I’ve just started reading Jesper Juul’s new book ‘A Casual Revolution’, which discusses ‘casual games’ and their popularity amongst certain types of gamers. Although I’ve only just read the first chapter it has prompted me to think about the appeal of certain games and the spontaneity of play. Today I received my copy ‘Lego Indianna Jones 2′. I had deliberately purchased it for the PS3 (as although I own a Wii, PS3 and Xbox360, all of which the game is available for, I prefer the Ps3 controls for platform type games – this is another discussion for another day). I don’t have as much time as I used to, to play games for long periods of time, therefore my PS3 probably doesn’t see as much use as it should do, but each time I purchase a new game, I have to perform a system update, which takes away the enjoyment of the starting up the console and diving straight into playing.

The days of seeing the game instantly load, often appear to be getting fewer and fewer and I think this is part of the appeal to what can be seen as the ‘casual gamer’. The Wii is probably a successful platform for casual games as it doesn’t demand long system updates in order for the user to play. Any updates required by the machine are generally not linked to the type of game you are playing and can be performed as and when the user wants, they are not a necessity of play.  I don’t know if Juul covers this in his book; I know he does comment on the flexibility of time in relation to casual gaming within the opening chapter(s), but to me this is part of the casual game appeal. Being able to launch into a game session in a more sponatenous way allows for the fun of play that separates it from our other everyday activities. Inflicting updates in many ways exposes the workings of the game system to the user, forcing the pressing of various sequences of buttons and moving through screens of data before they are given the rite to play.This may turn off players that are not used to playing newer consoles and do not want to read through reams of data in order to play. Not only does the Wiimote feel intuitive in the way it acts, the console itself allows for reasonably fast load times and access to a variety of different games comparable to the way someone would change a CD in a music player. It is these familiarities that may see it linked to casual play more easily.

In writing these brief comments, my PS3 has updated now, and I am free to play my new game. I hope it was worth the wait…