Breaking Down Casual Gaming Misconceptions

April 21st, 2008

casual gaming misconceptions wii fit

You know something that really frustrates me beyond belief? When I am scrolling through an online message board and find gamers whom downright slag out the recent push for casual gaming. This new orientation of gaming has undeniably been receiving quite a lot of heat from a number of members within the ‘core’ gaming crowd. Especially among hardened Wii owners whom are feeling the pressure on their identities as gamers. You see, the truth is a lot of this hate is extremely misguided.

I’ve had this article in cold storage for at least a month now and it was only the other day that another couple of incidents occurred which reminded me of how important this issue is. So I want to tackle this issue head on and hopefully continue to report on and share my ideas on the topic. Please let me know what you think.

What is Casual Gaming?

Casual gaming is essentially gaming made for casual gamers or non gamers, that is people who are new to or don’t play video games on a regular basis. Casual gaming in a way is designed to be the first stepping stone for new players onto the gaming scene.

What Defines a Game a ‘Casual Game’?

It is generally accepted that casual games would consist of at least two or more of the following attributes:

But more importantly it has to successfully appeal and be easily enjoyable by new players. To further clarify what a casual game is here are some examples of games that fit this bill:gameboy casual gaming

So now that we know what casual gaming is all about lets dive into some misconceptions.

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My Continual Frustration with Game Reviews

April 16th, 2008

Even though nothing of the sort is on the blog yet, I have recently been writing a few articles about casual and non-gaming themed games. As I’ve been transferring my thoughts into a digital format I’ve started to realize some of the major issues that these types of games face when put up for review. It seems that no matter how well these games excel in their respective area (training your brain, karaoke etc.) they were always seem to fall up short when it comes to game reviews. Upon this realization I have been re-analyzing my stance on video game reviews and over the past couple of weeks I have drawn a series of conclusions that I’d like to share with you.

Prelude

Before my eventual realization I noticed a few strange quirks about some games which I would now like to use as examples.

brain training ds screenshotMy first observation was Brain Training on the Nintendo DS, my personal view on this game, as has been probably already been mentioned in this blog before, is that it perfects a design in which itself has created. The exercises in the game are designed to test your brain. It sounds ridiculous that I have to almost re-phrase the game’s title to actually emphasis my realization of what I am doing when I play this game. Obviously I know that this game is about testing the brain but it wasn’t until I went hands on that I could admire it’s simple effectiveness which it dishes out in strides. It is an odd sensation; you can actually feel your brain working away, its quite incredible.

Brain Training is almost flawless in approach and because of this I believe that it is one of the must play experiences on this system. It is unique to it’s platform and is something that demands to be sampled at least once. Not so according to the reviews generated by Game Rankings which mark this title as being decidedly average 78% (NB: to the average gamer >80% is regarded as ‘average’ or not worthy of purchase).

Lets take another title of interest; House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return for the Wii. This game has been praised but also severely panned at the same time with great misunderstanding from me. According to the game reviews, the dated visuals and presentation are reasons to hinder one’s purchase of this title. But, in my mind isn’t that the point of buying the compilation? Yes the visuals are dated but this is what you should expect from two last generation titles, why penalize the game for what it is trying to be? Why not review this game on the grounds of a (price reduced) retro compilation rather than a fully fledged Wii game?

house of the dead 2 wii zombies

What I am trying to drill home here is context and how the current review model falls apart with varying context.
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It’s Okay to be Fanatical…

April 14th, 2008

phoenix wright fanatical

I’m not too sure of the direction of this post. You see I am in essence pushing an agenda and trying to use my experiences as the example in point. As mentioned before I have strong feelings about this whole fan culture that has been breed throughout our industry. To summarise my feelings I think that it is okay to be a fan, just not fanatical. When your fanaticism blurs fair minded perception then there is without a doubt a problem, one in which I always try to avoid.

It seems like in this instance though, the rug has been pulled from beneath my feet. Allow me elaborate;

One morning in the middle of last week, on the train to Uni, my brother, a friend and I were discussing games. My brother and I were reminiscing over what can be called the “old” LucasArts and their witty, intellectually humorous properties. A gap in the conversation opened up and I thought that I would use the floor to share some recent Metal Gear Solid 4 updates. Now between my game playing friends and I (and undoubtedly you readers too) it is no secret that I am literally breaking my balls over this game. That I am, in essence, a fan.

Perhaps it was a result of a work focused, sleep neglected night prior to the exchange but I was aggressively sharing my opinions on the Metal Gear series and with an unempathetic passion, pulling no punches. It was within my raging banter that my brother and friend began pulling my strings, when my brother slyfully labbelled me as ‘fanatical’.

Its quite a claim, isn’t it? So I pursued onwards and what followed was a series of verbal jousting matches between the three of us. I felt outraged and insulted by their very comments. I mean how dare these two non-believers, these two people whom have never played a Metal Gear title possibly understand how I felt and what this means to me?

It was then, as my brother and friend were indulging in their pot stiring that I stopped and asked the question; “Am I fanatical over MGS4?”.

metal gear rex metal gear solid 4

I pondered over this question considerably in the days that followed and as of writing I am still yet to draw my conclusion. I decided to brainstorm a list of habits that I regularly par take with relation to Metal Gear.

Straight away I felt a great sense of guilt. I thought back to spending tens of hours processing and managing the Metal Gear saga in my head. Carefully reading over Wikipedia pages for a hope of inspiration. Attempting to make logical ties within the franchises’ extensive story. I thought of how I regularly ensure that I watch the MGS4 trailers and other video that I have captured from the games at least once every 3 days. And how I often mimic the voices within such video segments. From here on out the list just unraveled before me.

Am I starkingly mad? I hope not and in my hope I have been searching for ties to justification to free myself of hypocrisy. Fortunately I have found it, unfortunately it is subjective.

Despite my high interest in this title, I don’t think that it is damaging. My love for this series is justified. I am a fan of this genre of game, of this genre of action (be it games or film). In difference to what my friends may think I believe that I have fairly realistic expectations for this game. I am more than aware that this game will have a few short comings, I know that the other games definitely did. My Twin Snakes bashing article proves this. I do think that the gameplay in MGS2 is not as refined as it should be and even though MGS3 reinvents this it is still dexteritally painful. I know that MGS4, according to various sources should streamline and clear away these issues but the game will still not be perfect.

So, onto subjectivity, do you readers think that I am fanatical over this game or just another interested fan. In anycase being this interested in a game is healthy in my mind. If we just approach all games with a cynical snark then what is the point? Excitement is natural, welcomed and healthy for us. Its what makes this whole charade so interesting. So am I crazy and what about you? What games are you totally bonkers over?

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