Duck: Think Outside of the Flock is another puzzle game that’s just so darn cute that it sucks you in like a bad heroin habit.  Not that heroin is cute but I’ve heard that it’s mighty addictive – oh, hell.  You get what I’m saying.
The game has 25 levels and took me maybe an hour to complete from beginning to end.  Two levels took me FOREVER – one of the levels where you have to switch the ducks around where all of them are facing you and the last level where you have to play Tic-Tac-Toe to the DEATH.  Not …read more

I found this really quite stupid. Well at least, at first. Then I got curious and read what I can about the rumored Dummies Game series which will be developed by EA Casual Studios.
Why make a game out of the popular dummies book? I mean, casual games are supposed to be titles that have a low learning curve, and to publish a full tutorial game about one just doesn’t make sense.

Financial magazine, Forbes, just featured a list of their favorite casual games. Well, at least those that they believe, didn’t get all the bells and whistles that each deserved.
The article also mentioned the start and the boom of casual games which forked in millions of dollars for developers like PopCap and others. Then suddenly people realized that with a little know-how on programming game logic, one can create a title, hoping they can take a chunk of the pie. That’s why casual titles started mushrooming everywhere.

I must admit, I’m a sucker for these studies about casual gaming. I mean, who would have thought that casual gaming can relieve stress, help kick bad habits, be beneficial for the disabled, improves work productivity, and now this?
According to a site, 4-ADHD.com, playing games like Tetris or Bejeweled can help improve concentration, relieves stress and promotes relaxation in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

So aside from selling games, how else can one profit from casual games? Well, according to this site, by advertising, of course!

EA (Electronic Arts) has jumped in the bandwagon of developing casual games targeted for girls or women-who-are-young-at-heart, if you prefer. Superstar, the sequel of the multi-platform title is aiming to “promote self-expression, creativity and empowerment for girls worldwide”.

Happy news to all Sims gamers who are also into casual gaming. Sims Carnival, the portal with a plethora of casual games, is now in public beta! Game developer, EA, saw this great opportunity to expand the sims gamer network by bringing the carnival games online. Just like its predecessors Sims On Stage.

Don’t you just hate it when someone disses the thing that you have so much passion for?
As sited in the New York Times, Entertainment Section, Rockstar Games’ VP and GTA IV co-writer Dan Houser dismissed casual games, believing people still want games that are groundbreaking. Yeah sure, its like comparing apples and oranges.
Wait, dismissed is too light a term to describe it. In verbatim, he said “f*ck casual gaming”.
So what if the world is not full of hardcore gamers like us? So what if casual games are not as radical nor technologically challenging? So what if some …read more

Believe it or not, East Carolina University revealed the results of a study they did and its health benefits, as sited in AusGamers.com. They used 3 family-friendly, casual titles from PopCap games which can soon be used to address serious mental and physical disorders. Study data can be found here.