What are you guys talking about?

Look, I am going to use the classification posted by TWRoO. I think you are confusing core gamers with casuals.

QUOTE:

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.

Yes I know, I wrote it on the OP that some people may say that any Wii game is a casual game. But JPSandhu is saying that Halo is casual because anybody can play it. Well I suppose I can force my sixty something year old mom to sit down and hold the control and play but... I am sure my 4 years old kid won´t like it. My wife who would probably have the skills to handle it and play it for once just to please me, I tell you she won't come back for some more Halo. Instead she did old the recipes of Cooking Mama. She finished Mysims. My dad, for example, seventy something years old, I am sure he had never heard of GTA. If a gave him a classic control I know it will take more than 20 un-funny minutes to make him do something with Niko or Carl. I am sure he won´t enjoy the violence in it. Instead it took him a few seconds to master the Wii remote. Because when you write anyone I read anyone. But clearly this people a used s examples cannot play Halo.

I copied and pasted: "The funniest thing about "casual games" is that no matter how someone tries to define them, Ikaruga ALWAYS meets the qualifications. That should be enough reason to know there's no such thing."

This was the post I was referring to. "such thing". I thought you were referring to "casual games". Ok, now I get it. For you, neither casual games or casual gamers exist. They are just Buzzwords with no meaning to you.

But that is the reason why I asked for definitions first, so we can understand each other. Why don't you come up with an alternative term to describe this population who is consuming videogames, buying and playing, in spite of the fact that they were never atracted to them before. Can you come up with a list of five games that can be atractive to this new segment of the videogames market?

We use the words casuals and hardcore so much and the consummers are so many and so different that maybe this terms become meaningless. But is a fact that the industry is changing. And I would like to see where is it going.

Tetris.

That´s all, no Top 5 needed.

Most casual & most core game ever, also most addictive and therefore most dangerous one. No one who played the game for the first time stopped after just 5 min and never tried again. Even devoted Pong fanboys switched to Tetris back in the days. I hide my Tetris DS cartridge from myself. This game started our neverending gaming hell of news tidbits, screenshot frenzy, sales discussions and its success is responsible for the existence of this very site. It should´ve been banned everywhere already in the late 80s, but the few governments who realized the danger coming from videogames just banned childish games instead, such as Doom. These fools. Tetris is one of the most favorite games of the owner of this site. Need I say more?

They're called new customers. They don't need to be tied into any set group of interests, likes or dislikes. As gaming grows more customers will join because of something new that popped up that wasn't there before, or they haven't experienced. The reason we tie these people to "casual games" is because that is how they enter into the gaming world. Most people that get into gaming through word of mouth, get in because of a multiplayer experience. Why? Because those are the types of games you get exposed to when you stop over a friend's or relative's house. They most likely aren't going to have you play a single player game. They will play something WITH YOU, so your newfound interest in gaming is first tied with something involving multiplayer. From there on out, you can branch off wherever you want or like to. Nintendo understands this mentality but a lot of people just see "casual" and "hardcore".

Well, I am not using them to put anybody down. I take no offense if somebody call me casual or hardcore. I think the industry use those terms to try to design and sell games. That's it. Now, I see your point in this: I, for instance, may be casual or hardcore, (if you know what I mean) depending on the time I have to play and the mood. If I feel harcore, well anything within the metacritics top ten would do it, because you know, somebody who works reviewing videogames has to play a lot, so the chances are he is a harcore too. But if I wanna get casual, I just got to follow my gots or take some risks. According to the Interview with Malstrom, the difference between harcore and casual is that the first ones buy in gamestop while the casuals do it in Wallmart. But the games are equally expensive! And there are few clues on what the hell is a GOOD CASUAL game. The reviewers are going to keep giving them low scores. So it is a mistery. And since I feel a little harcore myself, I just cannot go and buy a game on impulse. Part of the fun is to do some research. Thanks to this thread, when I finnally buy my ps2, I will consider buzz as a casual option. That was all I was asking. And I heard also that there is some sort of Party Tetris. Maybe that one is good. OR NOT. But I am not spending 60 bucks to know I just have to ask around first, you see...

So when I asked for definitions was because the term felt kind of empty for me too, but not entirely meaningless. Just because is dificult or confusing one should not just give up. Anyway, the discussion is always fun.