Perhaps the Casual Gamers Will Not Control the Mainstream Forever...

There is a lot of speculation these days about gaming forever appealing to the casual. However, I think something may have been overlooked. As kids, any mature gamer knows we played casual games too, in a way. We bought liscenced games, and Pokemon, all that jazz, which could be considered casual. But as we grew, hardcore games became more appealing. We turned away from Dick Tracy and Pokemon Snap in favor of Doom, Chrono Trigger, hardcore things. Right now, the Wii has introduced more casual games than ever, so those who never gave games a shot picked up casual games due to the clever marketing and easy to grasp principles. But what if they grew tired of the casual, and wanted something more deep, something compelling? They will then want hardcore, and then, nature will be balanced once more. In fact, the rising sales of casual games might be to our advantage, as when the time comes, more people than ever will want hardcore. Same applies with movies. We start out casual, so to speak, watching kids shows like Sesame Street and Barney. And eventually, things like Saving Private Ryan, The Godfather, and Star Wars appeal. Maybe people already had this theory, I don't know. Sure, we might have to wait a few years, but eventually, I believe the hardcore will control the mainstream once more. Discuss

I think that you're making the mistake of thinking that all "casuals" are children. The expanded audience isn't going to mature and grow up and come to understand more complex gaming principles or storylines. Many/most of them already could, but they have choosen not to. That's not what they want to play. They want simple fun. And that really isn't such a bad thing.

Well IMO that is Nintendos strategy. "Hardcore" gamers are more loyal customers than "casuals" and will buy more games. Head_of_games

If that was the case then Nintendo never would have had to make the Wii to apeal to a larger audience in the first place.

That's pretty much exactly what Nintendo themselves have said that they're doing: roping in casual gamers and giving them games that can slowly turn them into stronger video game enthusiasts. Every single hardcore gamer today started as a casual gamer; no one went from zero to playing video games 365 days a year. The idea that Nintendo's goal has ever been to just keep making games to appeal to casual gamers and rely solely on casual gamers for their income is just totally false. Nintendo is creating a brand new entire generation of video gamers, and the future survival of the video game industry thanks them for it.

[QUOTE="Head_of_games"]Well IMO that is Nintendos strategy. "Hardcore" gamers are more loyal customers than "casuals" and will buy more games. Arc2012

If that was the case then Nintendo never would have had to make the Wii to apeal to a larger audience in the first place.

I think that you're making the mistake of thinking that all "casuals" are children. The expanded audience isn't going to mature and grow up and come to understand more complex gaming principles or storylines. Many/most of them already could, but they have choosen not to. That's not what they want to play. They want simple fun. And that really isn't such a bad thing.

That's pretty much exactly what Nintendo themselves have said that they're doing: roping in casual gamers and giving them games that can slowly turn them into stronger video game enthusiasts. Every single hardcore gamer today started as a casual gamer; no one went from zero to playing video games 365 days a year. The idea that Nintendo's goal has ever been to just keep making games to appeal to casual gamers and rely solely on casual gamers for their income is just totally false. Nintendo is creating a brand new entire generation of video gamers, and the future survival of the video game industry thanks them for it.

GabuEx

There is a lot of speculation these days about gaming forever appealing to the casual. However, I think something may have been overlooked. As kids, any mature gamer knows we played casual games too, in a way. We bought liscenced games, and Pokemon, all that jazz, which could be considered casual. But as we grew, hardcore games became more appealing. We turned away from Dick Tracy and Pokemon Snap in favor of Doom, Chrono Trigger, hardcore things. Right now, the Wii has introduced more casual games than ever, so those who never gave games a shot picked up casual games due to the clever marketing and easy to grasp principles. But what if they grew tired of the casual, and wanted something more deep, something compelling? They will then want hardcore, and then, nature will be balanced once more. In fact, the rising sales of casual games might be to our advantage, as when the time comes, more people than ever will want hardcore. Same applies with movies. We start out casual, so to speak, watching kids shows like Sesame Street and Barney. And eventually, things like Saving Private Ryan, The Godfather, and Star Wars appeal. Maybe people already had this theory, I don't know. Sure, we might have to wait a few years, but eventually, I believe the hardcore will control the mainstream once more. Discuss

tktomo01

[QUOTE="Arc2012"]

I think that you're making the mistake of thinking that all "casuals" are children. The expanded audience isn't going to mature and grow up and come to understand more complex gaming principles or storylines. Many/most of them already could, but they have choosen not to. That's not what they want to play. They want simple fun. And that really isn't such a bad thing.

tktomo01

Except, no. The expanded audience is not a caveman. We can talk about them in real life terms without resorting to allegory which isn't anything like what is actually happening.

