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Denver, 4:58 AM
Sun Nov 22
17 posts in the last 24 hours
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07/31/09
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And yeah, that's supposed to be "can't".
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I'll stick with Steam.
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07/31/09
Take singleplayer games like Prototype and Bioshock, and I personally don't see any reason to play it again unless if I get the urge after an extended time.
Take a game like fantastic contraption http://www.fantasticcontraption.com/ and you would spend a lot of time playing it BECAUSE it is simple.
I consider myself to be a hardcore gamer, but you can't forget what makes games entertaining in the first place.
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07/31/09
I was more wondering if there was a company/person who said they felt that way because judging by all the drunken smiling faces at the casual games conference last week, everyone seems to be enjoying the label of "casual games" people. :D
07/31/09
Wrong, the only people who find casual gaming demeaning and look down on it are "hardcore" gamers who think they are too cool for school.
only morons classify games like "hardcore" "casual"
07/31/09
And like I said, some people actually classify themselves as "casual gamers". I'm sure that they don't all have inferiority complexes or anything. Are they all morons too? There's no need to be so aggressive about this.
07/31/09
See, styl3s? Even the companies themselves acknowledge the label, "casual games". So game developers are morons too? :P
07/31/09
It's dumb. If people just called them as part of the genres that they are, you wouldn't have this ever growing chasm forming up between people.
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07/15/09
"Let's make this super hardcore game for the super hardcore crowd. Let's not include anything that can be interpreted as a "mini-game"...Sure, the pacing of the game will be terribly monogonous, but fuck it! Hardcore gamers don't want to do puzzles or stop and think for two seconds."
"Let's make this awesome casual game that housewives will buy. We'll make so much money! All we need to do is 'borrow' some already-popular game mechanic and throw "party" in the title. Sure, it may end up being a fantastic, must-play game for anyone--but housewives is where the money is at...So fuck it!"
07/15/09
Now, if he thinks there are people that think less of casual games... well, that's another issue, but there's nothing he can do about that. If some people just don't like those games, well that's the way it is, just as there are some people who don't like hardcore games. There's space for all tastes :-)
07/15/09
-Guitar Hero
-World of Warcraft
-The Sims
-Plants vs. Zombies
07/15/09
Guitar Hero: Casual - It was designed for the mass market, not a niche group. Everyone wants to be a rockstar, and this will appeal to everyone because they get to play a roll that many people wish they could be. Just because some people pour their every waking hour into it doesn't make it hardcore, just means it's one of the more addicting casual games.
World of Warcraft: Both - It tries to cater to people who are serious about gaming and the people who don't care or have time to play every night. But, it isn't both at the same time, you are either hardcore or you are casual. Mostly.
The Sims: Casual - It isn't a game where you have to play 24/7 and once again, it was made to market to the general masses. This wasn't made to be marketed to people who prefer games like God of War and Halo.
Plants vs. Zombies: - Haven't played it. it seems like your typical "flash schmup" where you just kill waves. Maybe I'm totally wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's something you would play for a while and then go back to play for the heck of it.
Basically, casual is anything that is relatively simple in is construction, mostly made to get lots of users from people who don't generally play video games on a regular basis and who can't really handle fast-paced, quick-thinking, fast-finger games. But, since some "flash" games can have those characteristics, it also includes games that you don't usually stay up till 3am playing. This also includes shovelware; the casual masses gravitate towards them.
Hardcore is basically the total opposite of all that. I also think it means that it services only a small niche in the sense of hardcore people don't mind playing Peggle or Sim City, but going the opposite direction isn't as popular.
07/15/09
to add to that,
I "casually" played Halo all the time when I was an undergrad. uh oh, better relabel that franchise, huh? =P
07/15/09
As he said: a game is a game is a game. Doesn't matter if it's "casual" or "hardcore" or whatever lies in between.
Only thing that matters is if it's fun to play.
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That's very much the old way of approaching the games industry, and by far the more romantic. Nowadays, it's also a lot more about looking at a target audience, or prefferably a bit of both: selecting to work in a genre you enjoy.
Just catering to people "like me" or that "like what I like" can be very limiting, but I won't deny that it makes the games better, in principle, if you make what you like.
07/15/09
The credit crisis has exacerbated this problem. Before, credit was so easy if you were a fledgling game maker, movie maker, musician, you could get the money to make your idea. Now the only people that have money are the big guys and they will only invest in a "sure" thing.
07/15/09
It's like someone saying "man, I'm such a hardcore moviegoer I go to the movies every 3 days" -"Yeah but you mostly watch comedy movies, so you're more of a casual moviegoer."
Makes no sense.
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Games not labelled casual usually require alot of time on the users part to make progress, conversely, a casual game can be picked up and played in short blasts with little to no commitment or time.
Its the perfect term for describing exactly what these games are. "Casual"
07/15/09