this is my first thread horray lets celebrate lol.. anyway lets get started...

i always wondered whats so casual about mario?, i mean i have been playing mario for years since the nes to be exact and i never heard anyone say mario is a casual game in my life time playing video games... is it because of the introduction of the casual audience when the wii was announce back in 2006? then all the sudden hes a casual game? it just doesnt make any sence, i feel insulted when gametrailers on bonus round said new super mario bros wii is a casual game  and even more insulted that IGN said it in there dumb arse console war artical (wii vs. ps3. 360 part 2).. i cant beleive they just shoved mario in the casual catigory, when he should of been in the adventure/platformer catigory

Because it just is....? My question is why people get offended with the term casual, like its derogatory or something. Personally I'd rather the casual title than the 'kiddie' title Mario had for such a long time.

Mario is casual, just as Super Smash Bros, Wii Sports Resort, Modern Warfare, Mario Kart, Pokemon and World of Warcraft are casual.

They are all games that are relatively asy to pick up and play but they are all also hard to master.

Because It IS casual.

Mario isn't remotely casual. It's about as hardcore as it gets. Wii Sports Resort is a casual title which I happen to believe was exceptionally good. Casual shouldn't be seen as an insult but it also shouldn't be used as an indescriminate label for anything that Nintendo happens to be marketing for mass market appeal.

NSMB Wii has almost certainly been marketed at the typically casual audience, that doesn't make it a casual game. The reason why journalists are calling it casual is because they themselves have been taken in by Nintendo's marketing spin. This means one of two things

1. Nintendo's marketing guys are exceptionally good at their job

2. These journalists are a bit dim / easily suggstible.


That's my take on the issue.

I don't think NSMB Wii is a casual title, nor is it hardcore. It is just a game (a franchise probably) which appeals to hardcore and casual gamers at the same time. And my guess is that the game was designed to do just that.

It appears to me that calling games "casual" is becoming more and more of an deprecative term. So I feel that by calling the Wii and it's games casual (wether they really are casual or not) is just a way of Analysts and perhaps the so called "hardcore gamers" to express their disapproval for Nintedo's strategy (and success).

I think this is the case because a lot of people find this success sort of illegitimate because it is not based on what has been viewed as the business standard (superior technology, graphics... higher complexity etc.) in the past.

^What he said, it's late and i'm feeling lazy.

When the industry folk say casual they mean retard

http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/

this guy has all the answers

It isn't casual or hardcore...it's everyone

IMO casual just means its more appealing to everybody and easier to pick up. More girls and elderly will pick up a Mario game than ever consider touching a Street Fighter or Halo game.

A recent party i attended had SF4 going on in one room and NSMB Wii in the other, lets just say more (guys and girls) wanted to play Mario while only a few were playing SF4.