My mother is not a gamer. She is not "hardcore". She loves Wii sports and is mildly amused by Mario Kart. If I didn't bring my Wii with me back to school every semester she would buy Wii fit. She is exactly the kind of person that Nintendo is selling to right now. Now, what makes you think that she is going to buy anything other than a Wii fit 2 or something similiar in the future? My mom has seen me playing my so called "hardcore" games before, and she has no interest.

If it is indeed Nintendo's grand plan to bring these people into the core group then they will fail. At least if we are thinking like we are now. If we will consider the expanded audience to be core anytime in the future it won't be because they have moved to play the type of games we play now, but because the core has moved to make the type of games that they play.

Yeah, like others said, that's pretty much Nintendo's strategy.

Create a new generation of gamers and they will remain a part of their fanbase for the rest of their lives.

That's what they've always done, by the way. The NES originally came with a robot (AKA, a toy).

Trick the customer into thinking that they're buying a harmless toy (many people look at games in a negative way), and once they realize that videogames aren't so bad, they're hooked.

[QUOTE="tktomo01"][QUOTE="Arc2012"]

I think that you're making the mistake of thinking that all "casuals" are children. The expanded audience isn't going to mature and grow up and come to understand more complex gaming principles or storylines. Many/most of them already could, but they have choosen not to. That's not what they want to play. They want simple fun. And that really isn't such a bad thing.

Arc2012

Except, no. The expanded audience is not a caveman. We can talk about them in real life terms without resorting to allegory which isn't anything like what is actually happening.

My mother is not a gamer. She is not "hardcore". She loves Wii sports and is mildly amused by Mario Kart. If I didn't bring my Wii with me back to school every semester she would buy Wii fit. She is exactly the kind of person that Nintendo is selling to right now. Now, what makes you think that she is going to buy anything other than a Wii fit 2 or something similiar in the future? My mom has seen me playing my so called "hardcore" games before, and she has no interest.

If it is indeed Nintendo's grand plan to bring these people into the core group then they will fail. At least if we are thinking like we are now. If we will consider the expanded audience to be core anytime in the future it won't be because they have moved to play the type of games we play now, but because the core has moved to make the type of games that they play.

I resent your pokemon remarks. Pokemon is a better game than a large portion of those story and cut scene filled "deep" RPGs today. Also, pokemon snap is amazing. So is pokemon puzzle league :)_BlueDuck_

Except, no. The expanded audience is not a caveman. We can talk about them in real life terms without resorting to allegory which isn't anything like what is actually happening.

My mother is not a gamer. She is not "hardcore". She loves Wii sports and is mildly amused by Mario Kart. If I didn't bring my Wii with me back to school every semester she would buy Wii fit. She is exactly the kind of person that Nintendo is selling to right now. Now, what makes you think that she is going to buy anything other than a Wii fit 2 or something similiar in the future? My mom has seen me playing my so called "hardcore" games before, and she has no interest.

If it is indeed Nintendo's grand plan to bring these people into the core group then they will fail. At least if we are thinking like we are now. If we will consider the expanded audience to be core anytime in the future it won't be because they have moved to play the type of games we play now, but because the core has moved to make the type of games that they play.

Arc2012

The fact that some people will never become core gamers doesn't mean that nobody will. Do you dispute the idea that every hardcore gamer, or at least most hardcore gamers, begin as casual gamers? The only alternative is for every single hardcore gamer to have gone from zero to playing games like there's no tomorrow with nothing in between.

There is a lot of speculation these days about gaming forever appealing to the casual. However, I think something may have been overlooked. As kids, any mature gamer knows we played casual games too, in a way. We bought liscenced games, and Pokemon, all that jazz, which could be considered casual. But as we grew, hardcore games became more appealing. We turned away from Dick Tracy and Pokemon Snap in favor of Doom, Chrono Trigger, hardcore things. Right now, the Wii has introduced more casual games than ever, so those who never gave games a shot picked up casual games due to the clever marketing and easy to grasp principles. But what if they grew tired of the casual, and wanted something more deep, something compelling? They will then want hardcore, and then, nature will be balanced once more. In fact, the rising sales of casual games might be to our advantage, as when the time comes, more people than ever will want hardcore. Same applies with movies. We start out casual, so to speak, watching kids shows like Sesame Street and Barney. And eventually, things like Saving Private Ryan, The Godfather, and Star Wars appeal. Maybe people already had this theory, I don't know. Sure, we might have to wait a few years, but eventually, I believe the hardcore will control the mainstream once more. Discuss

tktomo01

Your logic fails hard, TC. Your asuming most casual gamers are little kids. They're not. They're middle aged/older adults who want to escape the complexities of life by playing a simple game of Wii Sports or Wii Play. I'm suprised there are still some who do not know this.

