Sony: Casual Games Are Just "an Addictive Diversion"

[Signa]

Most 'hardcore games' (damn I hate that phrase...) are indeed just diversions. Some aren't, and it's nice to see ones that aim to be more than that. Most casual games are just diversions. Some aren't. I played Passage last night, and I could make an argument for it counting as a casual game that delivers a meaningful experience.

As opposed to core games which are what? Just diversions?

A fulfilling experience that stays with you. I doubt I'm ever gonna meet a person who was majorly impacted in their life by Angry Birds. Unless they had a head-on collision while playing the game.

Bulletstorm is considered a 'hardcore' game. It's fun. I wouldn't say it's a fulfilling experience though. There are 'fulfilling experiences' to be found in both hardcore and casual game.

Argh...apples and oranges in both orchids. How will the 'down with the casual' crowd ever deal with that.

I'm going to borrow a point made by Jim Sterling and point out that if you're using Bulletstorm as a reason why that definition doesn't work, then you know that there is a difference between Angry Birds and Bulletstorm.

The exact definition doesn't matter, because there's always going to be exceptions that cross those lines, no matter where you set them. I've never played Bulletstorm, but from what I understand about it, it's the very "definition" of both hardcore and casual. It's hardcore because it borrows heavily from the gameplay mechanics of other hardcore games, and "casual" gamers wouldn't be interested in it because of having a drawn-out campaign that isn't pick-up-and-play like Bejeweled. However, it suffers greatly from being too casual because mass appeal is important to game companies now, and what we are left with is just another homogenous mess of a product that no one likes.

It's basically why I don't like modern games now, but that's a rant for another time.

 

[Yopaz]

Well funny enough I actually don't agree with you there... the diversion thing, not the Sony are dumb thing (thats true). I get what your saying, these things are a diversion to enjoy/relax, until someone dedicates theirs lives to said diversion, then it becomes a lifestyle (to some its the most important thing in the world). Sony's statement is just disrespectful.

I guess you make a fair point there. Seeing we have people competing in games on a professional level some of them could be compared to athletes in actual sports and go beyond a simple diversion. There's also the jobs that follows, reviewing, sales or market analysts. However for the most case I wouldn't say it goes beyond a diversion. Games are a lot of things, but above all, they are a great way to stimulate the mind. A diversion, but in no way would I say that's a bad thing.

 

[mfeff]

Just like Sony to talk out of both sides of it's mouth. PlanetSide 2 and Dust 514 are very casual games. PlanetSide 2 being the biggest offender which is specifically being designed around a coffee grinder skinner box mentality.

 

[Robert Ewing]

Well, I've been saying this for years. And so has a lot of people. Glad to see someone's getting paid to say it.

 

[TwentyPercentCooler]

Most 'hardcore games' (damn I hate that phrase...) are indeed just diversions. Some aren't, and it's nice to see ones that aim to be more than that. Most casual games are just diversions. Some aren't. I played Passage last night, and I could make an argument for it counting as a casual game that delivers a meaningful experience.

As opposed to core games which are what? Just diversions?

A fulfilling experience that stays with you. I doubt I'm ever gonna meet a person who was majorly impacted in their life by Angry Birds. Unless they had a head-on collision while playing the game.

Bulletstorm is considered a 'hardcore' game. It's fun. I wouldn't say it's a fulfilling experience though. There are 'fulfilling experiences' to be found in both hardcore and casual game.

Argh...apples and oranges in both orchids. How will the 'down with the casual' crowd ever deal with that.

I'm going to borrow a point made by Jim Sterling and point out that if you're using Bulletstorm as a reason why that definition doesn't work, then you know that there is a difference between Angry Birds and Bulletstorm.

The exact definition doesn't matter, because there's always going to be exceptions that cross those lines, no matter where you set them. I've never played Bulletstorm, but from what I understand about it, it's the very "definition" of both hardcore and casual. It's hardcore because it borrows heavily from the gameplay mechanics of other hardcore games, and "casual" gamers wouldn't be interested in it because of having a drawn-out campaign that isn't pick-up-and-play like Bejeweled. However, it suffers greatly from being too casual because mass appeal is important to game companies now, and what we are left with is just another homogenous mess of a product that no one likes.

It's basically why I don't like modern games now, but that's a rant for another time.

