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The Rise of Casual and Mobile Gaming
HardcoreGamer writes "The New York Times has a lengthy article about the simple pleasures and growth of casual mobile gaming. Trends show that 'more and more people are playing simpler, quieter types of electronic games on the Web, cellphones and hand-helds.' The growth in lighter, less time- and resource-intensive games (like those by GameLoft, Jamdat, and WildTangent) is spurred by the ability to play anytime, anywhere, as much as the rising development costs and production times for a traditional game. A wireless game can cost $40,000 and take a few months to develop, while full-fledged PC and console games can cost $5 million to $10 million and take years to deliver."
I totally understand the move towards casual gaming. After working a long day I can't devote the hours to a time-intensive game (e.g. Resident Evil). Now I find myself playing retro shooters and suchlike, games that can be crammed in between work and endless bloody domestic chores.
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling
Absolutely. I find "classic" games some of the best out there, for a variety of reasons.
They often have really addictive gameplay, as after even a few moment playing you can easily grasp the games premise and controls, and be happily playing along. That doesn't mean that they don't have strategy; I'm still getting better at puzzle games like Tetris to this day even.
Some old classics: Frogger, Breakout, Space Invaders, Tetris, Pac Man...
It's too bad that new games are often forced to have good graphics. From what I understand, console manufacturers are reluctant to carry 2-dimensional sort of games as they see each game as a way of presenting the console; thus, when they sell a 2-d game they think that every person who sees that game will think that 2-d graphics are all that console is capable of. It's really sad; we're probably missing out on some really quality games that way.
I think you can compare this to non-interactive media, like TV and movies. Movies are expensive and time consuming to produce, but are long, in depth, and have generally have a polished look, while TV shows cost less time and money to produce, lack the polish of movies, and aren't as in depth.
Compare this to video games. Half-Life 2 or Doom 3 (will) have considerable polish, cost millions (i think), and are longer and in depth. Tetris is cheap to produce, lacks polish, but is short and fun anyway.
The point is, if TV and movies are any indication, complex and simple games will both become popular, just filling different niches.
This is where all those classics will show up in the next two or three years. This is good and bad news. Good news: you may actually be able to find your old favorites and play them for a quarter on your cell phone. Bad news: these games are ecnimically viable again so there is no way you can make an argument that those ROMS you downloaded are for "historical preservation purposes". Worse yet, if comanies start making real money on these cell phone arcades with retro games, you can expect a crackdown on all those ROM sites.