Posted on June 29, 2007 - Filed Under Editorials, Industry News |
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Chris Lewis, Microsoft’s regional vice president of the EMEA home and entertainment division, has his eyes on the casual gaming prize. In order to take their Xbox 360 “to the next level” they’re going to have to attack their biggest rival… no not Sony, Nintendo.
“Our drive is to appeal to a wider genre with more casual types of gaming,” he said. “Clearly we need to continue toward more casual-based gaming experiences, and more peripheral-based gaming experiences in front of the screen.”
Let me translate for you “holy crap, this casual game market is huge! who knew!” Answer? Nintendo. By nature, a casual gaming fan is going to be attracted to what Nintendo has to offer, this isn’t a huge surprise for most folks.
What Microsoft and Sony are realizing is that they can capture a wider audience by making games which don’t require “professional gamers” (lets avoid the use of ‘hardcore’ here). Casual games require less budget, faster to develop and a smaller team to market while other games require much more. Who says you can’t do both? Microsoft’s learning that right now.
“The fresh push into the non-core market is likely to include increased use of Microsoft’s existing camera peripheral, a significantly expanded range of titles designed to appeal to a wider demographic and perhaps even a controller aping the Wii’s highly successful motion-sensing capabilities.”
Translation, “holy crap, these silly little peripherals <b>do make a difference</b>.” Microsoft has the power to generate all kinds of buzz with camera games just as Activision has done with their guitar controller. Sure, it won’t be the same level of buzz but anything that gets a non-gamer involved can’t hurt, right?
(Thanks, mcvuk.com)
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