Casual games for the hardcore gamer
By: Randy LeClear
Issue date: 9/1/09 Section: Entertainment
I decided to write this article to address a growing trend in newly released games in the past few years.
Looking at the weekly game releases for all systems for the past 3 months I really cannot find a single game that I personally am interested in. Game companies now feel that to have a smash hit videogame that sells over a million copies, they must release a casual game.
This is a far different philosophy than their philosophies of 5 years ago. I blame most of this on the Wii, I trash the Wii a lot, but in this case it really deserves it.
The Wii changed the way game companies think of a good game. Now game companies release 4-5 Wii casual games in a year and make a good deal of money without spending an even greater deal of money. This increases the development time of more hardcore titles that gamers like myself are waiting on. I have not bought a new game since Resident Evil 5 which was released in March of this year.
Since then I have witnessed an endless amount of party, sports and fitness games. I can understand the purpose of casual games, but I do object to the sheer number of them released.
Why do casual gamers need a sequel to a game released just a few months prior or 10 different titles for essentially the same game; "Zuma," I am looking at you. With the number of these games that are selling actually very well and in some cases better than traditional games, developers are starting to mix elements of a casual game into more serious games.Sega's "Bayonetta," which is being developed by Platinum Games is one game doing this.
"Bayonetta" features an easy automatic mode, which allows people to play the entire game using Quick Time Events (which are essentially a button displayed on the screen and the player must push the same button in unison with the button onscreen). This is also apparent in the newest Resident Evil games. Resident Evil 5 while it still is a good game it is a very simple game when compared to the original Resident Evil games on the PSX and the Dreamcast.
The simplification of videogames has been going on for a very long time, not until the Wii has this process even begun to speed up. Give me back my 50 hour games and my impossible boss battles, and give me back the real achievements like defeating Ruby and Emerald Weapon in FFVII or actually defeating Super Ghouls and Ghosts.
Looking at the weekly game releases for all systems for the past 3 months I really cannot find a single game that I personally am interested in. Game companies now feel that to have a smash hit videogame that sells over a million copies, they must release a casual game.
This is a far different philosophy than their philosophies of 5 years ago. I blame most of this on the Wii, I trash the Wii a lot, but in this case it really deserves it.
The Wii changed the way game companies think of a good game. Now game companies release 4-5 Wii casual games in a year and make a good deal of money without spending an even greater deal of money. This increases the development time of more hardcore titles that gamers like myself are waiting on. I have not bought a new game since Resident Evil 5 which was released in March of this year.
Since then I have witnessed an endless amount of party, sports and fitness games. I can understand the purpose of casual games, but I do object to the sheer number of them released.
Why do casual gamers need a sequel to a game released just a few months prior or 10 different titles for essentially the same game; "Zuma," I am looking at you. With the number of these games that are selling actually very well and in some cases better than traditional games, developers are starting to mix elements of a casual game into more serious games.Sega's "Bayonetta," which is being developed by Platinum Games is one game doing this.
"Bayonetta" features an easy automatic mode, which allows people to play the entire game using Quick Time Events (which are essentially a button displayed on the screen and the player must push the same button in unison with the button onscreen). This is also apparent in the newest Resident Evil games. Resident Evil 5 while it still is a good game it is a very simple game when compared to the original Resident Evil games on the PSX and the Dreamcast.
The simplification of videogames has been going on for a very long time, not until the Wii has this process even begun to speed up. Give me back my 50 hour games and my impossible boss battles, and give me back the real achievements like defeating Ruby and Emerald Weapon in FFVII or actually defeating Super Ghouls and Ghosts.