses on dogs instead of Tamagotchis or Sims. They even had one of these games for the Neo Geo pocket that never made it over here, Ganbare Neo Poke-k [gamespy.com]
Re:Is the DS Really a Game Machine? (Score:1)
Although I've never seen Nintendogs, I have heard that it's pretty hard(core?) [blue-comic.com]...
Idiotic reasoning (Score:2)