Lines Between Casual And Hardcore Gaming 'Blurring' - PopCap

PopCap Games co-founder John Vechey believes that the lines separating casual and hardcore gaming are blurring.

[PhilipLarkin]

Peggle 2 please kthxbye.

[SpaceSquirrel]

I want it too, the first one is awesome.

[mjolliffe]

A little early, but Plants vs. Zombies 2 please :)

[scruffy_bear]

Cant wait for Planets vs Zombies 2

[-Alpha]

Planets vs. Zombies? Are zombies that powerful that they are battling gaseous giants? :P

You know, I think I have to agree. At first I saw casuals and hardcore as diametrically opposite, but with such a vast amount of games catering to a wide variety of audiences that fine line has been erased.

Not sure if motion controls have to do with this subject (and I'm making this comment quick because I have school), but it's clear that catering to both audiences is going to become necessary, not so much that games have to independently do both, but games have to infuse both demographics.

Guitar Hero does it perfectly. I can't think of another game that caters to both audiences in such a fantastic way that that line is virtually non existent.

Sony and Microsoft are both realizing this, Nintendo has seen how much the casual gamer matters, and now Natal and Move are emulating that success. Though, Sony seems to be the one trying to cater to both. Natal seems to favor the more casual crowd. Whether being more balanced or being more one sided to the audience will reap more success remains to be seen.

[darthv72]

my wife is hardcore zuma fan. I myself really dig peggle. Both those games need sequels released for console and handheld.

[anonymouse111335]

@Darth

I don't think they'd work as well on a console, my dads a big zuma fan, I've been a huge fan of collapse since I played it the first time myself, popcap make some great flash games, and personally I'd like people to accept flash games more since they are games, they've matured a lot in the last year or so, look up sonny, it's a RPG done in flash with saves a story and everything.

[ReservoirDog316]

Before all that, Plants vs. Zombies on PS3.

Might be slight advertising but it's for a good cause if you agree with this message! Plants vs Zombies on PS3!

http://share.blog.us.playst...

[kevco33]

Well, of course it will. It'a all part of the natural progression of an expanding industry.

Let's not forget that casual gaming has been around for a long time, it's only in recent years that they've begun labelling it.

[SpaceSquirrel]

That's true. Games like Tetris has been around for a long time.

[anonymouse111335]

indeed, I belive the way people use the word casual is wrongly used

http://www.merriam-webster....

"3 a (1) : feeling or showing little concern : nonchalant <a casual approach to cooking> (2) : lacking a high degree of interest or devotion <casual sports fans> <casual readers> (3) : done without serious intent or commitment <casual sex>"

Casual in Gaming -

I like like this game, it's on the wii it's easy and the graphics are bad - wrong way
I enjoy some videogames but I do not play them often - RIGHT

Hardcore in Gaming -

I play shooters and buy things on the day of release, I know about everything the day it's announced! I buy everything on release day! I post on the internet about games! - Wrong

I play a large amount of videogames often and enjoy a variety of titles and genres! - Right

I for one believe there is no such thing as casual or hardcore games, but there are gamers who approach it in different ways, for example I watch large varieties of anime and watch it seasonally, in fact, I watch a couple episodes every day, you could say I'm a hardcore anime fan, but with manga I'm more of a casual fan, as I probably read a couple chapters a week if that, if someone came up to me and told me a list of TV shows they liked, I could probably recommend them a anime, but I would most likely not be able to recommend them a manga, because I have little experience with manga.

Overall I would use the terms casual and hardcore but I don't because of how they are used in the wrong sense too often, such as that I have a atheistic view of religion, but I do not identify myself as a atheist because many of them push their beliefs onto others, the very thing they say is wrong, and I refuse to identify with something which has a largely hypocritical following.

[RedPawn]

Great Comment

+1 good sir.

[samoon]

With games like CODMW2 Ofcourse they are.....

LOOL :P

[solar]

pretty much this. taking a hardcore game and dumbing it down to appeal to the masses is what's happening. and i dont like it one bit.

[djfullshred]

I think it is a lot of nonsense always trying to categorize "hardcore" & "casual" games.

There are two kinds of games though...good games & bad games.

[tdrules]

PopCap Games are both.
For example, Peggle, you can just play that for like 10 mins.
Or you can (like me) do EVERY single level, do ALL the challenges and the Duel.
thats a lot of content

[Kratos Spartan]

be it the Wii, DS, PS3, 360, PC, upcoming Move and Natal, it all helps the industry as a whole. I won't label someone casual or hardcore, no matter how much they play games or when. 1 day a week or seven, they're still playing a game.

[NJShadow]

A game is a game. Throwing a casual or hardcore tag on it seems kind of arrogant to me, who are we to make such distinctions? I mean, I know what someone means when they use the term "casual" or "hardcore", but we rarely ever see the word that both of these have in common used singularly... GAMER.

We're so concerned with looking at what we don't have in common and really need to start seeing we all DO have in common.

[kraze07]

Seems like some of you think that casual gaming is bad just because it's casual. There's nothing wrong with people that only game occasionally and there's nothing wrong with labeling people as casual or hardcore gamers. It's pretty obvious most gamers can be categorized as either of the two. Then you have that special breed of gamers who came out the womb gaming, have no biases towards certain platforms, and only care about whether a game is fun or not. Those are the true gamers.