Casual Gamer this n Casual Gamer that

[SCiARA]

I'm getting a bit pissed off with all this emphasis on the casual gamer, they are taking over our games now.

With earlier reports that GOW2 will be made easier and more accessible to the casual gamer: "Thanks to the success of Guitar Hero and Wii, we've seen a lot of new people play games, and we've seen a lot of ex-gamers get back into gaming," Bleszinski noted "We want casual gamers to get involved this time around," he explained. "Yes it's got blood, monsters and guns, but it is also a story about loss and redemption and a bit of heart."

Now we have Molyneux vying for the Casual gamer, in an accompanying letter pleading in fact for reviewers to watch people who don't usually play games go through Fable 2 and see their reactions.

Molyneux:
“This is what I was trying to say in the letter: Why don't you, after you've done the review give a copy of the game to someone who doesn't play games and see how they get on. Because you may find that is a completely different experience they are getting that of course us as gamers couldn't hope to ever get because we've been polluted by years and years of games. That's what I was kind of saying, I wasn't trying to steer you in to review it this way.â€

[Muddie Funkster]

Agreed, but unfortunately this seems to be the Microsoft tactic for market share increase at the moment. More players, more money. Maybe the next phase of the overall plan of global domination is to turn the casual gamer into the hardcore gamer through the use of subliminal messaging in the casual games and perhaps a subtle coating of opium on the 360 control pad.

[Cpt Von Trapp]

A "Casual Gamer" to me just drums up memories of Partridge.

Brown brogues, nice slacks, loose open necked shirt. Maybe even a crevatte.

But in all seriousness the dumbing down of gaming is something of a concern and does appear to be motivated purely by money. Tis a shame!

[Halo There]

Oi!

I'm a casual gamer!

When I'm slightly bored of waxing, karaoke nights out (singing mainly Abba songs I'll have you know!), reading, housework, watching tv, gardening, sleeping, eating, breathing......I occasionally become interested in consoles! For that reason, some games need to be dumbed down!!

[Cpt Von Trapp]

And that's the point. Some games need dumbing down to open them up to the market - and I don't mean that as derogatory as it may sound. But not all of them.

Leave us with something!

[conkerconquer]

Agreed, its worrying when a hardcore series sudenly goes topsy and decides to appeal to casual gamers.

[Night_system]

Thats really crap. I always saw Gears of War being rather hardcore, up there with Forza 2 and Virtua Fighter.

Its really pointless dumbing down which simply isnt a casual game, a lot of casual gamers are people who wouldnt really be interested in such a game anyway - can you imagine your mum playing GOW?

[Ginga]

Thats really crap. I always saw Gears of War being rather hardcore, up there with Forza 2 and Virtua Fighter.

Its really pointless dumbing down which simply isnt a casual game, a lot of casual gamers are people who wouldnt really be interested in such a game anyway - can you imagine your mum playing GOW?

I think the only FPS my mum has played was Aliens: Trilogy on the Mega Drive (?)

She loved that game. Silly mother.

[Tom909]

My mothers crazy for Links Crossbow Training at the mo. Bloody Wee's. Allthough the Wee does seem like a good place to keep the casual gamer so the good stuff on other platforms does'nt start getting too watery.

[Bob]

You know it's actually 'Wii' right?

[Tom909]

Yes Bob, I do, thanks.

[Albionranger]

The term 'casual gamer' has changed over the years as I used to be a 'casual gamer' but am now a 'hardcore gamer' as I don't play baseball in my living room with a Wii-mote looking like a prat and getting muscle ache the next day.

Meh to casual gamers, it's proven by the Wii's poor attach rate!

[Switters]

Just leave them to their Wii's

To be honest, I completely understand why it's happening. Its simple economics. Games like Mass Effect and Fallout cost so much to create, in time as well as money, and it must suck to see your awesome game outsold by a game made in week and packaged for the morons who play nintendo piss.

There is only so much you can take. Appealing to harcore gamers may be the designers goal but realistically it'll be hard to justify that to the people who fund the games. They're fronting money not because they love the game, not because they care about making us happy. They want a return on their investment and when games made cheaply are so poular why would they continue to fund quality games aimed a limited audience? Designers have to be willing to meet them halfway to secure future funding.

There are still loads of quality games being made and as long you enjoy playing them it doesn't matter if they're marketed at casual gamers too.

But when a game is fundamentally changed in order to attract new gamers at the cost of losing old ones then developers need to take a long hard look in the mirror and realise why they got into games in the first place.

[gugly_duk]

When I got my wii i realy enjoyed it for the first couple of weeks, Mario Kart was always a laugh and i clocked up 30+ hours of twilight princess. But now I only ever use it for the internet channel and the odd Harvest moon sesh (snes version of course )
Four way mario Kart is a laugh yeah , but i prefer games such as ME , i want a story in a game. Not more fcuking mario characters.

[Kaorick]

Well, people are always talking about making things easier for casual gamers, so I assume they mean cr*p gamers.
Not everyone should game I think, I really dont want to be sitting around the Xbox with my grandad teaching him how to kill a virtual hooker.