The Un-Doom Boom
For all the hype focused on the video game market lately, they were mostly talking about the latest and greatest console games. However, the wireless arena is pushing something different. Suddenly “casual games” are a big deal. These are the games that are found on mobile phones – that usually don’t involve the blood & guts like many console games. They don’t include the crazy graphics and complex storylines either, but people find them enjoyable. They’re simple, straightforward, and fast. As someone in the article says, they’re the “fast food of gaming”. Some of the appeal might be the nostalgia of getting to play old games that were on consoles a decade or two ago. However, it might just be that these games are enjoyable. Even more interesting is the fact that many more women are interested in playing such casual games. No matter how hard the gaming industry tries, they’ve always had trouble attracting women, so the success of casual wireless games for women should set off some ideas. However, not all the big gaming companies get this. EA, for example, says they just don’t see a market for simple games.
