I'm not sure if I'm the only one feeling this, but it seems like there are two types of casual games.

I see all the time that people claim that the casual market is gone on consoles, and that they all have moved on to smartphones and tablets. While I think it is true to some extent, I still think there is a market there. And that is were my two types come in.

I sit on a bus to school every day (that school is open, of cource) so I see people play games on smartphones every day. Not to mention that 2/3 of the people at our school use their break to sit inside playing temple run while it's nice and warm weather outside (in Norway nice and warm are words we use rarely). Now, what I notice is that these games are timekillers. I understand that pretty much every game is a time killer, but not in the same way. When people play these smartphone games they simply just play them. When they put down their phone, there seems to be no change in attitude, they don't seem happy, neither angry on their game. It seems like it has no other effect than to kill time.

Now, when I compare this to when I have my friends over and play Nintendo Land, Mario Kart, Wii Sports resort or even wii fit, they all are happy and scream and shout and really get themselves into the games. It might still be a time killer, but it leaves an impression. And two of my friends now own a wii u, and three of them are planning to get one when the next mario kart comes out. 

My point is that even though Angry Birds and Wii Sports Resort are both casual games, there still is a difference in them, and I think that difference is enough to have a rather large casual audience on consoles, even though there are people that have reached the point of no return. What do you think?

I agree. But at the same time they seem to be different (wii sports and angry birds) cause it seems like peolpe are actually having fun by playing wii sports. That is something I've never seen an angry birds player get real "fun" from their game. It seems like it is more of just having something to do. I might be wrong though. 

i guess so, i play smartphone games when standing in line or bored at work in between projects. but at home its pc and/or console all the way. its more of portable convenience for a time killer more than anything. so what is $1 for an hour of entertainment while sitting in line at the bank, grocery store, etc.

Of course i played the hell out of it when i first got my first smart phone but after that a few years ago i could really care less anymore about smart phone games now. i bring my vita to work for lunch time play anymore, i let my boss play it and he has his own now.

So i guess what i am getting to is it depends on where your at with smart phones and newness? and how much of a gamer you are.

well casual for nintendo,sony and microsoft and their consoles means mainstream breakthrough sales wise like the PS2,DS,PS & Wii i think all breaking 100m sales with games that propel them there

phones,pads,pods and pids games are just a part of it,this makes them different to me but doesn't stop them affecting the gaming market i guess

i dont evan consider angry birds a game at that. It's an app you play while taking a dump

COD is casual....

Two types in my mind are the Wii sports crowd then the Cod/WoW crowd. Both games are easy as piss in my opinion but offer harder modes for the core players.... Not so much CoD actually. I hate CoD.

Fuck that Child online Daycare

COD is a cancer to the gaming industry.

The thing is that people  who play Mario Kart on a daily basis or something are not casuals because Mario Kart is not really a casual game it is as casual as GranTurismo or Forza are.  Even Angry Birds is not really a casual game (They are in the original sense of "CASUAL" since you can always stop after 1 race or stage because the gameplay works like that and since there is no real story you can always pause and resume 1 week later or so)

MarioKart and AngryBirds are accessible games.  Angry Birds space for example is harder than COD in singleplayer because people fail more in AB than thesy do in COD.
And just because COD has multiplayer where I can find people that can kick my butt (which is actually not part of the game itself)   and Angry Birds or  Wii Sports  have not, doesn't make COD hardcore and the others casual. COD multiplayer is theoretically casual since you can win a round quite fast and then you can stop playing.

I can also find people that can kick my butt in  Wii Sports tennis  I just have to look for them compared to COD which has online mode etc.

The real difference is accessible and non-accessible that might scare away new gamers with somewhat complicated rules and/or gamplay mechanics.

Mario and Mario Kart are accessible because the rules are simple.  But having different physics and handling for every single car in some racing games or taking cover, leaning, reloading, jumping, crouching the different classes or the different way all the the guns handle in shooters are more complicated than  running and jumping in Mario.

So hardcore/core and casual does not make alot of sense.   Stuff like tetris is casual and hardcore at the same time because you can play it for just 1 minute and it can still be hard and I can theoretically find people that kick my ass.

It is more about  being mainstream like COD/Uncharted or niche like most jRPGs and being accessible like Mario and Angry Birds or not like Starcraft etc.

The casual market is actually lots of different tastes served by different games. The industry attempts to brand it as one big thing to be ignored/ridiculed/squeezed dry, but any real business understanding would see that there are casual niches to fill much like JRPGs and FPSs can be made for different core audiences.

And yes the same people who play core games at home in their free time can play casual games on the bus or between classes. The terms core and casual are misleading in that they imply people are one or the other.

Even the same game can be played in a casual or core way. You can just hop on CoD for a match with your friends. Or you can be a professional CoD player and travel to tournaments. Is CoD a core or casual game? Neither.