it's funny how people see things from different perspectives. i am in the category of "casual" gamers, but with a lifetime of playing board games, magic and bridge, is certainly a pretty hardcore gamer, just not in video games. so i don't understand the fascination with first person war games and big production theatrical games. and those guys don't seem to understand the fascination with the DS games. those are the natural extension of the kind of games i'm used to playing, and to me, they're what games should be.
so to me, shoot-them-ups are ONLY something indulgent and adds nothing to your skillset as an individual, which to me is an utterly necessary component in a game--any game. looks like the japanese are beginning to realize this. heavy schoolwork among japanese teenagers also precludes them from playing big long games like those in america. so yeah, i think lifestyle plays a role too.
(ps. i've read about how back in the 1st gulf war videogames helped pilots... but really i think it's just faster adaptation to technology, i.e. the causality is messed up.)
the Wii is an epidemic.
