Sony pretty much ruined video games. More flashy videos and loading screens, less gameplay. I would blame opitcal media, but the Dreamcast is proof that medium isn't to be blamed. "Mature visuals" don't make a game not a toy, Quake III Arenas graphics could be swapped with rainbows and candy cane people, but it would still be more of game than any GTA, which are just sandbox toys for adults and teenagers (also known as teh casualz).

I'm talking about perception bro. Sony changed the perception of what a videogame was and is responsible for the death of arcades in America. Whether you like it or not Nintendo still cannot get the childish stigma off of their backs after 25+ years. Adults and teenagers are not casuals by defition. Casual isn't broken down in that way. Casual is broken down by actual gameplay time and outlook towards gaming. Gaming has no importance in a casuals lifestyle. They also mostly do not like to figure out 13+ button controllers and or gameplay ai depth. Some videogames even point out when choosing difficulty that when you play casual you're playing only for storyline and simplistic experience with weak ai. When you play normal and greater, you're playing for a challenging gaming experience in tiers as well as the story. Essentially the latter is the way the game was meant to be played. Casuals need not apply to games like Dark Souls for instance.

Halo is casual? This is news to me. I thought it was one of those hardcore games on Xbox.

So time is really the important of a factor? So if someone has logged more hours playing Animal Crossing than a professional grand master Starcraft II player has played SC2, they are more hardcore? And I don't really understand your point about perception. I'm just trying to talk facts here, bro.

Skillz are the only real determining factor on who is hardcore. If a casual player can compete, let them live. Leave the lifestyle BS for the n00bs.

I think he means maintsream

Did I just miss something, or is it not true that eReaders are used for readibg book and can also be used for watching movies?

A person who logs more hours of Animal crossing compared to Starcraft is a hardcore Animal Crossing player, not casual. Casuals don't spend that time in a game. As I said, a casual is a casual based on outlook and consumer habits. Perception is the way we see things. Nintendo has not lost its toy image and childish image. When we're talking characters I learned in my editorial illustration and specialty illustration classes in school where to do childish illustrations or take the realism approach. For instance for one assignment we were told to remake a school book page, keep the words but change the illustrations in two ways. One for elementary school kids and the other for the highschool kids. On the elementary school side we drew cartoon images, but on the highschool side since things were getting more scientific and needed realism we drew/ painted realistically. This is because they know their audience. The only reason videogames were percieved to be toys is because Nintendo never changed their image. Sony and Microsoft did that for them and even though people don't percieve videogames as toys ask a friend whether they think Nintendo's could be mistaken as one today as well. Its because their main characters aren't culturally created with adults in mind. Most people who love Nintendo characters grew up with Nintendo much like I did, but eventually I graduated. Same reasons I stopped watching Pokemon and Naruto and graduated to the more mature animations.

Skills are one determining factor in fleshing out the casual from the core, but core settings in a game can turn off a casual. Cores and casuals have different approaches to gaming where for casuals its more simplistic and a novelty. Anyone who does anything hardcore is isn't doing it simply for kicks. They are doing it for the fun as well as the challenge and devote time into it. Complex controls can turn off casuals as well.

Consumer habits? Perception? I guess my problem is that I'm not looking at games from the position as some sort of marketing director. If you asked anybody if video games in general are toys, most people would say yeah. Sony and Microsoft really haven't change the perception of video games that much. The kids who were playing games back in the day are still playing, that is the real reason perceptions have changed a little bit.

Hardcore games don't require complex controls. Arcade games were the perfect balance between hardcore and casual, the games were fun, simple, and challenging. Some of them even used colorful "childish" graphics. I'm glad Sony killed all that off. But to be honest, arcades were already in decline at the time.

It is good to know that your art school is keeping your thought process in check, wouldn't want to get too creative with your art.

Ask your average Counter-Strike 1.6 player if they think Halo is casual.

Who? Those hipsters?

Seriously, you can't deny that most people who play Halo play it hardcore - Not necessarily because the game/genre is hardcore