Read any Nintendo interview of late and the word 'simplicity' will pop up somewhere within the text.
As we know Nintendo are trying to make gaming more appealing to non-gamers than ever before, they have finally realised it's one of the niche markets that has always been there, but that they have never purposely concentrated on. Instead they generally focus their attentions on the established gamers; the gamers that have always in the past purchased the companies systems.
Now there is a new breed of gamer, the casual gamer, the type of gamer who enjoys a spot of video gaming but doesn't have time to immerse themselves in the latest Final Fantasy title or any game of that ilk. These people have money to spend and throwaway and are mainly the pick up and play types. And it's these guys and girls that Nintendo and also other video gaming company's want to tap into. Its a market that hasn't been fully utilised.
Take for example two of the biggest games on the Nintendo DS; Nintendogs and Animal Crossing. These two games have been immensely popular and are two games that take the words simplicity to heart. Working at a game-store I've witnessed some unusual things when I've been selling these games and that is; the age range of customers playing game is so diverse. Both kids and adults have been buying these games like there's no tomorrow. And its not to hard to see why. sure there's a lot of adults buying the game for their children, but there is also a vast majority of these adults purchasing these games for their own pleasure.
Its a proven fact that people have less time these days to get things done and this applies to video gaming. The two games Ive mentioned are both games with which aren't typical games. There is no start and finish to them, you don't progress from one level to another unlike the games we are currently used to playing. No a game like Nintendogs to be honest has no real point other than to look and attend to your dog's needs. Whats the point then you may ask, well the answer is simple it's something that video gaming should have been about from the start and that most developers forget and that's the word fun.
Well said mate, I strongly agree. =)