*This blog was originally posted on GameTrailers Jan '09. I see no reason to deprive Gamespot users any longer.

I've been playing games since I was 10 years old when my family became proud owners of the BBC Micro B. We had a great selection of very good Arcade machine clones including Pacman, Galaxian, Galaga and the like, as well as a wider variety of games from football to platformers - yay Chuckie Egg. I was acutely aware that the BBC Micro lacked the finesse of the C64 and arguably even the ZX Spectrum, but it was a great machine and we enjoyed a wealth of good quality games.

A major moment in my young life was when I received a handheld mini-munchman which I had been longing for, and started a collection of many handheld games machines along the lines of, but strangely never including, the Nintendo Game and Watch series.

During my teens, the most time consuming hobby I had was gaming on my Commodore Amiga 500 and I loved the likes of Kick Off 2 and Stunt Car Racer (which really ought to be a mobile phone game by now). I was also lucky enough to acquire a Sega GameGear which in my mind is a much underestimated machine.

The reason for letting you know about my gaming roots is really to show that I've consistently been playing games, a good variety of them, for much of my life. Due to the amount of time, effort and love I have for games, I would happily call myself a gamer, although of course I do have other things going on in my life.

The term hardcore gamer is a term that I've only come across in recent years, and I would not typically want to be associated with anything that is considered hardcore. I've always considered the term hardcore gamer to be associated with those gamers that will spend several hours, every day, playing the latest and greatest games, typically of a challenging and fast-paced nature requiring a high level of gaming skill and experience.

The term casual gamer is a relatively new term for all, and is largely characterized by the Nintendo Wii owners that occasionally use their machines, or those buying PS2s' to use Singstar or such, perhaps even those that will play a game on their mobile when they're on the train. I think that one of the main characteristics of a casual gamer is that they're spending a low amount of time on gaming, and as such are likely to have a low level of gaming skill and experience.

So am I a Casual or a Hardcore gamer?

I've recently come to the conclusion that my preference is to be a Casual gamer rather than a Hardcore gamer. I've played all kinds of games on all kinds of machines but I've recently found that I simply don't like games that are too demanding, too big, too time consuming. I've been playing a little BioShock, and it's great, but quite soon into the game I made the decision to abandon it - do I really need to spend 10 hours or so to walk around doing the same old thing - is it really that much fun? Sure it's intense, sure it's scary and impressive - but so will the next big release game. I gave Assassins Creed a go too, oh my gawd how boring can a game get. Then I remember the MGS series - the PS1 game was great, very innovative and absorbing but I couldn't even get past the opening cinematic of MGS2, and MGS3 gameplay sucked balls. GTA Vice City has to be one of my all time favourite games - so original, great dialogue and characters, great vehicles - but I had to push myself all the way through GTA San Andreas. I used to love the GT series and would obsess about all the tests, licenses and trophies, but with GT4 I abandoned it early on because I realised that the game would suck several months of my life if I let it.

I've also got a handful of online FPS' now on the Wii but I hardly play them because as much as I'd like to think that I'm good at gaming, I consistently get my ass handed to me, I'm sure by teens that have been playing for a fraction of the time that I have. And I'm not doing too well with online driving games either, although I would swear that I'm pretty effing good at driving games but somehow I'm playing driving gods that whoop my ass time and time again.

Despite the hours and years that I've spent playing and obsessing over games of almost all kinds, I hereby acknowledge that I am a Casual Gamer, and proud of it. I love games, and I'm happy to play games on my mobile, or Flash games on my PC, or the old standards - yay Chuckie Egg. I will continue to spend several hours a week on games, but not so much that it will infringe on other aspects of my life. I will continue to experiment with new types of games and will continue to some degree with hardcore genres such as FPS' as long as they remain fun, not too difficult and not too time consuming. I will refrain from obsessing over the latest and greatest big releases, because I've learned that the bigger and badder they are, the harder and less accessible they will be. I will probe the wonders on offer on my newly acquired Nintendo DS and will not feel embarrassed whilst pushing Spongebob through the galaxy or whilst playing Disney franchises. And I encourage you to do the same.