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Games Beat Video And Social Networking Online

As part of the Web 2.0 revolution a whole host of so-called social networking sites have sprung up, and the rise of YouTube has proved the popularity of sharing videos. With all the coverage that these things are getting it may come as a surprise that casual gaming at sites such as PopCap and many others is more popular than either online video or social websites.

Of course gaming on the internet has been around as long as browsers have been able to display graphics. The emergence of Flash and Java meant that literally thousands of people could produce simple games for play online. A lot of these games are simply reproductions of each other or classic titles remixed with Flash or Java and playing them online has always been popular. Many of the big names have seen the potential in what they call ‘casual’ games. As opposed to ‘Hardcore’ games which make up a large proportion of the games sold in shops, ‘casual’ games are often very simple in their design and highly addictive. I have whiled away many hours playing Zuma or Insaniquarium, often till they haunted my dreams.

Digital distribution is also big with the makers of casual games, with PopCap distributing games purely through downloads and many examples available on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, with the Nintendo to follow suit later this year. There was alot of talk at the EIF about casual gaming and how the industry could tap in to this market. Mobile gaming was mentioned as being the next big thing, and mobile phones are an ideal platform for small, simple, and addictive casual games. Something to do while you wait for the bus.
(From InformationWeek.)