CasualGaming
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Green Day make cameo in Angry Birds Facebook offering as mascara-wearing egg thieves
Punk's not dead, it's just diversifying its portfolio. Having already conquered Broadway, East Bay pop-punkers Green Day are hitting the world of casual gaming with a new episode of Facebook's Angry Birds Friends that features pig opponents "inspired by band members Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool." The offering also features "Troublemaker," an exclusive song that is most likely a tribute to the hard living ways of porcine egg thieves. Asked to justify his pro-swine stance, Pinhead Gunpowder member Armstrong answered, "We're all fans of Angry Birds. It's such an addictive game that when we first started playing it we couldn't stop. Go Team Green!"
Big Fish Unlimited lets gamers resume play on mobile, PC and TV, stay distracted at all times (update: HTML5 explained)
The perpetual crisis of casual gaming is that need for just one... more... turn. After all, those 29 levels of progress aren't coming with you to the office, are they? Big Fish Games wants to ease our consciences (or at least our egos) with Big Fish Unlimited. By using HTML5 to constantly save progress, the cloud service remembers exactly where a player was and ports it to the next device: it's possible to hop from a Android tablet, to a Roku box, to a Windows PC's browser without having to replay anything. The nature of the streaming games themselves won't give OnLive players second thoughts, but their lighter footprint won't demand as much from an internet connection, either. Most of the intended audience will appreciate the price -- the now active service costs $8 a month for access to more than 100 games from the full catalog, and free play is on tap for 20 of the games as long as you can endure periodic ads. Whether or not coworkers can endure another round of your hidden object games is another matter. Update: We've since talked to the company directly, and it turns out that the HTML5 is more for the cross-platform support; it's the server that tracks progress whenever you quit a given app.
Rovio marks one billion downloads, untold pig casualties across Angry Birds games
Yeah, yeah, we all knew that Rovio was doing gangbusters with Angry Birds series, but here's a little number to put it all into perspective: one billion. That's how many times the slingshotting birds have been downloaded, when you add up all of the titles and all of the platforms. Naturally, the company made a video to celebrate the accomplishment. You can find it after the break. [Image credit (McDonald's Sign): Alexis Bea / Flickr]
Pokemon headed to iOS, Android, Nintendo still doesn't give a Jigglypuff about casual gaming
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata made no bones about his disdain for casual mobile gaming during his keynote at GDC earlier this year. According to the executive, Nintendo will sustain itself with the sort of value absent from the current app explosion. Rovio naturally took issue with the statement and fired back, like so many disgruntled feathered animals. With all of that in mind, it was a bit surprising to hear that a Pokemon card game is headed for the iPhone and Android devices in Japan this summer -- after all, Nintendo does own a share of the popular monster-based franchise. Before you get too attached to the concept of Mario on your iOS device, however, keep two things in mind -- first, Nintendo only owns about a third of the franchise. Second, the company quickly shot down the suggestion of further expansion into the world of phone apps. Those 3DS games aren't going to buy themselves, after all.
Roku brings casual gaming to its internet TV platform starting with Angry Birds this summer
Roku's line of boxes have come a long way from being used only to stream Netflix, and now the company has announced a plan to take its talents to casual gaming. Naturally, the first app out of the gate this summer will be the wildly popular and increasingly ubiquitous Angry Birds. There's not a lot of details available yet and while we're told the gaming experience will be available on a new player launching this summer, whether or not the existing Roku hardware will get any gaming action remains to be seen. Roku CEO Anthony Wood is very excited about the company's gaming prospects saying "Just as we were the first to enable Netflix to stream instantly to the TV, we intend to be the catalyst for transforming the way people play casual games-starting with Angry Birds-on the biggest screen in the home". While we wouldn't bet against the upstart media streamer maker, it may be a bit tougher to compete with Xbox 360, PS3 and whatever Nintendo has up its sleeve on their native turf. Update: Thanks to Dan Rayburn, Anthony Wood has confirmed Angry Birds will not run on existing players. In the inaugural post on the Roku Blog, he mentioned "some of the new games will require more horsepower".