Hey, I actually liked Bulletstorm, if only because I have a soft spot for any media that's so obviously taking the piss out of itself.

OT: I don't believe in the sincerity of anything that comes from a Sony exec, but I think the basic premise is correct. Making "games" that exist only to screw people out of as much money as possible is a pretty terrible business model, as Zynga has so aptly demonstrated. Eventually, people are going to smell a rat. I don't rant and rage at the very thought of "casual" games, but just like non-casual games, to be truly successful and enjoyed, they have to have the same level of care and enjoyment injected into their development as anything else. Anything so obviously churned out of a soulless corporate machine is going to be soulless as well.

 

[Signa]

Hey, I actually liked Bulletstorm, if only because I have a soft spot for any media that's so obviously taking the piss out of itself.

Like I said, I haven't played it, but I got it for $5 on Steam, so I'll get around to it and form my own opinion eventually. I too like it when games are self aware, and I laughed my ass off at that one video that was making fun of the CoD series.

 

[FantomOmega]

If your going to survive as a diverse game platform, your going to have to offer both, or not stay in business.

Agreed, Casual gamers are the easiest to attract since they know next to nothing about game quality to scrutinize it with (graphics, frame-rate, game balancing, in-game physics, storyline etc.) and as long as the game is "fun" they will flock to it BUT they are the most fickle and could stop playing the game (not even completing it even) to move to something else.

Hardcore (sigh that word again) gamers brings in steady revenue (if the game is good) and is the backbone of the Core gaming community and Casual gaming can bring in more profit but it is never certain if it will last long beyond a handful of games like if some new game came out and replace Angry Birds in hype (replace birds with cats) and the casual gamers will hail it the second coming of Christ even if the only thing that changed if that felines are being flung at things and cry "meow"!

Nintendo's current issue with Wii can attest to that, they have a HUGE install base but no software being bought at the rate that it should (compared to the PS2) and the Wii U purpose is to rectify that WHILE keeping the causal audience

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

As opposed to core games which are what? Just diversions?

A fulfilling experience that stays with you. I doubt I'm ever gonna meet a person who was majorly impacted in their life by Angry Birds. Unless they had a head-on collision while playing the game.

I liked Angry Birds for a while, especially since it was about twenty years since I last enjoyed, what, Space Taxi or Thrust.

I never finished Angry Birds, though. Got distracted by Angry Birds in Space, Cut the Rope, some other random games and I ended up just not reinstalling them after some OS upgrade. I switched back to listening to music while commuting, beats those silly little games and slaps them right in their smug little faces.

Found some new music, and my horizon feels like it's ever expanding. Angry Birds just made me twitch and it also made me more angry, as I very much prefer pigs to birds.

All Hail the Gin Lady:

<youtube=sWCLD6xA4NE>

 

[PunkRex]

Well funny enough I actually don't agree with you there... the diversion thing, not the Sony are dumb thing (thats true). I get what your saying, these things are a diversion to enjoy/relax, until someone dedicates theirs lives to said diversion, then it becomes a lifestyle (to some its the most important thing in the world). Sony's statement is just disrespectful.

I guess you make a fair point there. Seeing we have people competing in games on a professional level some of them could be compared to athletes in actual sports and go beyond a simple diversion. There's also the jobs that follows, reviewing, sales or market analysts. However for the most case I wouldn't say it goes beyond a diversion. Games are a lot of things, but above all, they are a great way to stimulate the mind. A diversion, but in no way would I say that's a bad thing.

[image/]http://chzjustcapshunz.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/funny-captions-quite.jpg[/IMG]
Well put good sir.

 

[octafish]

As Cornelius Bear knows, all games are just a momentary diversion on the road to the grave...

 

[Squilookle]

He's right, but let's not kid ourselves: ALL games are an addictive diversion.

 

[l0ckd0wn]

Comparing 'hardcore' to 'casual' is like comparing movies to TV. Both have their place. Saying that one is more pointless than another is a stupid argument. They are simply different and yield different experiences.

This is kind of my notion... Sony doesn't know how to truly get in to the casual gaming market because they never have. As someone else pointed out as well, PopCap is doing just fine and has put out many a game that are quite the addiction to their target audiences. I think there are many factors which go into the replay ability of games, and both hardcore and casual games can tickle the addiction.