Casualties of GamingPosted by Anthony on September 7th, 2008
All this talk about the Wii being the bastion of casual gamers is really starting to stick in my craw. And I didn’t even know I had a craw or that such a thing could get stuck in it, but whatever. What bothers me is that casual gaming has been around FOREVER and it has nothing to do with the Wii.
The Wii has drawn tons of new people into gaming, but these are not casual gamers. These are non-traditional or non-gamers disguised as casual gamers. The elderly, moms and dads who would otherwise never play a videogame have picked up the Wii-mote and are swinging away. My fiancee is one of these people. She has only played Sonic games for the Genesis, but she loves Wii Tennis and wants a Wii.
I don’t want a Wii. Not now anyway. Not enough games for the price to make it worth my while. I am trying to plant seeds that she will love Little Big Planet by going overboard on how cute Sackboy is (not that overboard, because let’s face it: that is one cute little bastard) and she seems to be responding, but she still just wants to wave a stick around at the TV. Imagine my excitement at that.
Nintendo has done well in getting these non-gamers to play, but they play games that really have no point. In reality, these games are just party games. Why do you think Nintendo keeps crapping out Mario Party, Mario Baseball and Mario Playing Some Other Sport all the time while keeping the good Mario games few and far between? Because those games are the point of the Wii. They want to get a ton of people involved in gaming by having them play games that barely qualify as such. Maybe in the next generation Nintendo will try to get those people to play REAL games, but somehow, I doubt it.
You want to know what a true casual gamer is? My future brother in law is the best example of a casual gamer I have ever seen. He has a PS3 and the following games: Call of Duty 4, GTA4, Metal Gear Solid 4, Madden 08 and Madden 09. If that doesn’t scream casual, I don’t know what does. He will buy every version of every Madden each year, no matter what. On CoD4, the only mode he ever plays is Team Deathmatch. He hasn’t touched the single-player mode or Search and Destroy or HQ or ANYTHING. I have tried to tell him how great the other modes are, but he is not interested. That is a casual gamer.
Not someone who plays Cooking Mama or whatever new pseudo-game they crap out this week. But someone who likes video games, but only plays them as a diversion or a light hobby. These people playing games on the Wii and DS that aren’t even games? Pseudo-Gamers. New term, just coined, I want a dime anytime anyone utters it.
September 7th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I believe the Wii was just a gimmick. People go “OH THAT LOOKS LIKE FINE!” but really once you play it for 10 minutes you go…well that was interesting. There are really a limited amount of games that the old Nintendo fan’s will like. I have a Wii. Had it the day it came out. There are only two games I’ve bought and played besides the one that comes out. Zelda, and Smash Bros. Everyone was attracted to the new style of gaming and tried it. Now a lot are probably disappointed. I believe the Wii was marketed to the younger kids. And that’s because no self respecting person would buy the attachments you can get. Why would I need tennis racket on my Wii mote? And if I wanted to played tennis or bowling I’d go out side and do it! Now with games like CoD4 and Gears of War. I can’t go outside shooting people. Not that I’d want to. But that’s the point of a video game in my eyes. Do stuff you can’t. Otherwise I could just buy the $10 racket and play for a while.
September 7th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
You know, I was all over the place with the Wii. First, I thought it was stupid. Then, brilliant. Then I wanted one, now I don’t.
Anything that causes that much consternation is probably something I don’t want to have.
Plus, the wi-fi only is annoying.
September 7th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I mostly use the wii for web surfing, photo browsing and so on, but not that much for gaming. I really want a 360, I really do…
September 7th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Without reading much of the above posts, I will agree that to me is what a TRUE ‘casual gamer’ is. But the ‘casual gamer’ in the sense of the Wii is a completely different story.
every game you mentioned him having, is mainstream and of a normal genera. WII FREAKING FIT! WTF IS THAT!?!?! Even WII SPORTS (which I loved by the way…LOVED that is) The games the Wii has are more…experimental or non-mainstream titles. You dont see big games on it. He even mentioned “We arnt targeting core gamers”
Perhaps that what we should term that. Shit Microsoft has ‘zones’ on XBL; I’m a ‘Recreational’ gamer. Casual can mean many things but I would have to say its not Casual that the wii is targeting (in the sense of your BIL) but non ‘core gamers’. By core I would say anyone who goes out and buys MGS4 because of how bad ass it is or goes and gets Madden because they love football.
What will the wii be doing then? I think they are trying to be creative, branch out, and finally are truly targeting kids. Even PS3 has GTA4, Wii would NEVER market that game.
I haven’t played a game on my Wii for more than 10 minuets since mid summer. It even has a timer to tell me that.
September 8th, 2008 at 3:36 am
Very true Sean. I never get the “I R GAMER! ROFLCOPTER!” feeling on the wii.
September 8th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Yeah, I honestly have no problem with the Wii, but being an English major, words matter to me and the word CASUAL is not the correct word to describe the current trend in gaming.