As you wish, Princess Bride game in development
One of our favorite films is getting the video game treatment ... just 20 short years after its initial release. The Hollywood Reporter is, well, reporting that Worldwide Biggies (we haven't heard of them either) has entered into an exclusive deal to produce a game based on Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride.Now, before you start imagining stabbing the Six-Fingered Man with your Wiimote, you should know this sounds like a distinctly casual product. A sample will be included with a 20th anniversary DVD of the film this year, followed up by the release of True Love and High Adventure -- The Official Princess Bride Game in the spring. If this tells you anything, the game is currently not planned as a retail release, but rather as a downloadable title. Inconceivable!
Puzzle Quest rated by ESRB for Macs
Our sister site Joystiq reports that Puzzle Quest, the handheld puzzle-slash-RPG sensation, has been rated by the ESRB for a Mac release. The news isn't that surprising, as Puzzle Quest has already been slated to appear on almost every platform but the Mac (although PS3 hasn't received the love either). It is great news, as Puzzle Quest is supposed to be a terrific game, and it is exactly the kind of casual game that belongs in OS X.An ESRB rating isn't exactly official confirmation, but it does usually mean that the game is playable, so chances are we'll see the game released sooner rather than later (if I had to guess, I'd say by this holiday season, but don't quote me on that). If you happen to have a PC box around, there's a demo available right now, but from all reports, if you like puzzlers and/or RPG games, this game is good enough to pick up sight unseen.
Microsoft shows off new Xbox 360 controller for casual gamers
While Microsoft's E3 announcement of "Scene It?" for the Xbox 360 wasn't exactly awe inspiring, there are some brand new casual gaming controllers packed with the title that certainly perked us up. Details are slim at the moment, but four of the simplistic clickers will be included with the game. This could be Microsoft's Trojan Horse to battle against Wii's stranglehold on the casual gaming market -- particularly if the remotes include motion sensing within, which hasn't even been hinted at yet -- or could just be a nice freebie to make "Scene It?" a bit more accessible. We figure we'll know more soon enough. There's another pic after the break.
Vista casual game problems are 'grossly overstated'
Earlier this week, WildTangent CEO, Alex St. John, lashed out against Windows Vista and claimed that most casual games were drowing in the moat surrounding the operating system's impenetrable castle. With many downloadable titles lacking official ESRB ratings, St. John suggested that Vista's security architecture was blocking all manner of family friendly games, including titles from MSN, AOL and Yahoo. In a communication with TG Daily, Microsoft has responded to these claims, labeling them as "grossly overstated." Rick Wickham, director of Games for Windows, notes that "a fraction of casual games are encountering temporary upgrade issues - a situation we have largely corrected and are committed to fixing within days." He goes on to say that out of the 100-plus MSN casual games available, only five have displayed problems in working with Vista. Those issues are expected to be resolved by the end of the week.
Your mom plays Xbox 360 games
The elusive "casual market" has recently become quite the sought-after prey for game publishers, each one attempting in its own way to hunt down those who would normally shy away from complex and scary video games. Nintendo isn't the only company to have Grandma firmly set in a Zapper scope -- the other major players are also taking aim, Microsoft with Xbox Live Arcade and Sony with Singstar microphones. With this in mind, Alex Petraglia decided to test whether or not Microsoft in particular was actually hitting their target. After all, he had the equipment necessary to conduct such an inquest: one Xbox 360 console, several Xbox 360 games and one willing female parental unit. Alex introduced his mom to a wide variety of XBLA and full retail titles, documenting her performance and struggles. The article places his thoughts alongside those written by his mother and it makes for some very interesting reading. It seems the most difficult acclimations involved controls and finding the correct path through a level. The 53 year-old Mrs. P notes that "the biggest problem is a simple lack of experience. It seemed like, in a game such as Prey, you [Alex] knew exactly where to go after looking at a puzzle or roadblock, whereas it'd take me an exorbitant amount of time to move onto the next task or area. And it took me a very long time to develop the ability to move freely in the game and feel comfortable with the controls, to some extent." Other points of interest include her first interpretation of Geometry Wars ("she flew directly into the first target, thinking maybe that was the point of the game") and her eventual favorite, Condemned (!). "I think strong dramatic elements, like story and visuals and music, would be a bigger draw to older generations than unique gameplay mechanics or what have you." [Thanks Alex P!]
