Feature Article July 08

Casual Connect Conference Joins Game Developers, Publishers, and Distributors
by Julia Loughran

July 30, 2008 - Are you a gamer? If this question conjures up images of a teen playing for hours in front of their gaming console with a joystick in hand, think again. You may just be a "Casual Gamer". Casual games are games that are easy to learn and fast to play. They include everything from online card games (Solitaire), to puzzles (Tetris and Bejeweled), to time management games (Diner Dash) to hidden object games (Mystery Case Files). The Casual Games industry is a $2.25 billion a year market (that is Billion with a "B") and growing at a rate of 20% a year.

Members of Gaming4Health.com's management team joined in the fun July 23-25 in Seattle at the Casual Games Association's Conference "Casual Connect" to see how this industry can contribute to healthy gaming and leverage from lessons learned from the casual games industry. While they were there, they learned some interesting statistics. For instance, over 200 million people play casual games each month over the Internet and this growing consumer base has companies creating games for more audiences and new platforms, including Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo DS, Wii and even mobile phones and PDAs.

As for Healthy Games, there are many cognitive brain games available today. In addition to many of the puzzle games available on gaming portals (like Pogo, Big Fish and Real) there are companies like Fit Brains who are custom developing games for the most in cognitive fitness. Michael Cole, Founder and CEO of Fit Brains, says his company works with a leading clinical neuropsychologist and national leader in Brain Health, Dr. Paul Nussbaum. There games focus at the five key brain functions: memory, language, concentration, executive function and visual and spatial skills. One of their most popular games available on their site and Big Fish Games is Wild Word Garden. Fit Brains currently has 10 games available but they expect to have 20 games by the end of the year.

An interesting trend in the Casual Games industry is the merging of casual games with social networking web sites like MySpace and Facebook. The Casual Games industry is finding that people that like to stay socially connected on sites like these also like to play games together. The fact that MySpace and Facebook have opened up their API (Application Programming Interface) to make it easier for game developers to develop games within their platforms is helping too.

Gaming4Health.com believes that there are health benefits to social networking sites and people playing games together. This is a goal of the Gaming4Health.com web site. Numerous studies report on the benefits of social interaction and people's health. Trip Hawkins, CEO of Digital Chocolate, spoke at the conference about the "Supercasual Social Revolution". He said he believes the social value of casual games is the key. Many sites add social value to their games by allowing players to customize their game-playing avatar. An example of this is Club Pogo's minis - graphical icons that can convey your interests, background and hobbies

So, whether you are playing cognitive brain games on-line, playing a game on your favorite social networking site, or staying in shape on your Wii Fit, these casual games can make a difference to your health. So have fun and stay fit!