Even though this is my first post, I have been reading the site for a few months now.  Now I rarely post on any forums, however being such a big fan of games I figured I could bring up a few comments about things I have seen reading said forums.

1) "Casual" gaming. Now I know that a lot of people are not happy with the supposed "casual" turn the industry is taking, and how casual gamers are going to be the decline of gaming. But one thing you have to remember is that every "hardcore" gamer started out as a casual gamer. Nobody picks up a controller for the first time and is instantly considered harcore. Even people like me who started playing NES back in the day still started out "casually" gaming. So maybe next time you consider shunning someone who is just getting in to gaming, remember todays casual gamer is tomorrows hardcore gamer.

2) Fanboys. Being a huge nintendo fan I understand brand loyalty. But some people just take their loyalties way too far. Thinking that the only good games are only on the system you support, and you equate any other company develpoing games to watching a retard with a rubix cube. All sysems have games worth playing, its just a matter of opinion as to which ones you like. Being a fanboy is like being the alcoholic sports fan who refers to his team with the collective "we". Sure they want your support (money), and they want you as a fan, but if you ran into the team in the mall, they would probably just kick your ass. So as for brand loyalty, sure its a good thing, but if your company stopped making systems and games, would you stop playing games. Thats a big negatory. In the words (kind of) the great Tommy LaSorda "So your team isn't in the playoffs, big deal, cause you will always be a bigger fan of gaming"

I'm sorry this post was so long but i just wanted to say a few things that i thought were important and i hope to see your feedback. 

Like your name, and welcome.

thanks

a lot of these "casuals" wont upgrade to other games.

Welcome to VG Chartz!

I mostly agree with your points, by the way.

Ah, another of the gaming industry's "sacred cows" emerges: that "casual" gamers will not move up to more complex games! This isn't entirely false based on past precedent, but it's not even close to true, either.

When a person exits a market, it is due to their not being satisfied with the way the market is serving them any longer. Traditionally in gaming, this occurred because games only became more complex iterations of basically the same games (and as a result, game "sub-genres" emerged). There is nothing, however, that is in place which would prevent the newly introduced players from graduating up to a more complex type of game, so long as that more complex game still fits their values.

To this end, we have seen the release of titles which combine the old values (visuals, gameplay depth, complexity) and the new values (intuitiveness, gameplay quality, pick-up-and-play). Good examples of this are Super Smash Bros Brawl (which tilts in favor of the old values but encompasses the new ones as well), and Mario Kart Wii (which tilts in favor of the new values but encompasses the old ones as well).  Both games have sold markedly well, better than their predecessors in the short run (and assuredly in the long run too).  They are representative of what direction gaming is going in, and how gamers will graduate to more complex styles: they will be games which embrace the new values as well as the old, but the favor will shift towards the new values as time goes on.

Yep. And there isn't a single "hardcore" gamer that will be a "hardcore" gamer forever. Comprende amigo?

no i dont

 Then allow me to demonstrate...

http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/interview-a-chat-with-exnaughty-dog-jason-rubin/?biz=1

"(After getting out of the game business) We learned an incredible amount about consumption and the way people choose things outside of games and what people like and don't like outside games. I think there's a lot we can bring from that...

JR: The Wii, Guitar Hero and Rock Band... these are all examples of potentially coincidental intersections of non-gamer needs with games. I think if you focus a little harder... the game industry will find they have a huge potential outside of the core gamer and the audience that has kept us going. That's not to say we shouldn't focus on the audience that kept us going, but why not expand? I always believed the games industry has unlimited potential to reach every corner, from a 90-year-old woman to a nearly newborn as soon as they can play with controllers – two or three years old. You know, I've seen four-year-olds play Jak and Daxter - not well, but they've played it. ... So, stepping back has given Andy and I a great opportunity to expand our horizons...

I've been a mass consumer of games, not as a person looking to see how many polygons they're pushing or what their A.I. is like or how the physics engine works, but honestly enjoying games for what they are. And it's very interesting to me that the games I'm playing as a gamer are very different than the games I played as a creator. I used to play my competition – people I thought I could learn from – and that probably meant I was making decisions as a game maker that weren't necessarily best for what the gamer wanted, but rather as game maker for what I wanted to prove. But as a player, I find I'm playing games that I would have never respected on the technical game making plane, but are more fun and more enjoyable as a gamer than the cutting edge technical works I was looking at back then. That has been a huge lesson to me along with Flektor, that it's more about the fun – that's really what we're about – and you have to pay attention to that."

 Let me know if you need more examples.

Its true, a lot of the casuals won't upgrade to more complex games, but enough of them will. You can't become a hardcore gamer if you've never been exposed to gaming. Most Wii owners never owned a system before and some will adopt gaming as their main hobby and some will move on to the next big thing.