This may end up tl;dr, I don't know, but here goes.
Casual gaming is a gimmick, and is the true problem with next-gen. Nintendo states that casual gaming is gaming that anyone can enjoy. This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
First off, let's look at what a casual gamer is. A casual gamer is someone who doesn't play games as a hobby like most of us, but one who plays games for entertainment instead. I like to think that casual gamers are the ones who go to the internet for help on games, and actual gamers (feel free to whine about the definition of this term), are the ones who go to discuss games on various boards-- a hobbyist of you will.
Now, here is where Nintendo makes it's mistake. We have had casual gamers forever, as most all of us started out casual (like when were kids and we just bought any game randomly because it looked good). We have those people of all ages today. Where is the problem in this though? Do you not see that casual gamers aren't the gamers that buy the simplest, easiest to get into games on the market, but just buy what they think/hear is good?
Nintendo thinks that casual gaming is where all games are easy and pick up and play. This is a fallacy. There are casual gamers that play games more than regular or hardcore gamers. There are casual gamers that play Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, etc. They aren't stuck to playing Sudoku on their DS.
In short, Nintendo's definition for their new wave of games shouldn't be defined as casual games, but defined as simple-- almost easy to a point.
What do you all think?
First of all, when you write a small article about something you heard, like the casual games wave of Nintendo, it would be better to also post the link or say where you heard it etc. So we can all know what's going on.
I didn't bother searching about this casual gaming of Nintendo but I am watching Nintendo all those years. When I was young I was actually a Nintendo addict.
In my opinion Nintendo is focusing at creating fun and original games (if we except the exhausting franchise sequels: Mario kart, mario tennis, mario this mario that)
I think that Nintendo is trying in general to "hit" the younger audience so they try to make games as simple and fun as possible.
I believe that's the Nintendo politics as they have been in all those years. They don't care if the new resident evil will be out for their console. But they care to make a fun tennis game where you can use your controller to hit the ball (tennis game on wii)
I think you shouldn't stick in silly definitions like casual gaming and stuff. Just play what you like.
> Nintendo thinks that casual gaming is where all games are easy and pick up and play. This is a fallacy. There are casual gamers that play games more than regular or hardcore gamers. There are casual gamers that play Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, etc.
I don't understand your point. Mario, Zelda, and Final Fantasy are also 'pick up and play' games to a certain extent; while they demand a bit more focus then Sudoku or Wii Sports, they still have a gentle learning curve.
'Hardcore games' are those that demand skill, finesse and intelligence to play, those that can take months or years to master - your typical multiplayer PC FPS, 2D fighting game, or roguelike RPG.
>>3
A casual gamer wouldn't typically know if a game requires skill or not just by hearing the genre. Many casual gamers have fun with FPS games, fighting games, etc. Just look at Halo and Street Fighter. SF was HUGE back in arcades, and most anyone played it with a few quarters at hand. Halo is huge now, and it is online too-- I'd say it would take a degree on finesse. You got me on rougelikes though because any casual gamer who would pick that up would probably sell it in a day.
> Halo is huge now, and it is online too-- I'd say it would take a degree on finesse.
That's why I specified "PC FPS." I am not sure whether Halo does, but most games of that type are so incredibly awkward to play with a controller that the game does a certain amount of auto-aiming, even during online play. Shadowrun, IIRC, takes the opposite approach and actually cripples the aim of PC-version players when they are competing online against Xbox 360-version players.
Few PC FPS players takes console FPSes seriously, and I think this is not simply due to conservatism or blind prejudice.
> SF was HUGE back in arcades, and most anyone played it with a few quarters at hand.
I would argue that people didn't go to arcades to have fun playing the games. They went to have fun competing with others, setting high scores, and impressing their friends; all of these are social pursuits. It's a subtle distinction, but I think the demographic is not the same.
>hobby >entertainment
People do hobbies for entertainment. I consider a casual gamer people that play games, but nothing more than games like Madden, that are easy to play, and easy to enjoy.
My own view of casual gamers is that it's simply people who play games who don't identify with being "gamers."
I play a lot. Like three hours a weekday, only curbed because I have anime to watch as well. Yet almost all the games I play are that easy to play sort of game, particularly rhythm games (well, I suppose they do eventually get hard at Oni levels, does that count as not being easy to play though?) I don't really consider myself casual despite this.
There's no right way to interpret "casual gaming" because it's just some random buzzword. It's not a specific enough term to be useful. It's just like saying I'm a "casual driver" because I own a car but don't care much about cars in general.
This term attempts to define a category by what it isn't (i.e., not hardcore). There's no way to reach an agreement about what it really is.
i wish i had time to play video games like i used to. between school and all the side projects i work on i have only a few hours each week to indulge myself. however i wouldnt consider myself a "casual gamer"
rhythm games tend to cater to the hardcore gamers. they may be easy to pickup but the communities that form around such games focus on the extreme. a casual gamer of this sort would be the two chicks playing a 2 foot ddr song in the mall with spare change.
Have you played the DS Zelda game? I think Nintendo's doing their best to appeal to as wide a range as possible, in contrast with the strategies Sony and Microsoft are following (which are obviously aimed at the 16-25 Male demographic... anyone with solid evidence that this is completely untrue can feel free to argue that)
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>>1
cas·u·al /ˈkæʒuəl/
–adjective
1. happening by chance; fortuitous: a casual meeting.
2. without definite or serious intention; careless or offhand; passing: a casual remark.
3. seeming or tending to be indifferent to what is happening; apathetic; unconcerned: a casual, nonchalant air.
4. appropriate for wear or use on informal occasions; not dressy: casual clothes; casual wear.
5. irregular; occasional: a casual visitor.
6. accidental: a casual mishap.
7. Obsolete. uncertain.
Your definition of 'casual' is incorrect. If a casual gamer plays longer than a "regular gamer" then by definition, they are no longer a casual gamer.
Problem is people can't even agree on what constitutes "hardcore". One friend tells me that hardcore means you're willing to drop $4000 on a new computer to play the latest id Software tech demo... I mean game, my bad. Another friend tells me that hardcore means you stay up until 4am playing WOW. In my own opinion, hardcore means people who grew up several generations ago and are still playing games (usually of the same type of game too...)
Hardcore Gamers are those cunts that bought a PS3 solely because the price tag separates them from the great unwashed Wii players.
They brag about their l33t skills and when their skills fail them they throw a tantrum and accuse the winner of cheating or being cheap (if it's PvP) or curse the game developers (if it's PvAI). They bitch everytime a player enters the game that doesn't know everything there is to know about said game, have all the best equipment and/or doesn't play the game 40 hours a week, calling them a newbie, n00b or nub, depending their level of disdain.
They also don't have any friends left because of neglect, and slowly lose their family for the same reason. The other dicks they play online with are not their friends but they don't know this yet. Their mounting problems in real life fuels further pixel engorgement. In a few years, when they realize how lonely they are and have lost all social skills that allow people to function in reality, they'll end up posting in the hikikomori threads.
TL;DR: They're junkies.
Lately I spend around 6-7 hours a day playing videya gaems.
See the way I see it, dropping $1000 on a game system which doesn't have any game is not hardcore behaviour, it's n00b behaviour.