There is a storm brewing in the world of video games. Once thought to be the playground of nerds and geeks, video games are now a place for everyone and their grandma. No longer featuring just the likes of Master Chief and Mario, the latest stars on the video gaming scene are companies like Pop Cap and Bigfish.
Lately, the 'casual gaming' market has grown to massive proportions. What is now a 281 million dollar a year industry is expected to grow to 1.15 billion dollars a year. This gaming market is fueled by simple games aimed at audiences not usually associated with gamine, i.e Mothers, older people, and anyone who plays less then 10 hours of video games a week.
Gaming companies usually associated with hardcore gaming are looking to cash in on this latest craze. EA, a company known for its big titles like Battlefield 2142 and the successful Madden sports series are now funding sites like Pogo. com, which serve up many casual games. Nintendo, one of the three major video game console makers, is catering toward the casual gaming crowd with the new Nintendo Wii. The Wii features motion sensing controls, and many casual games with cartooney graphics and easy to learn controls.
But, there is some overlap. Guitar Hero, a video game series where one simulates playing a guitar to popular rock songs, has found a large audience both casual and hardcore alike. Personally, I consider myself a hardcore gamer, and I enjoy a game of Bejeweled every once and a while. Also, I intend to pick up a Nintendo Wii this Christmas.
Some hardcore gamers scoff at the idea of casual gaming. They feel that video games are meant to be played for hours upon end. They feel that cutesy graphics are for children, and that the Nintendo Wii is for kids. For these gamers, I feel sorry. They will never enjoy these simple games that are both fun and don't have a steep learning curve.
It would seem that casual gaming is here to say, for better or for worse. This massively lucrative gaming market is steadily on the rise. As long as there are grandmas who don't own a PlayStation 2, and mothers who don't have the time to play Halo 3, casual gaming will be a major force in the world of gaming.
4 comments:
As the mom, I have seen both advantages and disadvantages to gamming. Both my kids have gained valuable hand-eye coordination playing casual games since they were very young. I see that as a huge advantage as I had to suffer many hours of piano lessons that were much less entertaining to get the same hand/eye skills. AND I STILL CAN'T CATCH A BALL! At the same time I do believe that SOME games are prone to desinsitize younger kids to violence. I am surprised that more parents are unaware of that fact and take no measures to check out what their kids are looking at. I have seen parents buy a 9 year old Grand Theft Auto, then complain because they can't understand why their kid just ripped the legs off a live crab and stabed it with a pair of scissors.
I am a long time gamer and I enjoy both heavy and casual types of games. As for games and kids, on every videogame box sold in america, there is a rating that ranges from E-Everyone, E10-for people ten and older, T-for teens and older, M-17 and older. By each of these ratings is a basic description of what the player will encounter in the game (such as types of violence and language use). This is to help inform the parent, if their child is meant to play this game.
I am a long time console gamer and vary in hardcore to casual gaming. I see major differences within the consoles with game content. Fro mwhat i have seen, the Wii has focused more on the young and casual gamers with games such as Wii sports. However I have noticed that the Xbox 360 and PS3 have focused more on hardcore gamers who play Halo 3 and Resistance Fall of Man.
I agree with Laura that there is advantages and disadvantages to gamming. My children ages 6 and 12 both enjoy playing Halo is it good for them maybe not but they enjoy the time they we spend as a family playing, they would enjoy the time spent if it was Mario as well but they are going to be introduced to the games at their friends house so I would rather that we showed it to them and made it "quality family time" instead of just another shoot em up game. I do think there are games out there that are not for kids but paul is right that is why there are ratings on them. Gamming all in all is not a bad thing it is not only a way to spend time with your kids but with the Wii you can kick your husband (or wife's) butt at bowling in the comfort of your own home.
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