Players Only Explores Casual Gaming

Digital Trends' Scott Steinberg tackles the latest trend in video games in this week's episode of Players Only, with commentary from Nolan Bushnell, Sid Meier, and more gaming visionaries.

As NPD’s latest study showing that 72 percent of Americans play video games demonstrates, gaming is increasingly moving out of the basement and into the living room as it becomes a more mainstream form of entertainment. On this week’s installment of Digital Trends’ own video series, Players Only, host Scott Steinberg takes a look at why casual gaming is finally beginning to take off.

Steinberg speculates that a casual gaming revolution may be on the horizon, as evidenced by the mainstream success of games from Guitar Hero to The Sims. Guests from Sony, Red Octane, and Electronic Gaming Monthly also offer up their opinions on the emerging genre, along with some of gaming’s founding fathers.

“Casual games are back with a vengeance,” says Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, who claims the first video games were actually casual, then became more violent and complex in the early 1980’s. The resurgence of such games, he says, represents a return of video games to the mass market.

The video is available for free online as part of the ongoing series, which will debut new episodes every Friday through June 6.