I hope, hope , hope that the financal problems result in casual 'gamers', (they are not gamers), abandoning Nintendo and the big N dies on it's feet. Ideally it would hit them so hard that the workers have to actually start eating wach other in order to get by.

Alternatively to pull themselves back form the brink they could stage a Battle Royale style tournament amongst the employees to seperate the wheat from the chaff. Obviously the people who were responsible for Nintendo making good consoles and games would butcher those nonces who suggested casual gaming was the future and Nintendo might once more gain my respect. Although that is highly unlikely.

One thing I fear especially, all thanks to Nintendo's Crapii, is that publishers start to spend less on big budget games. Why? Because those shitty minigame collections and waggle-fests actually SELL! And they sell better than innovative games like LBP or Mirror's Edge. What's to motivate angry, totally uninterested black suits to make actually GOOD games when the bad, cheap ones sell better? I fear the #1 prediction for '09 would be less games, more shovelware...

When I saw this article, I thought you'd hired a fortune teller like you did last year. :(
Still, good article.

I hope all of these things happen, but unfortunately most probably won't happen

neeeeice, yea economic times will strain us all but I spent a load on games last year so I've got a good collection to sit on.

"close our eyes and rub the inside of our lucky pocket vigorously"

subtle.

______________________
who is Morton Ludlow?

GTA for DS = EPIC FAIL

From the article on how the wii will be ignored:

"And if we don't give it a second glance, the casual market who own the majority of Wiis certainly won't."

I dunno if your reasoning here is sound.

As a semi hardcore gamer (play video games about 4 hours a day) I have absolutely no interest in the wii fit, the best selling game right now for wii. I know five other people with wiis who don't want a wii fit. The only people I know that do want one are my mom and my sister.

My experience might not be universal but I don't think the kind of games we're interested in is going to have much bearing on what casual gamers want. It definitely has in the past and I don't debate that but it could be very possible that millions of people will be very happy to play games that none of us would want to pay attention to.

For example look at the long history of barbie games or movie based games on the various platforms. I certainly don't give much thought to these games' existence but considering how many of them there are and for how long they have been around, some money must be in the business.

Having to satisfy the hardcore gaming crowd is definitely not a prerequisite for a developer to put out a game and we could definitely see a lot more crap games out there in the future thanks to this trend without us having any say in the matter.

Before I go on to the second page..
I hope that last prediction comes true.

DEATH TO CASUAL GAMING U:<

..okay.
On a lighter note. ^^;

Great article GR.
<3

Ohhh Jade! I want to play your game too!
Uwwaaaaahhh

nice article. but try and find a halo 3 odst cover. other than that the article is great

Playstation Home will not die anytime soon,. As some of you say. SCEA/I has poured MILLIONS of Dollars into this pet project of theirs. Saying HOME will fail is like saying no one will be in Warcraft online... NOT BLOODY likely.Home is so good even the computer division of Microsoft is using it for confrence's that would otherwise cost plane tickets, jet lag and hotel and rental expenses. Yes i think HOME needs a wake up call and release WAY more spaces, the red bull space is fine but lacks anything other than the fine airplanes you race BY YOUR SELF. I think if sony does listen to my closed beta request we should see more things that are multiplayer style like say paintball or even go karts or golf. I really think Home is going to be the future of The Universities that are online based I.E., Uni. of Phoenix Online. It will allow instructors if need be RENT a ps3 out to a down in the gutter student to use the ps3 and Home to get real time education. My uncle is a online Prof. he would only love to use Home for this purpose. AND not to mention it would be a solid reason to invest in that over priced clubhouse. I think if Sony really wants to maximize their overall presence they would whole heartedly agree with my logic. It would serve for those student who are in Grammer school to be taught while they are sick at they're real home. NO MORE Make up tests or home work EVER again!! Sony needs to allow streaming video in home and music to really get me excited about it again. I did like being in the closed beta but I had to keep mum about that fact until dec 11th. I just hope that Barack Obama makes a visit to Home and makes about 15 million new friends. This Home thing is waaaay bigger than any of us could have imagined. This is a tool for future ways of making really close bonds with people. I can'tgo see any of my buddies in the UK so I just wait till they are in home and have them invite me to their home. I must say this but Im not a fanboy okay, PS3 WILL DOMINATE 2009 AND B3YOND. I have all the consoles and I must say that the ps3 offers much better content. Yes netflix on my box is cool but I like a virtual world way better.

great artical

but you forgot to put that microsoft will Probably come out with a little big planet copy for their own system

If casual gaming does implode then the Wii will finally have a more extensive library of hardcore games. That's looking likely anyway because it seems the third party devs have decided to catch up with themselves on the hardcore front.

The PS3 will continue to fail. "Home" is nothing more then a gimmick that Sony hardly gives twoshits about. The future of gaming lies in the XBOX 360.

microsoft cant fink of anyfink themselves and copy evry1 elses idea and the ps3 is betta in evry way than the 360

name me 1 fing dat da 360 is betta at dan ps3

bet u cant

YAY!!! More nintendo bashing! Just what this site needs!

But yet, not so much bashing of the other 2.. makes it kinda obvious where you're getting your advertising money from!

I remember when this site used to be future gamer.. and it used to be.. you know.. good!

Oh god how I hope casual gaming goes away.