Destructoid now has up an interesting article about casual games, and that how what was once casual is now considered hardcore. If anything all games are the same and the difference between casual and hardcore should only be used to describe players and how they approach the playing of certain games.

From the article:

Companies want to capture the elusive "casual" demographic because they believe it will lead them to a promised land of millions of dollars and free pony rides. For a number of reasons this is completely wrong, but the biggest challenge is defining exactly what it takes to be casual. Now for me, the definition of a casual gamer is pretty simple -- it's somebody who games casually. You'd think that was straightforward enough, but not in the eyes of games companies, who seem to treat the casual gamer as if it were some alien species that has no idea about real videogames and just want to play minigames. Hence came the obnoxious faux-genre we now know as "casual games."

What exactly ARE casual games, though, and what separates them from so-called hardcore ones? It's almost laughable to watch the games industry clumsily attempt to give form to casual gaming, because it's quite clear that for all the talk, nobody actually seems to have a clue what a casual game is. When you have Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aimes telling hardcore gamers that Super Mario Galaxy was Nintendo's "gift" to them, then you're in trouble -- since when has Mario ever been the bastion of purely "hardcore" gaming? I thought he was one of the most recognizable faces in games, even to non-gamers, and his titles were enjoyed by millions. Apparently I was wrong. Mario is a hardcore game for hardcore gamers, just like Wii Sports is a casual game that only casual gamers can play. Life is that simplistic nowadays.

Read the full article over at Destructoid.com

login or register to post comments