New Malstrom article - Secret to the “Casual”

[Gamerace]

Okay, this thread is too long to read everything so sorry if I'm repeating anything here but for what it's worth here's my two cents:

First off I agree malstrom is full of himself and isn't the greatest writer that ever lived.

I also agree with pretty much the entire article although he doesn't explain certain things well enough. Tutorials being the main offender here.

Also I see a lot of people missing the point. Tutorials are broken (any tutorial) if you're trying to appeal to 'non-gamers'. They aren't interested in learning how to play - period.  They are not interested in playing at all!! That's why they are 'non'-gamers.  You have to immediately hand them something so intuitive and fun that it changes that opinion. They have to be 'sold' on the game before you can start 'uping' the complexity. Nintendo is one of the only companies that understands that.

I do agree integrated tutorials are usually fine. If it doesn't feel like a tutorial then it's okay IMO as long as the game starts off easily enough that you don't need to read anything to play. Tutorials like Sonic and The Secret Rings had are the worst. It sucked all the fun out - but that's a severe example.
Mario Kart Wii is a great example of the proper way to make games for 'non-gamers': Here is a wheel - drive. The game is more complex than that but it's easy enough anyone can get into it, have fun and then learn the details like power-ups, speed boosts, etc.

And he's right - GTAIV and MGS4 are broken. No non-gamer is ever going to pick up and play those games. Only the converted choir will. Cut scenes won't change this. If people want to watch a movie, they'll watch a movie not play a game with long cut-scenes.