Uh oh. Did you feel that? It was Nintendo’s shudder when they realized that they might not have the upper hand anymore. The Wii Motion Plus, what once seemed like another nail in Microsoft and Sony’s coffin, now looks like one of Nintendo’s old forays into forgettable peripherals. Motion controllers are old tech now and the other two guys might of caught up in an overzealous leap.

Don’t get me wrong here. Nintendo isn’t crashing and burning right now. But now they are playing defense to justify themselves. Unfortunately it’s not coming off very well. Nintendo definitely had us drinking their Kool-aid for sure. People were storming stores looking for plastic wheels, boards with pressurized feet, and analog sticks with an accelerometer in them. In the wake of Project Natal (Microsoft’s motion tech) and whatever Sony’s will be named motion tech, this makes all of Nintendo’s efforts either look very archaic or very childish. Did I mention expensive? No one really knows what the price will be for Natal and PS3’s tech but, there were some clues dropped for anybody who wants to pay attention. They did say that Natal was going to be packaged in with 360 units. That can’t be said yet with Motion Plus and at 25 bucks a pop you just paid 100 bucks to get everybody on your system up to date. Not to mention the 3 other Wiimotes you bought to get everybody to play. $220 now if you are keeping score. How many Natals do you need to have 4 people play? One. Now you have a place with a bunch of white plastic laying around.

Yet you are going to have the forum dwellers post with all their exquisite apathy and shrug. Looking cooler than ever before. They will say that Nintendo’s works just fine and it’s good enough for them. Or that Natal and Sony’s tech isn’t that great. What was Nintendo’s new tech? The heart monitor. That will definitely see as much use as the Wiispeak. Maybe it’ll be easy to point out how horrible the presentation was for Natal and laugh. Yet I suppose everybody is easy to forget about last years Wii Music and Ravi Drums. You could say Natal-station3(whatever) won’t work as advertised. Fair enough I say. I am not holding my breath for being able to show my girlfriends new dresses they should buy and have an online fashion party. But people are playing it and their impressions are way more positive than I thought were going to be.

In the end maybe this the best thing for Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, and all of us. Competition will spur more innovation. Maybe it’ll spur better use of motion controls in actual games. Whatever it is, it will definitely be a unique time to be a gamer. Less party games though. Oh god the party games.

Oh and what the fuck is up with that Milo? Peter, seriously?

The term “casual gaming” only really is noticed by the “core” gamer. It is the one phrase that you can say and instantly see a forum war unravel right infront of your eyes. That phrase is somewhat to a threat to their very existance because they see it as the platform where they will be ignored and “core” gaming will go extinct.

You maybe playing some of these games and don’t even know it. Bejeweled is one of the most prolific examples of casual games. The mom who is addicted to Zuma or the guy who spends his time playing tower defence games at work on the computer are good examples. I believe the definition for casual games goes beyond some marketing jargon. What seems casual to me is a game that you can invest a little in and get out quickly. Price should also factor in too. A game with simple gameplay mechanics and structure should reflect that in their price tag as well. It’s all part of the investment of developers and mine. Yet don’t confuse that with how much enjoyment it can give you. I can have as much fun with iDracula as something like Fable 2. Both are great games despite the $59 difference in price.

Yet many gamers and nongamers alike dismiss each others games. And many for valid reasons. But I believe the lines are getting blurry and it will be hard to distinguish the critirea of what’s “casual” and what’s “core”. One new example is with the recent launch of Quake Live. Quake Live is basically good ol’ Quake 3 Arena that you can play through your browser. Sounds pretty straight foward and it sure plays like it (Quake 3 was, I thought, one of the purest gaming experiences). Though what maybe overlooked is the leaps that this makes. A real fps that anyone can play on really any computer (unless your compy is from like 1995 and has a turbo button or a Mac) without installing any programs just some plug-ins on your browser. Couple with the fact you will be playing online with tons of people and you already a have a really fantastic idea. Still some people may say that they are really bad at these type of games. Thats ok too, because once you sign-up the first thing you do is play a match against a bot to test where your skill lies. Then afterwards you will be suggested games that contain players from a similar skill set that you possess. This makes playing matches very fun because you’re not getting you ass handed to you by the people who don’t do anything but play Quake since it came out. You can then make friends and add them to a list to play with them later or even clan matches if thats your cup of tea. Best of all is that your profile is saved to the site not your computer. So you can play on your profile from virtually where ever you can get online. So you could play a match or two on your break at work or pull an all nighter if you want to get your hands real dirty.

Which goes back to my point about “casual” games. Quake’s mechanics are simple enough i.e., shoot dudes. You don’t have to invest much time or any money to get into it (Quake Live is ad supported, yet I haven’t noticed any) to get alot of enjoyment. Just go to the site and in a matter of seconds you’ll find yourself in a match. Play one or two and then just close the browser (or check out some random Youtube videos). Sounds pretty casual to me. Even your mom can jump in a game with ease. So in the end Quake Live blends elements of a  “casual” and “core” game (this is a real fps after all) into a great package that everybody should check out. Play some matches and then hit me up on the comments and I may come by to frag ya online.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.