The question has been posed all year with the breakout success of casual gaming and perceived casual console, the Wii.

How will casual gaming really affect the industry? Kill the hardcore market? Flood Xbox Live with a ton of soccer moms?

No.

I believe that the casual gaming market will help the entire industry in general.

For one, by bringing in a flood of new gamers playing a variety of non-violent, friendly fun games like Scene It! and Guitar Hero on the consoles, we might finally be able to raise off the stereotype of violent loner gamers that seems to hang so predominantly in the minds of every politician in the world.

Second, more gamers means more good games that may be more niche. With a larger market, game developers can devote the resources necessary to produce a game that may only be fun for fans of the Dr. Who TV series or Battlestar Gallactica. Don’t call me out if those aren’t niche enough audiences for you, but I am only suggesting that game developers can now focus on hitting up topics that may not have appealed to the hardcore gamer.

Regardless of the success of the consoles, hardcore gaming will not be abandoned. Even on the Wii, you are looking and a slew of new titles this year and next including Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and a new version of Mario Kart. You have already had Metroid Prime 3. Altogether, these games will make the console a smash success for diehards and casual gamers alike–if any of them can find one in stores.

Overall, the market stands to get better because of this big push. If you are a true hardcore gamer, just ignore the casual ads. They are not for you, but guaranteed, once every three years or so, a studio will put out a masterpiece for you to enjoy just like you always have. No worries.

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I am a huge fan of ONnetworks and all their HD-produced podcasts. My love stems mostly from two of their programs: The 5 Minute Drill for my fantasy football addiction and Play Value for an entertaining “Best Week Ever”-style doc on the history of videogames from the very beginnings of Nintendo. The podcast follows along nicely with a book I am currently reading called Game Over on the history of videogames. You can check it out at the link below.

Game Over Press Start To Continue

Check out the latest edition of the video cast below, and be sure to check out all the Play Value episodes to feel smarter about your own knowledge of the videogame industry.

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I haven’t played Assassin’s Creed yet myself, but I have read the numerous mixed reviews around the Web. Many have lamented about it’s repetition or the twist in the plot being revealed right at the beginning, but I’ll still give it the benefit of the doubt.

Destructoid pointed out the part of the game that excites me the most–the free running and combat system.

 Indeed, once I got the hang of countering and attacking, and once I found myself in fights with up to six or seven guards at one time, I was stringing together counters and offensive slashes to create a goddamned ballet of death and destruction. I’m not at all exaggerating when I say that Assassin’s Creed contains the single most visually rewarding melee combat system ever implemented. I found myself picking fights with guards just so I could experience the pleasure of countering their attacks and viciously finishing them off with well-timed sword blows. Granted, the sword fighting gets way too easy after you get the hang of it: as you might see in an old-school Kung Fu flick, Altair can be surrounded by ten or fifteen guys at a time, but they’ll only attack one at a time, making a fight against three opponents just as easy or hard as a fight against twenty. I would have really liked to see some more aggressive enemy AI in the sword fighting. Still, though, the fighting is enjoyable.

UbiSoft took it’s time in making this one–over three years–and even though it will be strange to have a movement system without having to time jumps–I still think it looks like one of the best games to come out this year.  Again, disclaimer: I haven’t played it yet, so my honest opinion will have to be held back until I check it out.

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