IMO hardcore games are typically no more innovative than casual games, precisely because they can rely on a new audience of enthusiastic 14-year-olds each year.

On the other hand my past means a lot of spare time. As a student, for example, it is easy to raise a WoW character to the maximum level or trying a particular challenging game level several time until one finally succeeds (just to hit the next impossible obstacle) but as a fulltimer there are weeks when I don’t play at all.

I think in the past there were mostly games for hardcore gamers while currently the casual games take the point. Looking at it from a marketing point of view the market share for casual (or browser) games is much bigger than for true hardcore games. Therefore most publishers try to flood the market with corresponding titles in the hopes to score. And if the developing cycle for the n-th remake is only a fifth of what a new triple-AAA title would cost then lower selling rates are still sufficient to make money. Unfortunately the hardcore gamer is left behind…

Oh no, suddenly we’re having fun with games. How did that ever happen?

I know what you mean and refering to Hollywood i agree, there are “mainstream” games and “blockbusters” which – set aside a few shining gems – are made only to entertain, not inspire. Some are pure rollercoaster rides, like Crank. I’m ok with that as long as i know where and how to get that other treat if i need to. Not all games have to be as deep and time-consuming as Fallout 3.

I’m not so sure about the conclusion, anyone can design a game? Of course they can … and should … and obviously they’ll succeed or fail with varying results. I think it’s great that games are finding common grounds, especially if it comes to controlling them (WASD anyone?). Pleeeeease don’t ever change that anymore for an FPS. Plus there are platforms for people to actually proove their skills: XNA, iPhone and obviously the PC as indie platform. These are the Youtubes of the game industry. And we all know we spend too much time watching Youtube videos. Granted, most of it really is crap but we can rely on friends and referals to point us to the cool stuff.

I think it’s a win for the industry and threatens the big publishers already because they can’t keep up with the pace the industry is changing. The only good thing for the film industry is that they sort of have a monopoly over cinema by directing via marketing what people want to see – and with cinemas actually providing additional value to the experience. Gamers on the other hand don’t need to go to an Internet cafe to enjoy their games “better”.