Article: Hating on the casuals

[Desroko]

I agree some, disagree some. For fun's sake, I'll summarize the disagreement.

I'm torn on the "looking down" on people thing, because I admittedly don't think much of the idolatry of video game storytelling. I'd be a bit of a hypocrite if I didn't mention that I share some of that snobbish attitude, albeit aimed in a different direction. The sort of dreck for which we would rightly mock Hollywood is praised and exalted on the internets if it happens to come with a controller and a 30-hour-plus running time attached. It's a very strange blind spot that this particular subculture has.

Then again, I'm the first to say that quality is subjective. I don't like Smash Bros., Guitar Hero, or Gran Turismo, to pick three, but I don't think they're bad games. On the contrary, I think it's clear that as far as their genres go, they're at or near the top. They just don't appeal to me. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, to each his own, c'est la vie, insert tolerant cliche here.

On one ofyour other notes, I don't think that the Wii audience is going to look all that different from the PS2's in the end. I see both as largely mainstream-oriented machines. The casual segment is definitely more visible this time around, but I don't know if it's significantly larger. If anything, it's probably just natural growth of the indsutry as the population grows and new generations find gaming. There have always been new gamers - it just happens to be highlighted this time around, the way "mature gamers" were mistakenly thought to be a new breed in he 90s.