Everyone knows casual games make sense. And now we’re soon going to see this universe opening up to some of the worlds most well known super heroes. Marvel tied the knot with Gazillion and big things are expected to happen.

So apparently they won’t step right into the puddle of “do it yourselfness”, they might make their own movies nowadays but someone else is still making their games.

If you’re the slightest bit interested in cars, engines, vehicles or just modern man’s existential dilemma - you’re probably familiar with Top Gear. The legendary tv show where equally legendary front figure Jeremy Clarkson.

I used to watch the show while living in England, hundreds of years ago, before my interest in cars was even  born. But I totally fell in love with it. The energy, the wittiness, the speed, the insanity…

I said the other week: “we should get some kind of deal with Top Gear, wouldn’t it be great to have Jeremy and the other guys somehow connected to Power Racing? we should be able to do something really cool together” Well, I guess someone beat me to it. Typical. Look at this game!

And finally, I let Jeremy’s own words of wisdom wrap this post up.

Speed has never killed anyone, suddenly becoming stationary… That’s what gets you.

Oh I can’t help it, have to give you another one. He’s just SO cool.

I’d like to consider Ferrari as a scaled down version of God.

/ Linda

This game does! Check out Bible Fight at Kongregate. So old school plain and simple. My Eve just got knocked out by Satan. Well, that’s the way it goes I guess…

Let’s have a God forsaken tournament!

New research shows an increase by 43 % in the use of computer games for women aged 55-64 (that’s like… your grandparents - think about it…) For women/girls aged 12-17 the numbers are 55 % . The number of young women playing games have more than doubled compared with last year. That’s a l-o-t.

They seem to have found their way into gaming in a non typical manner. Sometimes through online magazines or other sites with editorial material, while looking for something else. A long lost target group, who wouldn’t consider themselves being “gamers” come across intuitive, easy access games that can be played and understood in a matter of minutes. And they like it. And they play.

It’s so obvious that the structures of power and economics in society play an important role here. Let me generalize.

• Most women don’t own the computer/technical stuff at home, it usually belongs to the father, brother or boyfriend. Technology is, historically, a domain that belongs to men. Not many daughters see their mums installing the software, changing the tyres or putting up those shelves. Boys on the other hand constantly see their dads doing all of that. They have a role model when it comes to stuff that includes tools or technical know-how. They’re brought up thinking “I’m a guy and this is what guys do”. Don’t under-estimate the power of habits.

• Men, generally, make more money than women. More money = more means for the fun stuff. (if you’re close to being broke, you don’t bother investing in a game that needs tedious installation and a complicated, expensive system to run)

• In most families the woman is the one taking care of the kids and the household chores. The amount of time spent on hobbies or personal interest (activities not related to the family or house) is a lot less then for men.  Key element here is “spending time”. Imagine coming home from work knowing you’re gonna be interupted like 4872 times in the next four hours. Would you really bother trying to get into a game? If you’re already sort of stressed out about everything that’s needed to get done, it’s not even your own computer, someone might make fun of you while trying…how fun could it be?

• Most games are made by men - for men. The covers, no matter what the game is actually about, seem to focus on boobs and bazookas (not really, but Barbie-like women in general and weapons). Don’t get me wrong - I love fighting and I don’t mind women. But it has to be interesting. I just don’t enjoy those stereotype bodies or that super-high-speed shooting that a lot of games are about. Bikini babes, post war surroundings and first person perspective. It doesn’t do it for me.

Enter - casual games. Casual games are (mostly)free of charge, require no installation, no extra hardware and they can be understood and played in a matter of minutes. This doesn’t mean that women are not as competent as men. They don’t need “games for dummies” instructions to be able to play computer games. This has nothing to do with IQ. (there have been female engineers and programmers in Sweden since the 50’s - they’re just as good as men on this). But it takes a lot more for a woman to get there. There are more obsticles in her way.

// L.

My good friend Peter’s Kongregate-profile indicated that he likes to play a game called Dirk Dagger. I had to try the online version:

http://www.kongregate.com/games/DirkDagger/dirk-dagger

What can I say? My kind of game. Story driven, a bit of mystery, cartoonish graphics… Emphasis on telling the story and getting attached to the characters, not keeping a speed-of-light-pace.

Dammit. I want to know what happened to Harry.

http://www.kongregate.com/games/ArmorGames/sonny

…take a look for yourself. I don’t get hooked on games that easily, but I immediately went a few rounds with Sonny - I even bothered to sign up and save my game! I liked the intro, that creepy feeling of disaster lurking around the corner.

/ L

Being in the somewhat casual games business myself, I just gotta love that one line It’s from a lecture by Nick Fortugno on the rise of the casual MMO. So far, we haven’t seen too many of those. Fortugno really makes an interesting point on what “casual games” are all about, who the casual gamers are - and what’s so great about hardcore anyway?

Read it for yourself!

http://www.worldsinmotion.biz/2008/04/imgdc_nick_fortugno_on_the_ris.php