Brain Training used to defeat dementia
According to a BBC report, Nintendo's hugely popular Brain Training titles are invading Japanese classrooms in an effort to help the older population get their minds in motion and running swiftly from encroaching dementia. How effective Dr. Kawashima's unnervingly polite floating head is at preventing or combating the condition (of which hallucination is a symptom) still hasn't been conclusively established, but for some people, keeping their minds active is enough.After demonstrating how to turn on the Nintendo DS and how to insert a game cartridge, the teacher has his elderly students engage in several different activities, not all of which are limited to Brain Training's repertoire of challenges. A golf game is used to train hand-eye coordination which, thanks to the DS' intuitive control scheme, seems to be quite easy to grasp. "It's not difficult to learn how to play them," says Atsuo Umetsu, one of the teachers. "After all I learnt, so everyone can do it." Though one of the students admits that she joined the class in order to better compete with her gamer sons, most are joining in the hopes of doing everything they can to avoid mental problems in a society where a large percentage of the population is older. Dr. Takao Suzuki, an expert when it comes to elderly affairs, points out that "nobody wants to get dementia so even if there is a very small possibility that it might work, most elderly people will want to do something in order to prevent dementia." And it's not just Nintendo that's reaching out to an older generation -- Namco has set up a day-care center allowing older people to bash drums and clobber cartoon crocodiles to their heart's content. Is this the key to defeating dementia? We don't know, but it sure sounds like fun, doesn't it?[Thanks Jon!]
Nintendo losing their Touch (Generations)?
If Nintendo's desires are realized, it won't be too long before the image of Grandpa hunching furiously over his DS Lite and murderously screaming "Blue" joins that of the bespectacled nerd in the ranks of uninformed gamer stereotypes. In an effort to reach out to those who would normally shy away from electronic devices and their confusing beeps and boops, several forthcoming and readily available DS games have recently been shoved under the Touch Generations banner. The range highlights Nintendo's popular "non-games", titles that are meant to be approachable by any person, regardless of their previous gaming experience.In North America, games like Nintendogs, Brain Age and Sudoku Gridmaster seem to gravitate towards the label quite naturally, but it seems that the selection differs significantly from that of other regions. Anthropomorphic neighbour sim, Animal Crossing: Wild World, slots right in with Electroplankton in Europe, but the choices of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Trauma Center: Under the Knife seem to fit in less comfortably. The latter two titles are far more traditional, with linear stories, clear conditions for success and failure and, in the case of Trauma Center especially, a more pronounced difficulty level that requires intricate stylus strokes--lest your patient's internal organs become reduced to a bloody mush (technical term). In other words, all the stuff that the mythical casual gamer doesn't want.The Japanese selection is almost the exact opposite, filled with English trainers, dictionaries and travel guidebooks. If you looked up "game" in one of those dictionaries, you'd likely find a description far removed from most of these titles. It raises an interesting question, then: What constitutes a game that, according to Nintendo's mantra, anyone can pick up and play? Is it a game that almost exclusively relies on intuitive touch screen controls? Or is it something with simplistic gameplay mechanics? Perhaps it's not even a game at all. Nintendo's pretty clear about the kind of people they're chasing with the DS and the Wii, but things seem less vivid when it comes to matching specific games with specific audiences. With games being such unique and often personal experiences, it's doubtful that the line between hardcore and casual will ever become especially obvious.
Nintendo to Touch Generations
Nintendo of America have announced that as of June, they'll be rebranding many of their DS "non-games" under the Touch Generations label. As the name suggests, this move supports Nintendo's continuing desire to expand the gaming demographic and to reach out to those who are under the impression that gaming's all about shooting space pirates and smashing blocks with your head. Currently available games to fall under the brand are Brain Age, Nintendogs, Tetris DS and True Swing Golf. These will be followed by Big Brain Academy, Magnetica and Sudoku Gridmaster later in the year. If all goes according to Nintendo's plan, it won't be long before Grandma and Grandpa start swinging canes because someone forgot to feed the little Nintendoggy. [Thanks AssemblyLineHuman!]
Casual gaming picks
Casual games became more high-profile last year, as predicted, and the launch of the Xbox Live Marketplace saw some so-called "casual" games racking up more gamer love than non-casual games. For anyone venturing into the world of casual gaming for the first time, it can seem a little confusing with so much to choose from, which is we love end-of-year roundups. Here's the "Best of 2005" from jay is games; warning, with time-sinks like Samorost 2 and Kingdom of Loathing on the list, you might start wondering why these games deserve the "casual" moniker.
