casual gaming

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Regulars

Too Much Work Or Not Enough Fun?

4:00AM Owen Good | In an essay for Gamasutra last week, academic Lewis Pulsipher mused that games have become so complex as to feel like work, and the stratification of hardcore and casual gamers puts games in a far less inclusive posture than other entertainment. More »
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Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Culture

PAX Panel Attempts To Define “Gamer”, Sparks Casual Controversy

6:00PM AJ Glasser | The PAX panel, Game Culture: How Gamers Impact Society & How Policy Affects Gamer Culture, had some mildly interesting moments – but it got really interesting right at the end, during Q&A. More »
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Monday, August 10, 2009
Culture

Watch People Play Games On UK TV

7:00AM Owen Good | Last weekend, the UK network Bravo – unrelated to the U.S. channel, BTW – launched something called “Game Face,” tilted toward casual gamers, presumably ones with wads of disposable income. More »
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Saturday, June 13, 2009
Features

Tetris Creator Wants To Turn Puzzler Into Sport

2:00AM Brian Crecente | With more than 125 million copies sold on more than 30 platforms, Tetris is rolling into its 25th Anniversary with a bright future. More »
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News

Could The Recession Hit Casual Gaming The Hardest?

4:30AM Stuart Houghton | Sooner or later someone is going to have to give us a definitive answer in the “will gaming survive the recession” debate. This week, ‘analysts’ reckon that the answer for casual gaming is ‘maybe not’. More »
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Thursday, November 27, 2008

Netbooks Could Drive Casual Boom – Analysts

6:00AM Stuart Houghton | The casual gaming business could look to netbooks – those little tiny wee PCs like the ASUS Eee – to give the genre a boost, according to analysts. More »
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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Sega Quietly Launches PlaySega.com

6:20AM Mike Fahey | Sega has quietly launched the beta version of their online gaming portal / social networking site PlaySega.com. The site features a handful of casual games to poke at, including Sonic at the Olympic Games, which seems to be a port of the mobile phone version of the Official Beijing Olympics tie-in. Visitors to the site will be able to create their own personalised escape using items purchased through the website’s ring currency, which you must play games to earn. I’ve already created my own escape, which is apparently a Swiss Chalet containing a small naked boy. Alrighty. More »
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Epic Games Exploring New IPs Through Comic Books

10:00AM Michael McWhertor | Mike Capps, el presidente of Epic Games, recently spoke at the Casual Connect conference in Seattle, saying that his company had lost some of its “nimbleness” as a blockbuster producing studio. With massive titles like Gears of War and Unreal Tournament on its plate, its looking to explore new franchises on the cheap, specifically through comic books. Develop reports that Capps also expressed plans to utilise the recently purchased Chair Entertainment to increase its stable of intellectual property. “We want to learn from casual games”, he’s quoted as saying, telling casual game developers on hand “we’re really jealous of the things you do and we’re going to steal all your ideas.” He then chainsawed them all in half and took their brains back to Epic Games science labs for further study. Epic Games looks to comic books for building new IP [Develop] More »
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Monday, June 16, 2008

‘Skills That Are Waiting to be Turned Into Games’

2:30AM Maggie Greene | Wii Fit has gotten a ton of attention recently; reviews, criticism, and complaints have all cropped up in the wake of its release. Over at Lost Garden, Wii Fit is a launching spot for a broader game design discussion: Wii Fit and its ilk aren’t exception, they’re “merely the tiny tip of an immense iceberg. Almost any human skill, be it physical, cultural, political or economic can be turned into a game that enlightens and enables”. Assuming, of course, it can fit a couple of criteria: More »
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Thursday, June 5, 2008

Casual Gamers? Serious Business

11:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Casual gamers want better! Their expectations are becoming high says Ubisoft. According to the company’s Games For Everyone executive producer Pauline Jacquey, it’s competitors that are raising the stakes. Says Jacquey: When you’re reaching out to somebody who plays one or two games a year, it’s very easy. You don’t need to follow the rules of previous markets. But as they play more and competitors emerge, you have to rethink the way you do the games. The casual audience is becoming more demanding, for sure, and we need to make sure we’re proving more than what they’re anticipating… Young girls, for instance, are now used to games that are made just for them – and have started thinking they want something better. Imagine Babies, anyone? Anyone? Casuals Demanding More [CasualGaming] More »
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