As with sex, computer games can be casual

From the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco

The 'next big thing' in computer games has been officially identified and it's called 'casual gaming'. Partly because of innovations like the Nintendo Wii, which have made gaming accessible to a whole new audience who wouldn't traditionally have been considered gamers, and partly because of increasingly sophsticated mobile phones, more and more people are playing basic games. (The gaming industry likes to refer to these as having low production values. The 'mini-golf' common on mobile phones is a good example: it doesn't look great, but it's a happy distraction on the Tube.) During a session on the future of gaming, panelists said there was an enormous opportunity for publishers to capitalise on this audience, who didn't care so much about the traditional values of games - like sophisticated graphics - and played games because they were simple and convenient.

Unlike other web-based services where people connect with one another, like Facebook, there was good opportunity to try different revenue models such as subscription, contributors suggested. Trip Hawkins, a co-founders of Electronic Arts, one of the world's largest gaming companies, pointed to the example of Avapeeps - a'virtual dating' game, where players send virtual versions of themselves (avatars) into 'virtual watering holes' to make friends. "It took four days before players got in touch asking if they could have the real contact details of the people whose avatars they'd met in the game," he said.

Robert Kotick, chief executive of Activision, the company behind the popular air guitar game Guitar Hero, said: "It's true the bulk of our audience have been 16-35 year-old guys who can't get a date on Saturday night, but the number of people who want to have a short-term gaming experience is growing."

Comments

[C ONeill]

Im 18 and and would class class myself as a hardcore gamer, but then i used the online feautures for my xbox 360. Now i play casually with my friends online maybe a game of golf on Tiger Woods, race through the streets of Tokyo in some Enzo's on Forza MS2 or just throw grenades at each other on Halo 3. Also got a Wii for my flat only play that when the lads come round on a weekend, Wii sports and friends is a good mix