While there should there should be a place for niche and targeted audiences, I have to say I'm undeniably happy to see gaming open up a bit. As mike_intellivision said, a video-game's audience should not assumed to be primarily consisting of males 16-34, it should include both genders and every possible age, a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with.
When I my parents or my girlfriend's parents (or those who are generally considered non-gamers or casual gamers) hear about Call of Duty, Halo, World of Warcraft and games of that ilk, their reaction is unfailingly a rolling of the eyes followed by a bewildered exclamation. One you mention Mario, Tetris or Pac-Man around them, however, you can see a glint in their eyes. Everyone wants to have fun, and video-games should be able to provide that to everyone. The majority of people would like a way to engaginly absorbs minutes or tens of minutes of their day rather than the hours that are seemingly required by "hardcore games". To me, allowing and enticing more people to play video-games is the way that gaming needs to go if it hopes to mature and truly become mainstream, rather than creating bloated, grandiose cinematic experinces that one can only enjoy if they memorize the dual uses of 18 buttons and three joysticks. If gaming is truly seeking to legitimize itself rather than bleed the existing market dry, then it needs to embrace its inner game-ness.
If the gamer population is actually approaching an equal division among genders, why are all the "AAA" experiences geared almost exclusively towards the male gamer? Does anyone else see that insular approach as destructive? The fact that one can sometimes find some women playing Quake and the like should not be taken so positively. Why is the gender split not closer to 50-50? Why are these major, apparently "defining" video game experiences so male-dominated?
