http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=182186

PopCap: console games have no depth

In an upcoming interview with CVG, PopCap founder John Vechey had derided the majority of console games, claiming that they substitute complexity with depth.

When asked whether PopCap games could ever reach the level of depth seen in games on the Xbox 360, Vechey said: "I think we can destroy the depth of most Xbox and console games.

"It's arrogant to say, but I think that most of the games on the Xbox and PC aimed at hardcore gaming add complexity but they don't actually have depth.

"I think that's where hardcore gaming went wrong, when they started confusing complexity for depth. And that's one of the things we try and do with Peggle.

"We say, okay, what's the core mechanic that's really fun? Then we make it as deep as possible by having these extra characters and these extra power-ups."

In the upcoming interview, Vechey also praised Nintendo for its innovation with the Wii and addressed the reason why PopCap hasn't released a Wii title yet. Look out for it later this week.

Well, I agree with bdbdbd's bolded statements. However, I don't agree that PEGGLE was a good example of adding depth. The characters' powerups and the bonuses certainly make the game more interesting, but are those really deeper than features found in hardcore console games?

Bejeweled and Insanaquarium on DS would be nice. Or maybe they are already ported?

what do any of these terms really mean anyway? (outside of complexity)
hardcore, casual, depth, shallow, aren't they just terms people made up to prove a point when the lack of hard evidence exists.
Seriously what is a deep game? Seriously Contra and MEtal Slug are basically running forward mowing down wave after wave of enemies, but I'll come back to that more and play it more than I would Bioshock or Zeldas (seriously I enjoyed the original more than any Lttp through Twilight Pricess games) or most other so called "Deep" games
give me Robotron over Resistance, when did games go from being about being fun to being about, frankly I don't know what any of this modern stuff is that people expect from games
(note: I still like Bioshock (though not being able to die is a major turn off), Zeldas and resistance)

I could believe what he said if he wasn't from PopCap and didn't talk about Peggle.

Peggle's great, but powerups and characters =/= depth, or else every "hardcore" game he was making fun of would have depth as well.

What is "PopCap" and why should I care about its personnel's opinions?

PopCap is the company that popularized the casual puzzle genre with Bejeweled, Bookworm, and other titles. They're definitely not nobodies, since every title they put out seems to print money.

I definitely agree with what Vechey said about depth and complexity - though the same could be said about most PC games, too. I don't know why he singles out console games.

It's all terms that depends on who you talk to, what they see as deep, what I see as deep is where users get to create their own parts of the game and share them easily, like in Star Craft you get to make your own maps in a variety of ways that make that game nearly endless it's all up to the users imagination, then you have Brawl and it's stage editor which will let that game last for years (gives Nintendo more time for licensing characters! haha)

@masschamber: The depht of the gameplay. Problem is that if the game is complex, it's called deep and hardcore, when game can be simple, deep and hardcore. I think Starcraft would be a good example of simple, deep and hardcore. Or Nintendogs. NSMB. SMW.

@Garcial: According the text, he singled out Xbox and PC hardcore games...