Your Thoughts on the Future of Casual Gaming?

My wife’s a real casual gamer, that I’m always trying to make her like new games. Here the games and type of gaming that managed to interest her.

Games she likes:

– Played a lot of Ultima Online back in the days and not for fighting, but for mining, dressing up, collecting, trading, etc. (she was really pumped for True Fantasy Live Online, RIP!)

– She loved the Sims on the PC and liked a few other sims (a little Ages of Empire and some Tropico) + some point and click adventure games like Myst

– Played quite a few MSN games on the PC (Zuma, bejewel, etc.) Did not like them on the 360: too hard to control.  It’s not point and click.

– The only games she liked on 360: Enchanted Arms (she used only the left stick), Viva Pinata & 1 XBLA puzzle game

– She loves the DS: here favorite platform. Why? Easy to control. Favorite game: Animal Crossing because it’s fun and addictive (decorating, collecting). Liked Nintendogs, Ace Atorney and quite a few others.

– Likes Wii Sports because it’s easy to control and it’s fun

To resume: as soon as a game requires complex 3D controls (i.e.: FPS) with the view controlled by 2 sticks, you lost her. The easier and more intuitive to control, the better. She likes moving a mouse, using a stylus (DS) or moving her hands (Wii).

My advice for the wife to be won by the 360:

 1) offer a point and click (mouse or remote) controler for casual XBLA arcade

 2) For longer games, engaging stories can keep her interest.

 3) An easy to control MMO (Animal Crossing-like or Fantasy Live Online like) focusing on creativity and collecting, trading, fashionable clothing, home decorating, etc. Can have other elements that she’ll skip, like fighting.

Hello Ozymandias,

Personally, I do all of my casual gaming on XBLA (Uno, Catan, Outpost Kaloki and Boom Boom Rocket); however, my bride-to-be plays on Yahoo Games.  She enjoys web-based versions (because they are free) of Zuma, Bejeweled 2, Scrabble, Luxor 2, Snood… the popular ones.  She also loves real card games.  We play Uno on family night pretty often.  

Unfortunately, she refuses to pay $300/console + $50/year for Live Gold just to play against me on XBLA. I don’t blame her.  So, I would like to see MSN Games become cross-platform (xplat) compatible with XBLA.  If she could play a downloadable version of Uno or Scrabble on her PC against me on XBLA, then we would be a very excited couple.  Perhaps a $10 copy of Uno or Scrabble on MSN Games could forgo the unwanted expense of $50/year on Live Gold.  

The point I’m trying to make is my fiance’s casual gaming is dampened by cost and I’m quite confident that is the feeling of others as well.  Being charged for a game AND online play is NOT the way to go on a PC.  Make games accessible, make them cheap, and make them fun and you’ll get many more people in the end.

Simple math: 100,000 players x $5 > 20,000 players x $20.  Plus you get all that advertising revenue…

Now I can dream of a Vista version of XBLA… haha.

just do 2 things and Nemo–seriously, the two of you need some companionship.  Perhaps you two should swap phone numbers or something…

and Ozymandias–as far as my wife goes, she loves something that she doesn’t have to think too much about.  She’s a big GHII fanatic (even though she generally doesn’t like Metal/Rock and roll–natch…), and she plays the hell out of XBLA puzzle and card games (especially Uno, Lumines, Bejewelled, etc.)

I think more card games, as well as more board games (even stuff like Sorry, Trouble, Run for Your Life Candyman, Blockus–you know, stuff that you can be sociable with, play w/multiple people online, and ultimately have fun) is what she loves so far about the XBox 360, and would like to see more of.

And frankly, my wife has played more XBox 360 than any other console–it’s easy for her to get into, get into a game online, and have fun.  KISS philosophy works well w/XBL and XBLA, and as long as we can get more ‘social’ games onto the service, my wife will continue to have me purchase points and to take up my Gears of War/GRAW 2 gaming time.

Personally, I only play casual games on the 360 any more…the biggest reason being my friends list.  I like having a social circle of friends who share my interests that I can jump online with for 20 minutes or 6 hours (okay, maybe my obsession with Catan isn’t so casual!).  :-)  

XBL makes that easy.  

That being said, I think in order to draw in the more casual gamer, you ned to give them games that 1) they can identify with, 2) jump in and out of easily and quickly, and 3) offer it at a price that casual gamers can grasp.  Most "casual gamers" used to playing on the pc are not willing to pay $10-15 for a game they have been able to play for free on the pc.  As far as the first point, there is a need for games that are familiar, especially in regards to Board and Card games.  XBL is just screaming to host games of Monopoly, Life, Sorry, Rook, Racko, Scrabble, etc.  And personally I can’t think of any better way to play a game of SceneIt?!  These games offer the casual gamer a familiar experience.  

As to my second point, even games like Monopoly need to have options to make them appeal more to the casual gaming crowd.  Monopoly may take a couple hours to play a normal game.  However, give it options that allow you to alter that and suddenly you’ve got a casual gamer willing to sit down for a fast-paced 20 minute version (i.e. deal out all the property cards randomly at the beginning of the game).  

Anyway, that’s just my thoughts so I hope they’re useful, or at least informative…  

Tavin.

There needs to be more party games like Fusion Frenzy but for more than 4 people at a time.  A Mario Kart racing type game with 16 people would be a hoot.  I know that Mad Tracks was released today but it is only for 4 online at a time.  Need more racing party games.

RE: Your Thoughts on the Future of Casual Gaming?

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