I don't believe that either. Casual and hardcore are buzzwords with little to no meaning. They are used to put down groups of people that have different tastes. i've never seen a line in the sand that can definitively show both sides of these people. Everybody is just a gamer. If they don't play games, they are a non-gamer. That's it.

As Nikkom and Onyx have shown (and as I have said before too) there are no casual game, only casual players.

In truth I don't think it is quite as simple as that, There are games that are good for casual players, Like Mario Kart and Wii Sports etc... but those are not "casual games" because they can be played in a much different way by us avid gamers.

However there are some games I think, that because they don't really contain much, cannot really be played any other way than casually. Some examples of this would be quiz games like Buzz, as well as the more substandard of minigame compilations like Game Party and Sports Party (Deca Sports in USA) I wouldn't even put Carnival games into this as from what I have seen it has a little more substance.

Personally I would break games down into 4 categories

1.Hardcore - games that are fiendishly difficult and complicated from the get go, cannot be played casually, Fire Emblem is the only example I can think of.

2.Core - Most games are in here, Most shooters and adventure games, GTA, Mario Galaxy, Banjo, Ratchet, Uncharted.... Can be difficult for Casual gamers to get a grip, but are accessible enough for most players and usually let people in gradually.

3.Bridge - Many games that are considered "casual" would be in here, they are designed to be accessible to all, but have enough depth to keep better players going, Wii Sports, Mario Kart, Guitar Hero, Wii Fit

4. Casual - Not many games are purely casual, these games can be fun for anyone, but should be played in short bursts and don't have much to add to what you play in the first couple of hours. The Eyetoy games, Buzz, Wii Play, and some of the poorer quality party games.

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Of course some games can be a mix of two of the above, and things like Wii Fit and Brain Training can also stretch out to a fifth category that isn't really it's own, called "non-game" (there are no "non-games" alone, but some games in the 3rd and 4th category can stretch out to it, Wii Music from what I can gather will be a category 3, but like Wii Fit will be part of "non-game" too (though less so than Wii Fit and Brain Training)

halo is causual because casual is some thing anyone can play or do, anyone can play halo and most likey have 9+ million copies sold.  all my non gamer fiends have heard of halo even my chick friends.  hardcore is prolly sumthing like mass effect where only the hardcore care about it.  something borderline is gears or war too me.  GTA is the defination of casual and so is mario now the people who take the games serious are hardcore

1. Wii Sports
2. Wii Fit
3. Singstar
4. Wii Play
5. Link's Crossbow Training

I agree.  Everyone thinks that casual is a wii exclusive.

Before the Wii, i used to be a hardcore gamer, now, im both, hardcore and casual gamer!.

Almost any game likes me, except shooters.

Rock Band
Guitar Hero
DDR
LBP(It's easy to control, and very fun)
Mario Kart(any)

Onyxmeth:
NiKKoM:

Ok, I get it. "There are no casual games but casual gamers". For me is just a matter of language, that's why I ask for definitions first, so we can know what are we talking about.

So lets change the language a little bit so we can move on.

1) Definition of a game highly popular among casual gamers
2) Top Five most popular games among casual gamers

NiKKoM:
By the way the article is very interesting

TWRoO:
There you go! Yours is the most interesting answer to the thread so far.

QFT

I didn't say that at all. I said there are no casual games and there are no casual gamers. Those are buzzwords with no meaning. Anyone that plays games is a gamer and has individual tastes and amount of time they enjoy playing. It doesn't make anyone "hardcore" or "casual".