[QUOTE="Arc2012"]

Except, no. The expanded audience is not a caveman. We can talk about them in real life terms without resorting to allegory which isn't anything like what is actually happening.

My mother is not a gamer. She is not "hardcore". She loves Wii sports and is mildly amused by Mario Kart. If I didn't bring my Wii with me back to school every semester she would buy Wii fit. She is exactly the kind of person that Nintendo is selling to right now. Now, what makes you think that she is going to buy anything other than a Wii fit 2 or something similiar in the future? My mom has seen me playing my so called "hardcore" games before, and she has no interest.

If it is indeed Nintendo's grand plan to bring these people into the core group then they will fail. At least if we are thinking like we are now. If we will consider the expanded audience to be core anytime in the future it won't be because they have moved to play the type of games we play now, but because the core has moved to make the type of games that they play.

GabuEx

The fact that some people will never become core gamers doesn't mean that nobody will. Do you dispute the idea that every hardcore gamer, or at least most hardcore gamers, begin as casual gamers? The only alternative is for every single hardcore gamer to have gone from zero to playing games like there's no tomorrow with nothing in between.

Most hardcore gamers spend hours every week playing video games. Most of the casual adults who play games like Brain Age and Wii Fit in very short sessions do not have the time to play video games for long periods of time because of their obligations (ie work, family, friends, ect.)

Most hardcore gamers spend hours every week playing video games. Most of the casual adults who play games like Brain Age and Wii Fit in very short sessions do not have the time to play video games for long periods of time because of their obligations (ie work, family, friends, ect.)

Super-Mario-Fan

Yes, but my point is that those hardcore gamers didn't start that way. They didn't go from playing no video games one day to play video games every single day the next. Tomorrow's hardcore gamers come from today's casual gamers; the ones who like it enough to pursue it further are the ones who make the jump.

ill add and point out , nintendos segas and sonys 2 most succesful consoles, have had more games for every one, then the ones that mainly had fps and madden ,

e n64

if you looking at sales numbers for n64 gc ps3 360 xbox compare them to the ones of snes nes ps1 ps2 sms and genesis, youll see also look at the librarys each of these systems offers includin wiis

they all had their share of casual style ames like , monopoly jeopardy family feud etc

also these consoles where new to the mainstream, as kids these are the ones they grew up with,

ps2 being the last of this group excludin wii ds gb series

had loads of bargin bin titles that may not have been as popular as madden or quake or doom, but many of these are fun jusr fun to play, and all of these consoles have more then just that in common

1 they included somthing others havent done before

2 they are offered at fair prices that people werent scared to pay

3 big game librarys then say, the other 2 consoels this gen,

no offense 360 and ps3 are slowly following but they just dont offer as much

4 known brand, that also played factor for sony and nintendo twice and sega to hold up, and nintendo is doin these things again , sure games like perfect dark goldeneye or doom are fun and ood but how many can we have

this leads to 5

variety in genres, you wont always be playin the same type of game ,,

like saY N64 , , where youd be mostly playin racin platforming or fps. and sports

the other ones that sold more are the ones that risked everything and gave everyone even non gamers somethin to do ,play i never knew what a game was until playing nes my first game was duckhunt/super mario bros , or zelda,

this was way before doom and goldeneye entered,

these helped make gaming fun but nothing like duckhunt/mariozelda did,

you can argue halo is better . but the fact is that is not where gaming really kicked off . or took off ,

neither was atari , those are fads that fade away just like any other thing that just ended up a piece of history,

and arent played well after they are dated nes wii ps1 ps2 snes genesis sms and to some degree xbox dc arent fads,

these became popular

an many still play them sure a smaller portion including me play any thin and all , they can et their hands on

you think ps2 sold because mgs and ff, i dont, thats just not enough , theres loads more games on that then gc xbox or dc and it also allowed dvd playback ,when dvd players where as expensive,as blu-ray is today, the only reason , blank didnt sell as fast as its prodecessor which we all know is ps2,

is because it didnt offer good killer titles and isnt got a big library just yet, and dont offer as much of a exclusive titles,

and a welcomed price at start, deveoping cost also to high, so ya ,

all of them are here to try and they dont guarantee you or this market , any thing, no shame in trying ,, vb would be the perfect example of trying ,

ps3 can be to, although ps3 has respectable sales, it hasnt done enough to really keep the fanbase there,

oh well theyll try next time, just like nintendo did this time,

make mistakes, they better look into them or theyll just end up like blank and blank ,

there isnt a perfect console, but theres a better one, but this doesnt exclusde any setbacks,