Casual games. They've been around forever. Most Flash games I've played are 'casual.' Why then, must so many 'real' gamers make a fuss about them?
"Oh, 'real' gamers! Just like your attack on 'real' anime fanatics!"
Here's something for ya, I've been playing videogames for most of my life. I've been "Hardcore" since I was 16. I'm almost 23 now. Of course, "Hardcore" does not mean "Real." I play a few 'casual' games here and there. Many arcade games are casual. Many freeware games, including Dope Wars, a favorite of mine, are casual. Minesweepwer is a casual game, and I play it on occasion. Are most of my favorite videogames casual? No. But are they still fun? Yes, if the game itself is well crafted.
Many "real" gamers hate the fact that casual games can appeal to people who don't normally play videogames. You know, that same bullshit I've said a dozen times already. Getting back to anime for a moment, remember when people still liked Motherfucking Death Note? Remember when it made its English dubbed premiere, suddenly all of the 'real' anime fans abandoned it? It's like that. It's like when 'real' gamers abandoned the GTA franchise after the phenomenal success of GTA 3 and VC. That same issue is what's at work real. Well I say, what's wrong with casual games?
Look at Final Fantasy IX. My favorite PS1 game of all time, and my favorite FF game, too. Great game, yes. Truth is, though, the game is about 40 hours in length. And you have to level up your characters, teach them abilities, hunt for good equipment, et cetera. That's a lot of dedication to put in. Not all people in the world have that sort of free time to play a demanding singleplayer RPG like FFIX. There are people out there raising families, working 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, dodging traffic, and worrying about things more important than the rivalry between Zidane and Kuja. What if such a busy person still wanted to play games, and still have time for other aspects of life? The answer lies in casual games.
Casual games are great for parties. What if you wanted to play a game with guests, but none of them were gamers? Which would be easier for them to break into: Pong, or Gears of War? My bet is on Pong. Look how simple its controls are, "Move your paddle by pressing up and down. Don't let the ball get past your paddle." That's it! Even a child could do it! What about Gears of War, though? I've never played it, but I'd imagine a modern shooter like it would be vastly more complex than Pong. Most shooter games aren't as simple as, "Shoot your enemy before he shoots you." And unlike with Pong, it would take a while before you got the intricacies of Gears of War down so that you were good enough to play a deathmatch round without getting killed every ten seconds. With Pong, you learn in a matter of seconds.
Nintendo knows this. This is why the Wii and DS are selling so well; they both are marketing games for people who don't have the time for more complex games, otherwise known as the kind of which are popular only amongst 'nerds' and hardcore gamers. Although I don't plan on getting either system in the near future, I do have relatives who own a Wii and/or a DS. None of them are hardcore like me, but that's okay. Those systems have games they can appreciate.
I won't be buying any casual games. But then again, I know places where you can get casual for free, legally. But keep in mind, perhaps the reason Brain Age is selling better than, say, The World Ends with You, is because not everybody has the time to invest in games. Casual games are not the End of 'Real' Games As We Know It. Besides, they've been around forever. Many games for the Atari 2600 would be considered casual games today. I say stop whining, and play some Bejeweled to unwind already.
